Chamber and committees

Of these, one planning application was subsequently refused planning permission whilst all of the listed building consents were subsequently refused.

Where it considers that there would be sufficient adverse impact on the national importance of one or more of these historic sites, Historic Scotland will object on behalf of Scottish ministers. Where it considers there is a lesser impact, Historic Scotland may recommend that the planning authority impose appropriate planning conditions to mitigate the impact.

The premises licence application fee and annual fee are set by licensing boards within the parameters set by the regulations. Premises will fall into one of six fee bands according to the rateable value of the premises. These bands were recommended in an independent research report and were the subject of consultation. Although some organisations requested higher bandings into which their competitors would fall, the fee system is about the cost of administering the licensing system, including the cost of processing applications and not about linking the fee to the volume of alcohol a premises sells. The fee structure in the 2007 Regulations is more progressive than the current arrangement under the Licensing (Scotland) Act 1976, where there is a flat fee for all applications.

On 26 January 2008, river levels would have been affected by the unprecedented level of rainfall which had occurred over the previous three days, with especially heavy rainfall on 25 January. Scottish Water records rainfall levels on site and this information is regularly provided to the Met Office. Over the three day period from 23 January to 25 January 2008, Scottish Water recorded rainfall levels of 182mm. The rainfall on 25 January was 99.2mm, and records from 1950 to 2008 show that this is the highest level of rainfall ever recorded within a 24-hour period at this location. Prior to this, the highest level of rainfall within a 24-hour period had been 70.9mm on 2 May 1982.

More generally with regard to all homeless households, the policy is that the use of bed and breakfast accommodation should be minimised. The Code of Guidance on homelessness states that local authorities should only use bed and breakfast to provide temporary accommodation as a last resort.

It is for local authorities to decide how to discharge their duty to provide temporary accommodation for homeless households, subject to the requirements in the legislation and the fact that local authorities must have regard to the Code of Guidance. If a household is not content with the accommodation provided then they have the right to appeal to the local authority.

The government is not aware of any such circumstances as set out in this question.