Chamber and committees

Since 1 April 1996 three Structure Plan Authorities have submitted Plans for approval. These are The Moray Council in December 1998, Dumfries and Galloway Council in January 1999 and the Ayrshire Joint Structure Plan Authority in March 1999. The Moray Structure Plan was approved subject to modifications on 12 November and the others are currently under consideration.

When Sarah Boyack announced the conclusions of the Strategic Roads Review, she indicated that the M74 Northern Extension would be promoted by the City of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire Councils. It is for these Councils to develop proposals for the procurement and funding of the scheme.

The information requested is given in the following table:

AUTHORITY	LOCAL PLAN TITLE	IN PREPARATION	AT CONSULTATION	AWAITING ADOPTION	ADOPTED SINCE 1/4/99
Fife	Dunfermline and the Coast			*
	West Villages		*
	Cupar and Howe of Fife		*
N. Ayrshire	Irvine/Kilwinning		*
	Garnock Valley		*
E. Ayrshire	East Ayrshire		*
S. Ayrshire.	South Ayrshire	*
Inverclyde	Inverclyde		*
N Lanarkshire	Northern Corridor		*
	Southern Area			*
S Lanarkshire	Cambuslang/Rutherglen	*
	Lower Clydesdale		*
	Hamilton District			*
E Renfrewshire	East Renfrewshire	*
Western Isles	Broadbay		*
	Uist and Benbecula		*
Highland	South and East Sutherland		*
	Loch Broom				*
	Nairnshire		*
	Inverness Area	*
Aberdeen City	Aberdeen City		*
Aberdeenshire	Consolidated Aberdeenshire			*
Angus	Angus			*
Scottish Borders	Minerals (Subject Plan)		*
Stirling	Stirling District			*
	Loch Lomond			*
Dumfries & Galloway	Wigtown	*
	Stewartry	*
	Nithsdale	*
	Annandale/Eskdale	*

 

AUTHORITY	LOCAL PLAN TITLE	IN PREPARATION	AT CONSULTATION	AWAITING ADOPTION	ADOPTED SINCE 1/4/99
Falkirk	Falkirk - 1st Review			*
	Polmont & District - 2nd Review		*
City Of Edinburgh	Rural West			*
East Lothian	East Lothian			*
Midlothian	Midlothian		*
Moray	Moray 2000			*
Perth & Kinross	Highland			*
	Perth - Alteration 1 (Housing Land)			*
	Strathearn			*

When Sarah Boyack announced the conclusions of the Strategic Roads Review, she indicated that the M74 Northern Extension would be promoted by the City of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire Councils. It is for these Councils to develop proposals for the procurement and funding of the scheme.

A number of companies market similar devices to the "Fuelmaster". The UK Government's Energy Technology Support Unit (ETSU) evaluates these products on an ongoing basis, and the makers of "Fuelmaster" should contact the Unit to have their product evaluated, if they have not already done so. As ETSU provides a UK wide service, there is no need for the Scottish Executive to undertake a separate evaluation.

The proposed allocations of external finance for the water industry for 2000-01 and 2001-02 are £216.9m and £218.0m respectively. These allocations, and the External Finance Limits (EFLs) for each Authority, can be confirmed only after the Budget Bill is passed for the financial year in question. Distribution amongst the three authorities is given in the table below: -

Authority	Provisional EFL 2000-01	Indicative EFL 2001-02
North of Scotland Water Authority	£50.0m	£70.0m
East of Scotland Water Authority	£76.0m	£66.0m
West of Scotland Water Authority	£90.9m	£82.0m
Total	£216.9m	£218.0m

It is planned that part of the external finance for 2001-02 will be covered by unused provision from earlier years, and this is consistent with the expenditure plans set out by the Minister for Finance on 6 October.

I am aware that concerns have been expressed about the impact of the UK Government's proposals for a climate change levy on particular areas and sectors. I am keeping this matter under close review.

EU Regulations permit Member States to apply for an increase in certain fish quotas if 75% of the EU quota has been utilised before 31 October. In the case of the quota for north sea nephrops, this position has been exceeded in the current year and the Scottish Executive has considered the relevant scientific advice on the sustainability of the stock in the circumstances of this year's fishery. We have concluded that an application for an increase in the quota would be appropriate and an application for an increase was made to the Commission on 5 October.

A total of £430,642 has been paid in compensation and related legal and valuation costs in settlement of two Blight Notices which were served on the Department in relation to the A78 Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenson bypass. There are no outstanding Blight Notices on any of the remaining trunk road projects within the scope of the review.

The Scottish Executive has full responsibility for matters relating to fisheries in Scotland. The Executive does not believe that compensation would be appropriate where the exhaustion of quotas make it necessary to close fisheries.