- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many special areas of conservation contain “decalcified fixed dunes with Empetrum nigrum”; what the total extent of this habitat type is in Scotland, and what proportion of the extent of such habitat type in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole is classified as part of a special area of conservation (SAC), showing the names of each SAC.
Answer
There are two SACscontaining this habitat type in Scotland (and UK). Figures for the total known UK extentare provided in the table contained in the answer to question S3W-7761 on 15 January 2008. 37.7 hectares (10% of the known UK resource)are designated within the Dornoch Firth and Morrich More SAC and 241.6 hectares(64.3% of the known UK resource) are designated in the Sands of Forvie SAC.All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the searchfacility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has transposed the EU directive on environmental liability into Scots Law and, if not, when it expects to do so.
Answer
The EU directive onenvironmental liability has not yet been transposed into Scots Law, although Iexpect to consult shortly on legislation which will transpose the directivelater in the year.
Last year’s publicconsultation on principles and policy for transposition, and a summary of theresponses, are published on the Scottish Government website.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers, in the absence of transposition, that the EU directive on environmental liability has direct effect in Scotland.
Answer
The EU directive onenvironmental liability is addressed to member states and the ScottishGovernment is engaged in the necessary process of consulting stakeholders onits implementation in Scotland. Following an initial consultation last year onprinciples and policy, I expect to consult shortly on draft regulations totranspose the directive.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total area is in Scotland of each of the types of dune habitat set out in Annex 1 of the EU habitats directive; what information it has on the total areas of each such habitat in (a) England, (b) Wales and (c) Northern Ireland, and which of these habitat types are present on the Foveran Links Site of Special Scientific Interest.
Answer
The information requested isset out in the following table.
| Type of Dune Habitat | Area of Extent in Scotland (ha) | Area of Extent in England (ha) | Area of Extent in Wales (ha) | Area of Extent in Northern Ireland (ha) | Present at Foveran Links |
| 2110 Embryonic shifting dunes | 90 | 100 | 100 | 5 | no |
| 2120 Shifting dunes along the shoreline with Ammophila arenaria | 950 | 780 | 480 | 10 | yes |
| 2130 Fixed dunes with herbaceous vegetation (“grey dunes”) | 14,900 | 3,900 | 2,700 | 800 | yes |
| 2140 Decalcified fixed dunes with Empetrum nigrum | 375 | not present | not present | not present | yes |
| 2150 Atlantic decalcified fixed dunes (Calluno-Ulicetea) | 550 | 190 | 40 | 120 | yes |
| 2160 Dunes with Hippophae rhamnoides | 80 (introduced) | 235 | introduced | introduced | no |
| 2170 Dunes with Salix repens ssp. Argentea (salicion arenariae) | 170 | 230 | 230 | 12 | no |
| 2190 Humid dune slacks | 1,200 | 200 | 390 | 22 | yes |
| 21A0 Machairs | 13,300 | not present | not present | not present | no |
| 2250 Coastal dunes with Juniperus spp. | 20 | not present | not present | not present | no |
The data presented for Scotlandcomes from the most recent dune survey (Dargie, TCD. (2000) Sand DuneVegetation Survey of Scotland: National Report. 2 vols. Scottish Natural Heritage,Battleby).
Dataon representation for all UKhas been compiled by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) in theSecond Report by the United Kingdom under Article 17 of the EC Habitats Directive. JNCC consulted onthe draft report in 2007.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the European Commission has indicated its satisfaction with the extent of EU habitats directive Annex 1 dune habitats proposed for classification as special areas of conservation in (a) Scotland and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole and, if not, what communications it has had with the European Commission on this matter.
Answer
The Official Journal of theEuropean Union records that on the basis of available information and inaccordance with the criteria for selecting sites (including rangerepresentation at a UK scale), UK representation for dune habitats is satisfactory. Thejournal can be viewed at:
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2004/l_387/l_38720041229en00010096.pdf.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 15 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many golf courses there are in Scotland; what total area of land such courses occupy; what the total area is of sand dune habitats of a type listed in Annex 1 of the EU habitats directive, and what proportion of this area is classified as part of a special area of conservation.
Answer
The Scottish Government doesnot hold information on the number, area and distribution of golf courses in Scotland.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Mather on 4 January 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise Grampian took to comply with sections 1 and 12 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 before publicly supporting a development proposal that would adversely affect a site of special scientific interest.
Answer
This is an operational matterfor VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise and I have asked their Chief Executives to respond to you directly.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive which (a) ministers, (b) special advisers and (c) civil servants have spoken to journalists about the proposed development at the Menie Estate, Aberdeenshire, since September 2007, specifying in each case the relevant media outlets.
Answer
No records are keptof specific conversations between ministers, special advisers and civilservants with the media. However, I can confirm that communications officers onboth the Communications First Minister and Communications Finance desks have respondedto a range of media enquiries, as have media special advisers.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive how many planning applications have been determined as being of national significance before a local planning decision was made; how many were so determined after planning consent had been granted by the local planning authority, and how many after planning consent had been refused by the local planning authority in each year since 1999.
Answer
Over the period 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2007, Scottish ministers called in and determined 250 planning applications where the planning authority had not issued a decision but was minded to grant planning consent subject to notification to the Scottish ministers. No planning applications have been called in by Scottish ministers after a decision notice was issued by a planning authority.
Where a planning application is refused by a planning authority the applicant has the right to appeal to Scottish ministers. Appeals are heard by an inquiry reporter. Most appeal decisions are delegated to reporters but in cases where the application is judged to be a matter of national concern Scottish ministers can recall the appeal case for their own determination. Ministers can accept or reject the reporter''s recommendation. The number of appeals recalled for determination by Scottish ministers over this period is 98.
A breakdown of the yearly figures for called in applications and recalled appeals is provided below:
| Year | No. of Called in Applications | No. of Appeals Recalled |
| 1999 | 44 | 11 |
| 2000 | 30 | 16 |
| 2001 | 41 | 12 |
| 2002 | 18 | 7 |
| 2003 | 23 | 11 |
| 2004 | 37 | 8 |
| 2005 | 21 | 15 |
| 2006 | 17 | 8 |
| 2007 | 19 | 10 |
| Total | 250 | 98 |
The following is the original answer (published on 20 December 2007); see below.
Since 1999 Scottish ministers have called in 380 planning applications and have recalled 287 planning appeals for their own determination.
- Asked by: Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 11 December 2007
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Current Status:
Answered by John Swinney on 20 December 2007
To ask the Scottish Executive what criteria it uses to determine whether a planning application is of national significance.
Answer
It depends on the individualcircumstances of the case.
