Chamber and committees

All representations submitted within statutory timeframes are logged such that the material issues raised within such representations can be taken fully into account prior to a determination being made on an application.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency is not planning to review the European Water Framework Directive.

The Water Framework Directive is implemented in Scotland by the Water Environment and Water Services (Scotland) Act 2003 and the Water Environment (River Basin Management Planning: Further Provision) (Scotland) Regulations 2013. Any review of this legislation would be carried out by the Scottish Government.

Through the Water Framework Directive’s River Basin Management Planning process we continue to protect and improve the water environment in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s rivers, lochs and coastal waters.

The Scottish Government has no plans for a Council Tax revaluation.

The Scottish Government has no plans to fund a fish counter on the River Dee .

The Scottish Government has no plans to fund a fish counter on the River Dee. The width of the lower Dee means that the installation of a fish counter to assess the size of the salmon stock is not feasible.

The Wild Salmon Strategy Implementation Plan Delivery Group was established following publication of the Implementation Plan. Information on membership of the group is available on the Scottish Government website along with a contact email address.

Each year, NatureScot undertakes activity to promote the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC) with specific campaigns across a range of topics and settings, including National Nature Reserves. This work has been complemented in recent years by a greater co-ordination of messaging through the visitor management strategy led by VisitScotland: https://www.visitscotland.org/about-us/what-we-do/working-in-partnership/visitor-management-plan . In 2023, NatureScot also refreshed the SOAC education resources for schools and young people.

Wildlife disturbance is a key element of current campaign activity with a range of key messages promoted to support the recently revised guidance prepared by the National Access Forum on “Managing public access in areas of wildlife sensitivity in Scotland” : https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/doc/guidance-managing-public-access-areas-wildlife-sensitivity-scotland .

Social media plays an increasingly significant part of NatureScot’s campaign work, with the SOAC campaign in spring 2023 delivering 1.7 million social media impressions and 51,000 plays of videos on wildlife disturbance at Forvie National Nature Reserve. NatureScot also work closely to align and promote messages with a range of governing bodies for these activities. They have contributed funding to the Ramblers #RespectProtectEnjoy films which are aimed at young people, with key messages on leaving no trace, avoiding lighting fires and wildlife disturbance. These films have delivered over 8.6 million impressions and 161,000 full viewings.

A range of legislation makes up the regulatory framework for the safety of grid scale battery energy storage systems (BESS). Health and safety is a reserved matter with applicable UK legislation including: the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002; the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989; and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. Relevant regulations are updated as and when deemed necessary, with input from all relevant authorities.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s regulator in this regard, and their remit includes health and safety in the workplace as well as public assurance on safety matters. HSE considers there to be a robust regulatory regime covering the fire risks associated with BESS.

NatureScot undertakes a rolling programme of monitoring of the natural features for which our protected areas have been designated. This programme of Site Condition Monitoring looks at around 5,500 such features on nearly 1,900 protected areas across Scotland on a 10-year cycle. This includes all National Nature Reserves (NNRs). The assessment includes recording negative impacts on these natural features, which includes ‘recreational’ pressures where they occur.

The published Official Statistics for 2023 ( https://www.nature.scot/doc/proportion-scotlands-protected-sites-favourable-condition-2023 ) indicated that a total of 308 Sites of Special Scientific Interest features are impacted negatively by a ‘recreational’ pressure. 47 of these features were on NNRs. There are 35 reported instances of recreational activities impacting bird features on NNRs and two impacting otters. Overall, 118 instances of negative recreational impact on birds occur on Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and four in relation to otters. Further information on pressures and feature condition can be found at https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/ProtectedNatureSites/ . Recreational disturbance is the fourth most common negative pressure recorded on protected areas after invasive species, over-grazing and water-management.

Where there are potentially significant pressures that have been highlighted or suspected, NatureScot may put in place targeted monitoring to assess likely impacts and inform interventions. On NatureScot managed NNRs examples include monitoring access around breeding terns and seal haul-outs on Forvie NNR, bird numbers and incidents of waterborne access at Muir of Dinnet and Loch Leven NNR and breeding success of black-throated divers at Beinn Eighe NNR. This has informed the development of Local Access Guidance for these sites to manage pressures, for instance by restricting access to certain areas/zones at the most sensitive periods. At present, no specific access measures are considered necessary for otters.

The effectiveness of these measures are reviewed each year with changes made as required in accordance with the recently revised guidance prepared by the National Access Forum on “Managing public access in areas of wildlife sensitivity in Scotland” : https://www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot/doc/guidance-managing-public-access-areas-wildlife-sensitivity-scotland .

The Scottish Government has allocated (a) £42m in 2019-20, (b) £42m in 2020-21 (c) £52m in 2021-22 (d) £63m in 2022-23 (e) £61m in 2023-24 and (f) £88.5m in 2024-25 to local authorities through the general capital grant to invest in flood protection and resilience measures.