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The decision to accept Scottish Power Transmission’s proposals for Condition 19 of the Beauly Denny Consent – the Stirling Visual Impact Mitigation Scheme - was announced to the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday 7 December 2011. This is one among several conditions which must be discharged before Scottish Power can go ahead with the build of their section of the Beauly Denny 400kV overhead power line.

In coming to a decision on Condition 19, Stirling Council’s position was fully taken into account, and Scottish Power Transmission have been asked to undertake further measures to mitigate the overhead line by:

Undergrounding the Fallin to Glenbervie 132kV line.

The development of the Central Scotland Green Networks initiative in the area of the line to provide compensatory mitigation in the way of landscape, civic amenity and biodiversity improvements.

The Minister for Energy, Enterprise and Tourism has invited Stirling Council to meet with him over the coming weeks to discuss how the Central Scotland Green Networks measures should be taken forward.

The introduction of the Innovation and Investment Fund (IIF) this year, replaced the previous Affordable Housing Investment Programme budget. Under the IIF, the benchmark subsidy figure which applies to applications from housing associations is £40,000 per unit. The Scottish Government will retain flexibility to consider higher subsidy levels e.g. in remote rural areas or where projects require additional features to meet particular needs.

The Scottish Government wants improved mobile coverage (including voice and data) across the whole of Scotland, particularly in rural areas where coverage is poor. Current coverage levels across Scotland are well behind the UK average.

The Scottish Government currently has no powers to require improved levels of mobile coverage as telecoms regulation in the UK is reserved, with Ofcom being responsible for the license conditions under which mobile operators operate. Currently, all UK mobile operators are meeting the UK coverage obligations contained within their respective license conditions.

The Scottish Government has in the past and will continue to press UK Government and Ofcom to increase mobile coverage obligations in Scotland, specifically to include a minimum target coverage level for Scotland, at least equivalent to the UK target.

As set out in Scotland’s Digital Future: A Strategy for Scotland, the Scottish Government has made it clear it expects all of Scotland, including rural Scotland, to benefit from the roll out of 4G mobile services. The delay to the auction is therefore concerning, particularly as the roll out of 4G mobile services could play a significant role in improving broadband coverage across Scotland.

As the specific details of the auction design are not yet known, it is therefore difficult to carry out an assessment of the impact of the delay on the (i) economy, (ii) rural economy or the (iii) broadband strategy. As far as we are aware, no detailed assessment has been made at a UK or Scottish level on the impact of the delay. However, Ofcom has indicated that it does not expect the postponement of the auction to significantly delay the availability of new services to customers.

As set out in Scotland’s Digital Future: A Strategy for Scotland, the Scottish Government has made it clear it expects all of Scotland, including rural Scotland, to benefit from the roll out of 4G mobile services. The delay to the auction is therefore concerning, particularly as the roll out of 4G mobile services could play a significant role in improving broadband coverage across Scotland.

As set out in Scotland’s Digital Future: A Strategy for Scotland, the Scottish Government has made it clear it expects all of Scotland, including rural Scotland, to benefit from the roll out of 4G mobile services. The Scottish Government currently has no powers to require improved levels of mobile coverage as telecoms regulation is reserved to the UK Government, with Ofcom being responsible for the license conditions under which mobile operators operate.

The Scottish Government’s position on the roll out of 4G mobile services was clearly articulated in the response to the Ofcom consultation in June 2011. The key actions identified were: that the coverage obligation should be increased to at least 98% and should apply to each constituent nation of the UK, i.e. 98% of Scotland; and that the target date should be accelerated to 2015.

A copy of the full response to the consultation can be accessed here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2011/06/14092555/0.

Responsibility for mobile spectrum and for the auction of spectrum in the (i) 800 and (ii) 2,600 MHz band across the UK rests with Ofcom. The Scottish Government meets regularly with Ofcom and the Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure and Capital Investment last met the Chief Executive, Ed Richards, on 9 November 2011.

Ofcom has advised that the delay is due to the need to carry out further consultation with industry on the design of the auction but that it remains confident that the spectrum auction will take place in the second half of 2012.

The Scottish Government has so far announced it will invest up to £75.5 million for the accelerated roll-out of next generation broadband infrastructure in the current parliamentary session. This includes a £50 million Next Generation Digital Fund announced as part of the Spending Review in September 2011, and up to £25.5 million EU funding in the current structural funds programming period. Of this EU funding, up to £20 million of this is subject to formal approval by the European Commission, which the Scottish Government expects to be given next month. The Scottish Government will add the £68.8 million allocated to Scotland earlier this year for broadband delivery by the UK Government to its own planned investment.

The Scottish Government has so far announced it will invest up to £75.5 million for the accelerated roll-out of next generation broadband infrastructure. This comprises:

£50 million from its Next Generation Digital Fund, which will come from the Rural Affairs and Environment portfolio budget, as much of the spend is anticipated to be in rural areas, and

up to £25.5 million EU funding, which is additional to and separate from the core Scottish Government budget and therefore does not feature in any portfolio budget.

The responsibility for broadband infrastructure and allocating this budget rests within the Infrastructure and Capital Investment portfolio. The Scottish Government will add the £68.8 million allocated to Scotland for broadband delivery by the UK Government to its own planned investment.