6. To ask the Scottish Government what steps it is taking to resolve the reported serious environmental issues arising from a lack of on-going maintenance at Tarbolton Moss landfill. (S5O-04654)

Tarbolton Landfill Ltd, which is the operator of the site, remains in liquidation. Although the Scottish Government is not directly responsible for the site, we are working with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and South Ayrshire Council to assess future options. On 2 July, we considered the recommendations of a recent site survey on the practical options for management of the site.

The Scottish Government is currently in the process of developing a proposition for how the different public authorities can work together to move matters forward.

As the Cabinet secretary knows, she and I have spoken about the issue many times, and very little has changed on the site—apart from the facts that giant hogweed now pervades and is invading down river, and leachate continues to flow.

We cannot allow an environmental health crisis to continue to grow. This is a long-standing problem that I have brought to Parliament’s attention many times. When will the Scottish Government finally act to make Tarbolton Moss landfill safe?

I know that Mr Whittle has raised the issue on a number of occasions. We have had conversations about it, and I know that he feels very strongly about it. That is extremely understandable.

However, the legal situation remains the same.

Mr Whittle mentioned giant hogweed. I understand that, unfortunately, much of the work across Scotland to control invasive species has been delayed because of Covid-19. That will include work at the Tarbolton site. We have previously funded work to remove giant hogweed as part of the site investigation that I mentioned, and other necessary work will be considered as part of the wider requirements for remediation of the site.