Seòmar agus comataidhean

The consolidated SPP sets out existing planning policy taken from the current Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) and National Planning Policy Guideline (NPPG) series. Advice, contextual information and duplication have been removed to enable a focus on the policy.

The consolidation of the SPP and NPPG series was announced in October 2008. A series of pre-consultation meetings were held with key stakeholders in January and February 2009, supplemented with direct meetings between government officials and stakeholders. A series of consultation events were held around Scotland in April and May 2009 to explain the draft SPP. Direct meetings between officials and stakeholders have continued during and after the consultation period.

The single Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) is a consolidation of existing policy rather than a review of policy. Scottish ministers intend to notify Parliament by means of a letter to the Convenor of the Local Government and Communities Committee prior to publication of the consolidated SPP.

Yes.

One hundred and ninety-six responses were received following the consultation on the draft consolidated Scottish Planning Policy. Eighteen of these responses were from business groups and 28 were from environmental organisations.

Thermal generation guidance for Scotland will be based on the revised section 36 guidance for the development of thermal power stations which was published in late 2008 for consultation. In addition to this consultation process, we have also had on-going engagement with Scottish based stakeholders on the development of carbon capture and storage through a series of seminars and meetings. The UK consultation invited respondents with a particular interest in Scottish Government policy to copy their responses to Scottish ministers. We have also been working closely with DECC on the current consultation and held a workshop where Scottish Government and others discussed the consultation with DECC officials. Scottish ministers are currently considering the consultation responses and their decisions will be further informed by responses to the UK consultation.

Under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, Scottish ministers are obliged to accept and consider all thermal power station applications in excess of 50 megawatts of generating capacity. Each application is subject to statutory consultation with the determination taking into account all material issues, including the thermal guidance applicable at the time the decision is made.

All thermal power station applications over 50 megawatts in generating capacity will be considered by Scottish ministers under section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Following a request from Ayrshire Power Limited, Scottish Ministers provided a scoping opinion on 20 March 2009 on the Hunterston project, which included a wide range of consultee advice on the outline design. The developer is currently working in partnership with stakeholders to develop an application which addresses the relevant planning, community and legislative issues, and we have recommended to the developer that they take into account in any application our draft guidance and the answer to question S3W-24912 on 17 June 2009.

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.

The Scottish Government will issue its final thermal guidance later this year following the completion of the UK consultation process. This thermal guidance will set out policy on the introduction of CCS levels to new and existing power plant, in terms of timing and capacity.

The Scottish Government held a consultation on its draft thermal guidance, which included questions on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and Carbon Capture Readiness (CCR), which closed earlier this year. Following the consultation, we have had on-going engagement with stakeholders on the development of CCS through workshops and meetings. We have decided to await the completion of the UK consultation process on clean coal before issuing our final thermal generation guidance. This will ensure that the regulatory framework in broad terms is similar across the UK as a whole, with the overall objective of encouraging CCS deployment and the objective of decarbonisation of the electricity sector by 2030. In the meantime, we have set out our position on CCR for all thermal stations above 300MW.

This was set out in an answer to question S3W-24912 on 17 June 2009. 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.

The Scottish Government will issue its final thermal guidance later this year following the completion of the UK consultation process. This thermal guidance will set out policy on the introduction of CCS levels to new and existing power plant, in terms of timing and capacity.