Question reference: S6W-02022
- Asked by: Christine Grahame, MSP for Midlothian South, Tweeddale and Lauderdale, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 29 July 2021
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Current status: Answered by Tom Arthur on 24 August 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S5W-26335 by Kevin Stewart on 25 November 2019, whether it will consider amending the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 to curtail peat extraction permissible under current licences.
Answer
The Scottish Government has no plans at this time to amend the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 in order to limit peat extraction for those with valid planning permission. The Planning (Scotland) Act 2019 does however include a requirement for the Scottish Ministers to have regard to the desirability of preserving peatland when preparing the fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4). The Scottish Government’s NPF4 Position Statement (Published November 2020) outlines an intention to rebalance the planning system so that climate change is a guiding principle for all plans and decisions, and states that the Scottish Government will aim to restrict commercial peat extraction for horticulture purposes.