- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 16 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what approximate number of buses are (a) equipped and (b) not equipped with smartcard-enabled ticket machines.
Answer
The programme to deliver smart enabled ticket machines is 94% complete with 6,696 ticket machines deployed from a total of 7,013. There are 317 ticket machines still to be deployed.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what recent representations it has received from local authorities regarding the planning gain mechanism.
Answer
The Scottish Government recently published Planning Circular 1/2010: Planning Agreements. The Circular was subject to public consultation in 2009 with 22 planning authorities responding to the consultation.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the sufficiency of tests used to determine the appropriateness of using the planning gain mechanism and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
Scottish Government guidance on the use of planning agreements is set out in Planning Circular 1/2010:
Planning Agreements. The guidance sets out a series of policy tests which are to be met before a planning agreement is sought. Planning authorities are expected to satisfy themselves that a planning agreement is both necessary and justified in any particular instance.
In developing the guidance in Circular 1/2010 the Scottish Government undertook extensive public consultation. All views expressed were taken into account and the guidance, including the policy tests, has been generally welcomed by both public and private sector interests.
Planning Circular 1/2010: Planning Agreements can be viewed on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/01/27103054/0.
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- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has received indicating that the planning gain mechanism is open to abuse.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not received any representations indicating that the planning gain mechanism is open to abuse.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has seconded representatives from local government to examine the planning gain mechanism and, if not, whether it plans to do so.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not seconded representatives from local government to examine the planning gain mechanism and has no current plans to do so. We are working with COSLA and other local government groups on wider work related to blockages to development.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is on the importance of the planning gain mechanism to local authorities in developing their communities.
Answer
Planning gain or developer contributions are generally obtained through the use of planning agreements. Planning agreements have a limited but useful role to play in the development management process where they can be used to overcome obstacles to the grant of planning permission.
Scottish Government policy on the use of planning agreements is set out in the recently published Planning Circular 1/2010: Planning Agreements.
Planning Circular 1/2010: Planning Agreements can be viewed on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/01/27103054/0.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is considering reviewing the planning gain mechanism and, if so, what specific changes it is considering; what impact these changes will have, and when the review will be published.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-32439 on 15 April 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by Stewart Stevenson on 15 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has seconded representatives from development companies to examine the planning gain mechanism.
Answer
The Scottish Government has seconded two members of staff from GVA Grimley. Their remit is to examine blockages to development in the current economic climate and explore alternative approaches to addressing these. Part of this work involves considering alternative approaches to securing infrastructure provision in addition to planning agreements.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicles it and its agencies (a) own and (b) lease, broken down by fuel type.
Answer
The following table gives details of the number of vehicles owned by the Scottish Government, broken down by fuel type:
| Fuel Type | Number of Vehicles |
| Diesel | 181 |
| Dual fuel (LPG / petrol) | 5 |
| Hybrid (petrol / electric) | 24 |
| Petrol (solely run on petrol) | 2 |
The Scottish Government does not currently lease any vehicles.
Information is not centrally held by the Scottish Government for any of its agencies.
- Asked by: Alison McInnes, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Liberal Democrats
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Date lodged: Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 13 April 2010
To ask the Scottish Executive how many vehicles it and its agencies purchased in each of the last five years, broken down by fuel type.
Answer
The following table gives details of the number of vehicles purchased by the Scottish Government in the last five financial years, broken down by fuel type:
| Year | Number of Diesel | Number of Hybrid (Petrol / Electric) |
| 2005-06 | 17 | 1 |
| 2006-07 | 19 | 2 |
| 2007-08 | 26 | 18 |
| 2008-09 | 13 | 1 |
| 2009-10 | 25 | 2 |
Information is not centrally held by the Scottish Government for any of its agencies.
