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National Scenic Areas (Planning Applications)
Scottish Executive Question Time — Rural Affairs and the Environment
2:15 pm
Christopher Harvie (Scottish National Party)
To ask the Scottish Executive what means it has to monitor and question approvals by local authorities for building projects in environmentally sensitive or designated national scenic areas that threaten rural landscapes. (S3O-11135)
Roseanna Cunningham (Scottish National Party)
Scottish ministers have no powers to intervene once an authority has granted
Scottish ministers have a general power to instruct authorities to notify a planning application to them, but that must be invoked before the decision to grant or refuse planning permission has been issued by the local authority.
Christopher Harvie (Scottish National Party)
Melrose and the Eildon hills are the leading tourist destinations in the Scottish Borders, and their popularity is likely to increase following the completion of the multimillion-pound plans for Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford house. Does the minister share my concern that building the crematorium that was approved by Scottish Borders Council on 11 November 2009 in that national scenic area might not be a sensitive or aesthetically appropriate thing to do, particularly given the difficulty of balancing the demands of catering for the bereaved with the facilities that are expected in a popular tourist destination?
Roseanna Cunningham (Scottish National Party)
Those matters might well have been relevant considerations for the planning authority. However, I must reiterate that it is for the planning authority to take such matters into account when determining the planning application, and I have no locus to intervene.
Alex Fergusson (None)
Apologies to David Stewart, but I am afraid that I must move on to the questions on justice and law officers.