Chamber and committees

Over the years 2000-01 to 2005-06£3.225 million has been allocated to Glasgow City Council to take forward its responsibilitiesfor implementing the contaminated land regime. Under current expenditure plans thecouncil is eligible to access contaminated land grant amounting to £580,000 in eachof the financial years 2006‑07 and 2007-08.

Glasgow City Council has submitteda bid for a share of the £5 million being made available in 2007-08 for specificremediation projects targeted towards cleaning up contaminated land that is creatinga risk to public health or the wider environment. Decisions on the distributionof these resources are expected to be announced in December.

The allocation of resources from2008-09 onwards will depend on decisions taken as part of the 2007 spending review.

We have no plans to do so. Asprimary regulators for the contaminated land regime it is a matter for local authoritiesto identity and investigate suspected contaminated sites and to determine whethercontamination is causing, or is likely to cause, significant risk of harm to humanhealth assessed in the context of the current use and circumstances of the land.Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 provides local authorities withpowers to secure remediation as appropriate.

Under the Environment Act 1995all local authorities are required to regularly review and assess air quality intheir areas against objectives for a number of air pollutants, including lead. Ifa review indicates that any objective is unlikely to be achieved by the requireddate, the authority concerned must declare an Air Quality Management Area (AQMA)and produce an action plan outlining how it intends to tackle the issues identified.

Glasgow City Council has notto date declared any AQMAs for lead.

Under the EC Environmental NoiseDirective we are required to provide the European Commission by the end of 2007with an estimate of the number of people living in dwellings exposed to differentlevels of ambient noise from certain conurbations and transport sources. Householdsin Glasgow will be included in this information to the European Commission. The informationwill be made publicly available in line with the requirements of the Directive andwill flow from a strategic ambient noise mapping exercise of such noise sourceswhich the Executive is undertaking now.

Under the Environment Act 1995all local authorities are required to regularly review and assess air quality intheir areas against objectives for a number of air pollutants, including carbonmonoxide and benzene. If a review indicates that any objective is unlikely to beachieved by the required date, the authority concerned must declare an Air QualityManagement Area (AQMA) and produce an action plan indicating how it intends to tacklethe issues identified.

Glasgow City Council has notto date declared any AQMAs for carbon monoxide or benzene.

Under the Environment Act 1995all local authorities are required to regularly review and assess air quality intheir areas against objectives for a number of air pollutants, including nitrogendioxide. If a review indicates that any objective is unlikely to be achieved bythe required date, the authority concerned must declare an Air Quality ManagementArea (AQMA) and produce an action plan outlining how it intends to tackle the issuesidentified.

Glasgow City Council has declaredan AQMA for nitrogen dioxide covering the city centre. We do not hold details onthe actual number of households in the AQMA but further information, as well asa map of the streets and households covered by the AQMA, can be found on thecouncil’s website at:

www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/Environment/Pollution/Air/LocalAirQualityManagement.htm.

Glasgow City Council monitorsthe levels of airborne mercury in Glasgow and has found no levels that are considered to constitutehigh levels of pollution. The council has a duty to investigate any land withinits area that may be contaminated by pollutants and carry out any necessary remediationmeasures. They have not identified any such areas to date.

The information is not heldcentrally.

This information is not heldcentrally. Draft Scottish Planning Policy 11: Physical Activity and Open Space, which is out for consultation until 3 November, proposes a requirementon local authorities to undertake audits of open space in their areas and to setout a strategic approach to open space provision. Views are also being soughton the need for annualmonitoring of changes in local provision of green/open space.

Brownfield land is definedin Scottish Planning Policy 3 (SPP3) as land which has previously beendeveloped. The Scottish Executive does not hold centrally information on thequantity of brownfield land within local authority areas.

A significant proportion ofbrownfield land comprises land designated as vacant or derelict. Informationregarding vacant and derelict land is collected by the Executive and publishedannually in the voluntary Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey (SVDLS) andcan be seen as an indicator of the approximate amount of brownfield land in localauthority areas.

Results from the 2005 SVDLSindicate that out of a total of 853 sites in the Glasgow City Council area:

103 (12%) have lain vacantor derelict since 1980 or earlier

315 (37%) have lain vacantor derelict since 1985 or earlier

390 (46%) have lain vacantor derelict since 1990 or earlier

500 (59%) have lain vacantor derelict since 1995 or earlier.

Further information can befound in the 2005 SVDLS bulletin available on the internet at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/01/30155550/0.

Previous surveys are alsopublished on the Scottish Executive website.

Note that sites coveringless than 0.1 hectares are excluded from the SVDLS. The information presented includes only that vacantland which is located within an urban settlement with a population of 2,000 ormore.

Information from the 2006Survey will be published in January 2007.