Chamber and committees

Environmental justice is concerned with addressing those inequalities that affect the quality of people's lives, which is a central concern of social justice. The goals of environmental justice are reflected in many of the social justice commitments cited in A Partnership for a Better Scotland.

I can announce that the Scottish ministers have granted consent on this proposal in terms of section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. This proposal was submitted in June 2002 and required a number of consents and licences from the Scottish ministers. The consultation on the section 36 consent ended in October 2002. The process revealed a range of environmental issues which required careful consideration. The consent carries conditions requiring a range of monitoring and mitigation measures designed to safeguard natural heritage and local interests.

We have allocated £15 million capital resources over the three years 2003-04 to 2005-06 to help local authorities carry out their statutory responsibilities under the contaminated land regime which came into force in July 2000.The funds will help local authorities to identify and investigate sites, take forward enforcement action and, in cases where they are unable to identify those responsible for the contamination, carry out remediation work at their own hand.Together with the resources we announced in February 2001 and April 2002, over the six years 2000-01 to 2005-06 the Executive has made capital allocations totalling £24.7 million available to local authorities for work associated with addressing the problem of contaminated land. In addition, a further £3.9 million was issued to 15 local authorities last November for specific projects aimed at cleaning up derelict and contaminated land that is causing public health risks or blighting communities.The distribution of capital allocations to local authorities is shown in the following table.

	Allocations for2003-04	Allocations for2004-05	Allocations for2005-06(Indicative)
	£000	£000	£000
Aberdeen City	69	69	69
Aberdeenshire	68	68	68
Angus	98	98	98
Argyll and Bute	72	72	72
Clackmannanshire	50	50	50
Dumfries and Galloway	163	163	163
Dundee City	142	142	142
East Ayrshire	181	181	181
East Dunbartonshire	61	61	61
East Lothian	57	57	57
East Renfrewshire	50	50	50
Edinburgh (City of)	181	181	181
Eilean Siar	72	72	72
Falkirk	126	126	126
Fife	325	325	325
Glasgow City	580	580	580
Highland	326	326	326
Inverclyde	57	57	57
Midlothian	133	133	133
Moray	50	50	50
North Ayrshire	194	194	194
North Lanarkshire	662	662	662
Orkney Islands	50	50	50
Perth and Kinross	77	77	77
Renfrewshire	300	300	300
Scottish Borders	53	53	53
Shetland	0	0	0
South Ayrshire	69	69	69
South Lanarkshire	281	281	281
Stirling	92	92	92
West Dunbartonshire	101	101	101
West Lothian	260	260	260
Scotland Total	5,000	5,000	5,000

Following a review of breakfast services, the Breakfast Services Grant has been increased from £250,000 to £300,000 and will be awarded through the Scottish Community Diet Project who will distribute the grant in deprived communities, working in partnership with local authorities.

The Scottish Community Renewables Initiative advisory service (SCRI), launched last summer in partnership with the Energy Saving Trust and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, provides a network of expert advisers across Scotland. This service has been augmented by the launch this month of an SCRI website and new Scottish Executive funding for household and community renewables projects. Consequently, information and advice about the availability of grants for solar/photovoltaic installations is now more widely available and easier to access.

I can announce that the Scottish ministers have granted consent on this proposal in terms of section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989. Additionally, this consent carries deemed planning permission in terms of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997.This proposal will make a meaningful contribution to the delivery of the Scottish Climate Change Programme and equates to approximately 10% of the additional renewable generation needed to meet Scotland's 2010 target.

The Executive collects data on the contribution that the public sector as a whole is making to Scottish greenhouse gas emissions. However, no estimate has been made of the contribution that overall action by Scottish local authorities will make to future levels of greenhouse gas emissions. Given that action by Scottish local authorities can include voluntary measures, it would be difficult to estimate the changes in emission levels that such actions may bring about.

The Executive is working in partnership with the UK Government to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions required by the Kyoto Protocol and in moving towards the UK domestic goal of a 20% reduction in CO₂ emissions by 2010.Local authorities have an important role in delivering this commitment and can contribute in a number of ways. Along with COSLA and SOLACE, the Executive published last year Community Leadership and Climate Change in Scotland, which offers guidance to chief executives of Scottish local authorities on action they can take to tackle climate change. The Executive is happy to work with local authorities to develop the response strategies outlined in that document. In this respect, I was pleased earlier this year to have been able to support publication of Aberdeen City Council's Climate Change Action Plan.Another avenue which local authorities may explore is through the Scottish Energy Efficiency Office (SEEO) which works with public and private sector organisations to improve their energy efficiency. Local authorities are eligible for a free energy audit and can also benefit from the Scottish Clean Energy Demonstration Scheme. This scheme offers grants to assist and encourage the development, demonstration, application and replication of energy efficiency measures and renewable energy technologies within Scotland. SEEO is also assisting local authorities in their investigations into innovative measures to improve energy efficiency.We will continue to look for opportunities to deliver our climate change commitments through working in partnership with local authorities and others in Scotland.

It is not possible to distinguish between types of developer. The following information therefore relates to all planning permission appeals decided in each of the last five business years.

1997-98	38%
1998-99	30%
1999-2000	34%
2000-01	35%
2001-02	38%

It is not possible to distinguish between types of developer. The following information therefore relates to all planning permission appeals received in each of the last five business years.

1997-98	711
1998-99	743
1999-2000	650
2000-01	678
2001-02	574