Chamber and committees

A total funding package of £528,695 was made available to support the start-up costs of Glencraft (Aberdeen) Ltd, a new social enterprise launched in April 2010, following the closure of the former supported workshop in November 2009. This included a grant of £266,195 from Scottish Enterprise, a loan of £150,000 from Social Investment Scotland and use of premises, which belong to Aberdeen City Council, rent-free for one year. Scottish Enterprise has provided ongoing business advice to the new company since April 2010.

The areas of new native woodland planted on private land in 2010-11, broken down by Forestry Commission Scotland Conservancy area, are shown in the following table.

In addition, there was 401 hectares of new planting of native species on the national forest estate in 2010-11, but this is not recorded by Conservancy area.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01330 on 15 July 2011. 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/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

A strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the offshore wind support component of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan (N-RIP) was undertaken, in accordance with the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Environmental Report was published for consultation in September 2010.

Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) of the N-RIP was completed in early 2011. The conclusions of the HRA were that the N-RIP would not affect the integrity of Natura sites/interests. However, this conclusion is dependent on the mitigation measures identified in the SEA Environmental Report being implemented during project delivery.

Any projects progressed at the sites identified in the N-RIP will be subject to screening under the relevant environmental impact assessment (EIA) regulations and, where a likely significant environmental impact is anticipated, an EIA will be undertaken.

The purpose of the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan (N-RIP) is to provide onshore support, with the focus on Scottish ports and harbours, for the development of a globally competitive offshore renewables industry based in Scotland. The focus of the N-RIP is on the feasibility of, or potential for, economic investment in this regard. Inclusion in the N-RIP therefore would not be a material consideration in determining the application for a power station at Hunterston.

With regard to the current application for a multi-fuel power station at Hunterston, this application is ongoing and under the consideration of Scottish Ministers. The applicant, Ayrshire Power Ltd, is working on additional information to support their application which will be submitted shortly. Upon submission this will be subject to full public consultation and representations will be sought from members of the public.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-01330 on 15 July 2011. 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/MAQASearch/QAndMSearch.aspx.

The draft Electricity Generation Policy Statement was published as a draft last November (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/11/17094217/0). It sets out the Scottish Government's position on the role of renewable electricity and fossil fuel thermal generation (coal, gas, oil) in Scotland's future energy mix. That draft statement is subject to a Strategic Environmental Assessment, and is now currently open to consultation.

On 30 June, we published The Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland 2011 (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/917/0118728.pdf) which reflects the challenge of our new target to meet an equivalent of 100% demand for electricity from renewable energy by 2020, as well as our target of 11% renewable heat. The Draft Electricity Generation Policy Statement will be updated in the context of the Routemap and the 100% renewables target. That work is underway and the update will be published later this year.

A breakdown of these figures in the form requested is not readily available at present.

Forestry Commission Scotland records show that the total amount of private sector woodland approved for felling without a replanting condition was 267 hectares in 2009-10 and 119 hectares in 2010-11. However, certain categories of felling (including felling associated with planning permission and very small scale felling) are exempt from felling licence requirements, and no central records are held on exempt felling.

Provisional statistics from the National Forest Inventory, published in May 2011, indicated that Scotland has 1.384 million hectares of forest, or 17.8% forest cover, a slight increase on the previous estimate. This provisional report also noted an estimated figure for woodland removal due to wind farm development and habitat restoration in the period 2000 to 2010 of around 10 - 20 thousand hectares. Forestry Commission Scotland is commissioning work in 2011-12 to determine more accurately the area of permanent woodland loss due to wind farm development and habitat restoration.

Work is also continuing on the Native Woodland Survey of Scotland, which will provide maps and estimates of recent losses of native and ancient woodland related to development and other causes.

(a) The existing legislation, the Allotment (Scotland) Act 1922, does not preclude the sale of surplus produce from an allotment.

(b) In community gardens, the sale of small quantities of surplus produce is not prohibited by specific legislation on community gardens or allotments. However, any Local Authority bye-laws applicable in the area of the allotment and the terms of the lease should be considered and the consequences of the sale arrangement in terms of tax, rates, insurance, health and safety, food hygiene, traceability of produce, designation of land use, potential security of tenure as an agricultural holding and any other legal consequences which may flow from that arrangement should be considered.

We intend to publish a National Planning Framework Monitoring Report after the summer recess. An announcement on the revision of the National Planning Framework will be made at that time.