June 13th, 2006 by ie-adminNew maps produced by Scottish Environment LINK demonstrate the alarming implications of the Scottish Executive’s planning reforms for the first time.
The maps reveal which areas of Scotland could be in line for major developments, including nuclear waste dumps, waste incinerators, nuclear power stations, landfill sites, prisons and electricity transmission lines if amendments to the new planning legislation are not approved tomorrow.
Proposals in the Planning etc (Scotland) Bill for the National Planning Framework mean that the Executive could approve in principle any type of development without opportunities for local communities to object.
Landscape campaigners are challenging Scotland’s tourist bosses to cease their attack on Scotland’s First Minister about who to support in the World Cup and spend more time positively supporting Scotland’s own world class player – its landscape.
Landscape organisations have welcomed the Scottish Executive’s establishment of a Scottish Landscape Forum and will be devoting their full support to making it a success, urging other bodies and interests, such as VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise, to participate fully.
Local communities have, yet again, had their requests for real rights denied by the majority of the Scottish Parliament’s communities committee. The Stage 1 report published today concludes that a majority of the committee do not see any need for communities, local authorities or individuals to have the right to participate in a formal examination of the National Planning Framework. This will enable any current or future government to establish the principle of development for national developments without the risk of public challenge. As it stands, the legislation will allow Scottish Ministers to designate any individual development or development type as a national development and include it in the National Planning Framework. This could include energy developments, waste disposal sites, major areas of urban expansion, roads and railways. Once included in the Framework the principle of the development cannot be challenged.
We welcome the Government’s announcement to set Scottish targets to reduce emissions. We have long argued that this is a key part of ensuring that Scotland makes progress in tackling climate change.
“We will now be keeping a close eye on the implementation of the strategy to ensure that it results in real cuts in climate emissions from Scotland.”
There has been varied success, in recent years, in improving environmental trends in Scotland’s farmed environment. While it is clear from the audit that some environmental issues, such as bathing water quality, have been improved during the last few years, a range of important environmental issues such as the contribution of agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions, water abstraction and pollution, and habitat and species decline remain a major concern. The new Scottish Rural Development Plan gives us a perfect opportunity to create and improve the means of tackling these environmental priorities in the Scottish countryside. The State of Scotland’s Farmed Environment” gives us the background information to do this”.
Speaking at the reception, Fred Edwards (LINK President) will call the environment movement ‘prophetic’. He will argue that public perception about environmental issues has become ‘the stuff of headlines’ and the ‘There is the dawning of a wider realization of the seriousness of these matters’. He will praise the work done by the Executive on the Strategic Environment Assessment Act, which ‘places a substantial tool in the hands of those charged with caring for our environment’ and applaud the launch of ‘Choosing Our Future’ that will help to bring about real sustainability….
The delivery of a large investment programme requires good co-ordination and communication between the government agencies, economic regulators and Scottish Water. The resignation of Scottish Water’s chair signals an ongoing conflict between these agencies, which could prove damaging for the environment, biodiversity and the Scottish people.
A coalition of 36 Scottish environmental organisations and 1,150 Scottish community councils will today hand a petition to Parliament demanding a rethink on the draft Planning Bill.
The action has been prompted by the fear that the new National Planning Framework (NPF), included in the draft Bill, could allow Scotland to become a dumping ground for large-scale and potentially damaging developments in the UK.
Despite repeated consultations and overwhelming public support for the issue of limited Third Party Rights of Appeal (TPRA), the Executive has failed to deliver real rights for communities. At the same time, the Executive has made it easier to push through national developments without the risk of public challenge.
Furthermore, the proposals for scrutinising the National Planning Framework deny local communities an opportunity to challenge significant developments that could affect their environment and quality of life.
These two issues have been the source of such significant concern that Scottish Environment LINK and the Association of Scottish Community Councils have joined together to lodge a petition with the Parliament, which has already attracted thousands of signatures.
LINK welcomes the joint proposal from the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats for cross-party consensus on countering global warming and new measures to cut greenhouse gases.
