- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Friday, 27 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Angus Robertson on 7 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government, regarding any potential impact on the health and wellbeing of people in Scotland, particularly people experiencing poverty, what discussions it has had with the UK Government in relation to safeguarding the future of free-to-air terrestrial TV and radio services in Scotland beyond the current licence period, which ends in 2034.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not had any conversations to date with the UK Government in relation to the future of broadcasting beyond 2034. Although decisions on broadcasting are reserved to the UK Government, the Scottish Government retains a strong interest, and we believe that broadcasting policy should be devolved to Scotland to ensure that proportionate decisions can be taken which recognise the requirements of viewers and listeners in Scotland. We continue to make clear, in our engagement with the UK Government and Ofcom, the importance of audiences across Scotland having continued access to the high-quality broadcast TV and radio services they rely on, and we would welcome any conversations with the UK Government to support this aim. We will also continue to engage with stakeholders, such as Arqiva who I am meeting on 6 December, who are driving work on this issue.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 2 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the suitability of the current Residential Visual Amenity Assessment distance of 3km for onshore wind farm developments, in light of the height of turbines now regularly being above 150m and, therefore, the distance that these developments have an impact reportedly being greater.
Answer
All applications are subject to site-specific assessments. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) states that potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors will be important considerations in the decision-making process. NPF4 Policy 11 requires project design and mitigation to demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker will be addressed. It is for the decision maker to determine what information is required to support an application, and where Residential Visual Amenity Assessment is provided, to determine the distance to be considered in that assessment.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 24 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Joe FitzPatrick on 2 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of the appropriateness of requiring 2km between wind turbines and settlement boundaries, in light of the height of wind turbine developments now regularly being above 150m, and what its position is on whether this distance should be increased where turbines are above 150m.
Answer
All applications are subject to site-specific assessments, recognising the different circumstances of individual development proposals, sites and wider locations. National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) states that, when considering development proposals for renewable energy generation, potential impacts on communities, nature and other receptors will be important considerations in the decision-making process. NPF4 Policy 11 requires project design and mitigation to demonstrate how impacts on communities and individual dwellings, including residential amenity, visual impact, noise and shadow flicker will be addressed.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 01 November 2023
-
Current Status:
Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the second Strategic Transport Projects Review in relation to projects in the south of Scotland.
Answer
Taken in the Chamber on 9 November 2023
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 11 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 30 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration it has given to reducing forestry grants in any areas where high demand for land for forestry has substantially increased land prices and, due to the availability of private investment, reduced the need for government support.
Answer
Private investment has always been a critical element of woodland creation delivery with public investment through grant support being necessary to reduce the up-front costs, given the long period before financial returns from forestry. Land prices and the financial attractiveness of forestry investments are affected by a range of factors of which grant rates are just one element.
Grant rates under the Forestry Grant scheme were set in 2014 and haven’t been increased since then. At that time the rates were set at a level to contribute 80% of the cost of planting and looking after trees until established. As a result of inflation since 2013, grant rates in 2023 now contribute a lower proportion of costs, in the range 50-60%.
Where woodland creation projects are receiving significant private sector investment, for example through sale of carbon credits, the value of the contribution from forestry grants can be reduced further.
Other UK countries and Ireland also offer comparable, or higher grant rates for woodland creation compared to Scotland.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 04 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 30 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to reconsider the Solway Firth as part of its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21544 on 4 October 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 03 October 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what consideration is given as part of its speed camera safety programme to (a) the impact of speeding vehicles on the health and wellbeing of communities located on trunk or main roads and (b) allocating speed camera programme resources to reduce such speeding.
Answer
Safety camera resources are primarily deployed in locations where they have the greatest potential to reduce injury collisions, and where there is evidence of both collisions and speeding. Safety cameras deployments are aimed at improving driver behaviours, leading to enhanced levels of speed limit compliance and ultimately resulting in fewer people being killed or injured on Scotland’s roads including trunk roads and main roads located within or close to local communities. This supports the delivery of Scotland’s Road Safety Framework to 2030 and its overarching vision of ensuring Scotland has the best road safety performance in the world.
An annual site prioritisation process is undertaken each year to determine new safety camera sites across our road network. This national exercise acts to ensure the right camera technology is in the right place at the right time. It involves a range of partners including the three regional safety camera units, all thirty-three road authorities and Police Scotland, and acts to identify potential new camera sites which meet the minimum criteria, while at the same time assessing the performance of existing enforcement strategies.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Gillian Martin on 4 October 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what further consideration is being given to the SW1 option, as part of its Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy.
Answer
SW1 was a draft plan option that was considered in the draft Sectoral Marine Plan for Offshore Wind Energy (SMP-OWE) and formed part of the consultation in 2019 and 2020. The option was removed before adoption of the final SMP-OWE.
The INTOG planning process, which considered the output of the adopted SMP-OWE, excluded the Solway Firth for the purpose of this plan. As the SMP-OWE review and INTOG planning processes have been combined to provide a full assessment of offshore wind across Scotland and consideration of cumulative and in-combination impact, that exclusion is still relevant.
The SMP-OWE sets out the work that would need to be carried out that would allow Scottish Ministers to reconsider the option.
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 29 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what total area of forest has been felled in each of the last seven years, broken down by (a) conifers and (b) broadleaf forestry.
Answer
The area of forest that has been felled in Scotland is not monitored on an annual basis. Scottish Forestry is the Scottish Government agency responsible for the regulation tree felling and monitors the area approved for felling each year. After approval for felling is issued, the landowner has flexibility to decide on the timing of felling.
Felling approvals are issued in a number of ways, including as standalone Felling Permissions, where felling is approved for a two year period, and Long-term Forest Plans, where felling is approved for a ten year period. Local Authorities may also approve felling as part of planning permission, but these figures are not collated. As approvals can be valid for over several years, the area of forest felled in a particular year is not available.
For the last seven years, including private sector approvals and forests managed by Forestry and Land Scotland, the areas approved for felling are as follows. Of this area, 96-98% is for conifer forest:
Financial year | Total felling area approved (hectares) |
2016-17 | 21,292 |
2017-18 | 20,989 |
2018-19 | 14,735 |
2019-20 | 13,337 |
2020-21 | 13,330 |
2021-22 | 16,365 |
2022-23 | 15,113 |
- Asked by: Finlay Carson, MSP for Galloway and West Dumfries, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
-
Date lodged: Wednesday, 20 September 2023
-
Current Status:
Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 28 September 2023
To ask the Scottish Government what calculations are carried out to assess the greenhouse gas emissions in areas of clear felling, including the impact of ground disturbance, and what the estimated emissions have been in clear-felled areas in each of the last seven years.
Answer
The greenhouse gas impacts of all forest operations, including the effects of ground disturbance, are accounted for in the modelling used for the GHG Inventory, both for the UK and for Scotland. The Inventory is published annually although impacts of specific operations such as clear felling are not reported separately. Recent work by Forest Research shows that the production cycle associated with timber adds significantly to the net greenhouse gas benefits of woodlands.
