Chamber and committees

We place great importance on supporting and increasing economic development opportunities throughout Scotland, including Hawick and the Borders. The prime source of investment for supporting and increasing that development, alongside the private sector, will come from the local authority and Scottish Enterprise.

The Government Economic Strategy sets out how we will focus on creating a more successful country through increasing sustainable economic growth. The Strategy sets out an approach to growth which is cohesive across Scotland''s regions.

The Scottish Government does not hold information on local authorities who take on responsibility for the cleaning of beaches in their areas. However, several local authorities are confirmed as cleansing their Amenity and Recreational beaches, as part of the beach award programmes administered by Keep Scotland Beautiful. These are: Aberdeen; Aberdeenshire; Angus; Argyll and Bute; City of Edinburgh; Dundee; East Lothian; Fife; Highland; North Ayrshire; Scottish Borders; Shetland, and South Ayrshire.

In March 2006, Scottish ministers published the strategy, Better bathing waters: meeting the challenges of the revised Bathing Water Directive in Scotland. This included proposals for tackling litter pollution at designated bathing waters. Designated bathing waters are those beaches most heavily used by the Scottish public.

Measures proposed in the strategy have since been implemented through the Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 and through the launch of a grant scheme to fund community support of local designated sites.

The Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 places a duty on various bodies to clear litter from their land. For public beaches, the duty body is the relevant council. How local authorities go about fulfilling that duty and what resources they use is entirely up to them, provided they meet the cleanliness standards in the Code of Practice on Litter and Refuse (COPLAR).

A local authority''s duties only extend to the high-water mark and only on public land - although they can require private owners to take appropriate action through declaring a Litter Control Area under the EPA 1990. Below this level, duties are generally reserved, although the Scottish Government has now extended local authority responsibility to areas designated as bathing waters under the Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 (from 2011).

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is responsible for monitoring and ensuring compliance with the water quality standards of the Bathing Water Directive (76/16/EEC) at 80 bathing waters designated by Scottish ministers under the Bathing Waters (Scotland) Regulations 2008 during the Scottish bathing season (1 June to 15 September). SEPA also has a role in terms of monitoring litter and other waste at such sites.

The Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) provides an objective led, multi-criteria framework approach to consider possible options to address evidence based transport challenges. Options are assessed against five established STAG criteria of environment, safety, economy, integration, and accessibility and social inclusion, as well as cost to government and risk and uncertainty.

Full details of the appraisal methodology is given in STAG, published by Transport Scotland in 2008, copies of which are available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 45951) and online at http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk/stag/home.

Automated traffic counters monitor traffic volumes on the A1 at Grantshouse and on the A68 at Pathhead. The most recently available figures are for 2007 and show average annual daily Flows for heavy goods vehicles at these locations as follows;

A1 “ 1711 vehicles per day.

A68 “ 734 vehicles per day.

The A697 is a local road under the jurisdiction of Scottish Borders Council. The council holds the relevant traffic statistics for this road.

The accident rate on the A1 between the Scottish-English border and Dunbar broken down by single carriageway and dual carriageway sections is:

	Single Carriageway Accident Rate (per 100 million Vehicle km)	Dual Carriageway Accident Rate (per 100 million Vehicle km)
A1 between the Scottish-English Border and Dunbar	18.96	13.61
Scottish Trunk Road Average	19.80	9.1

 

The Strategic Transport Projects Review is examining the longer term needs of Scotland''s national strategic transport network. This includes consideration of the A1 as part of the transport corridor between Edinburgh and the north east of England and beyond.

The fatal accident rate on the A1 between the Scottish-English border and Dunbar, broken down by single and dual carriageway sections, is as follows;

	Single Carriageway Fatal Accident Rate (per 100 Million Vehicle km)	Dual Carriageway Fatal Accident Rate (per 100 Million Vehicle km)
A1 between the Scottish-English Border and Dunbar	2.58	0
Scottish Trunk Road Average	1.11	0.32