Chamber and committees

We have not received anyrepresentations from Scottish Coal on this issue.

It would be for the company,in the first instance, to consider the feasibility of opening a deep mine. Anyproposal brought forward would need to be considered against the relevantstatutory provisions in Scottish planning legislation. These ensure that anylikely significant effects on the environment are taken into account in thedecision making process.

Public consultation would,of course, be vital for a project such as this and advertisement in the localpress and neighbour notification would be required. In addition, planningguidance encourages operators to work closely with local communities at thepre-application stage and the Executive would certainly encourage fullcommunity involvement for a project like this. We intend to introduce regulationsunder the Planning Act 2006 to put in place new statutory procedures forpre-application consultation for major developments.

Decisions on planningapplications are, in the first instance, a matter for planning authorities. Thecircumstances for notifying applicationsto the Scottish ministers is set out in Scottish ExecutiveDevelopment Department Circular 5/2007: Notification of Planning Applications, which has been placed in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 42716). Paragraphs 24 to 27 explain some of thecircumstances where ministers may call in applications for their owndetermination, although much will depend on the individual circumstances of specific cases. Applicants that arerefused planning permission also have a right of appeal to the Scottish ministers.

The current investment programmeto 2012 will see the delivery of £9.2 million investment in the A75. The StrategicTransport Projects Review will also examine the longer term needs of Scotland’s nationallystrategic transport network to develop the investment plan for 2012 to 2022.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted if required.

Local authority funding to promotecommunity safety and tackle antisocial behaviour, including that for Dumfries and Galloway, is notring-fenced for community wardens or other services but is for delivery againstspecific outcomes in local outcome agreements.

The current four-year fundingcycle comes to an end at 31 March 2008. Work is underway to develop a new reporting frameworkfor community safety and antisocial behaviour, with funding levels to be determinedfollowing the forthcoming spending review.

Analysis of the responses tothe consultation on snaring is currently underway and I expect to make an announcementto Parliament after summer recess.The non-confidential responsescan be viewed on the Executive website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/Recent/Q/Page/4.

A contract worth £9.2 million(excluding VAT) has been awarded to Graham Construction to build what is known asthe A75 Overtaking Opportunities scheme. The scheme consists of new overtaking opportunitiesat Barfil; at Newton Stewart, and at Planting End. Works started on 11 June 2007.

Inaddition, the following improvements to the A75 are currently being prepared.

Scheme	Cost £ Million*	Earliest Possible Start Date
Cairntop to Barlae	6.2	Summer 2008
Hardgrove to Kinmount	10.2	Early 2009
Dunragit Bypass	16.0	Spring 2009

Note:*Figures exclude VAT.

The Strategic Transport ProjectsReview will also examine the longer term needs of Scotland’s nationallystrategic transport network to develop the investment plan for 2012 to 2022.

The disposal of anynon-mineral wastes from deep coal mines, like most categories of waste, isgoverned by legislation deriving from the Environmental Protection Act 1990 andthe Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999, notably the Landfill (Scotland)Regulations 2003 and the Waste Incineration (Scotland) Regulations 2003. TheseRegulations derive ultimately from the European Waste Framework Directive(2006/12/EC) and related Community legislation.

Waste resulting fromprospecting, extraction, treatment and storage of mineral resources and theworking of quarries is, however, excluded from the Waste Framework Directiveand the related legislation, both in Community and Scots law. Instead, in thecase of any new deep coal mine in Scotland, it will be dealt with in legislation to transposethe Mining Waste Directive (2006/21/EC). This Directive must be transposed by 1 May 2008: the Executive is considering means of doing so.

No. Professor Lorne Crerar’sindependent review of scrutiny of public services in Scotland is dueto be published at the end of August 2007. Further information on the review is available at www.scrutinyreview.org.

We have made clear that we arecommitted to freezing council tax levels at 2007-08 levels and we will be workingclosely with local government to achieve this.

The funding to be made availableto local authorities, including Dumfries and Galloway Council, in 2008-09 and 2009-10will be confirmed later this year, following the outcome of spending review.

During the course of this ParliamentI will consider the need for secondary legislation on a range of animal health andwelfare issues as proposed by the previous administration under the Animal Healthand Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006. I anticipate that regulations on the licensingof animal dealers will be laid before Parliament in the autumn. Work is also underwayon animal health regulations to licence animal gatherings so as to introduce biosecuritymeasures for disease control purposes.

Whilst I have no definite timescale in mind I will also be looking at the need for animal welfare legislationon a range of issues including the licensing of animal sanctuaries, livery yardsand riding stables, the keeping of wild animals in circuses, the operation of petfairs, the welfare of retired racing greyhounds and the use of electric shock collars.