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Sicker wrote>>It's only my thoughts but I feel that the politicians plead with you to go and vote for them then, once nicely settled in their cosy (and lucrative - let's go watch TV) enviroment they convieniently ignore the people who put them there in favour of big bussiness. What right do they have to overrule the council and the local community?. It's getting more like Brussels every day. <<
John
How right he is
Think this has made up my mind who not to vote for this time and next time round.
Statistics: Posted by Gemini — 03 May 2005, 22:38
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FoE is urging people to write to their MSPs to protest about this. Given our local experience of the lack of fairness in the current planning system, I would hope that quite a few people do write in.
LEAKED CABINET PAPER REVEALS EXECUTIVE 'POWER GRAB'
'Draconian' new planning powers will curb public right to object
Confidential Cabinet papers, seen by Friends of the Earth, reveal Scottish
Ministers' plan to centralise power in the planning system and give
themselves unprecedented powers that would make it virtually impossible for
the public to object to developments, such as motorways and airports,
nuclear power stations and waste sites. [1]
The environment group warned today (Tuesday 3 May) that, instead of
improving the rights of communities within the planning system, the
Executive was preparing to embark upon a "naked power-grab".
News of Ministers' plans comes a month after a leaked Scottish Executive
Cabinet memorandum revealed a recommendation that ministers reject
community pleas to make Scotland's planning system fairer through the
introduction of a third party right of appeal (TPRA). [2, 3]
Commenting, Friends of the Earth Scotland's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren,
said:
"This is nothing less than a naked power-grab by Ministers which will
centralise planning, reduce public involvement and allow the imposition of
unpopular and environmentally-damaging projects. In the hands of this
Executive that means things like the M74 motorway. In the future, who knows
... even new nuclear power stations could be driven through this proposed
system with almost no regard to public opinion. Virtually all that would
remain for the public to influence would be what colour to paint them!
"Once again it seems this Executive has responded to self-interested
lobbying from business interests by putting economic growth before justice
and the environment. These misguided proposals amount to a developer's
charter, with no balancing rights of appeal for affected communities, and no
scope for opponents to challenge the need for major developments, regardless
of their environmental or social impacts. Neither communities, nor local
authorities, nor Reporters, nor even Parliament will decide whether we
really need new power stations, major roads, or waste incinerators - those
decisions will be taken by the Cabinet.
"Should these draconian and arrogant proposals ever come before Parliament,
MSPs of all parties should stand up for social and environmental justice and
throw them out."
[1] RESTRICTED Scottish Cabinet Paper entitled 'Modernising the Scottish
Planning System: A new hierarchy of planning'.
The proposals include:
• A revised National Planning Framework (NPF) with Ministerial powers to
set out priorities, but WITHOUT formal public consultation or examination by
planning inquiry: "The next revision of the NPF ... should be a more
directive document, in which we, as Ministers, would: set out national
policy and sector priorities ... identify projects of national strategic
significance".
• National priorities set by Cabinet, subject only to Parliamentary
scrutiny (NOT parliamentary approval): "the National Planning Framework
would gain its legitimacy from approval by the Cabinet and scrutiny in
Parliament ... there would not be a role for a lengthy exhaustive formal
public consultation, nor for a planning inquiry".
• Priorities in the NPF then MANDATED into local plans, with LIMITS on the
scope for any challenge on grounds of need (inquiries only able to consider
issues such as location and mitigation of environmental impacts): "The
inclusion of a project in the NPF ... will limit the scope for it to be
challenged on grounds of need ... limiting the issues [considered by an
inquiry] to those such as location, and detailed consideration of associated
environmental effects".
• Prescriptive guidance on plan preparation: "a more proactive approach to
development plans with the Executive setting out the issues it expects to
see addressed in these plans".
• CURTAILED opportunities for participation in plan development (FEWER
tiers, LESS rounds of consultation): "remove the requirement for two tiers
of development plans in all but the four City Regions ... [and in drafting,]
only one 'proposed plan' to replace the current two stages of draft and
finalised plans".
[2] On 15 April 2005 a leaked Scottish Executive Cabinet memorandum revealed
a recommendation that ministers give in to business interests and reject
community pleas to make Scotland's planning system fairer through the
introduction of a third party right of appeal (TPRA).
Despite the leaked memo explaining that ministers "have a once in a
generation opportunity to effect radical change of the planning system in
Scotland", it concludes "that it would be unwise to pursue a third party
right of appeal".
Full details: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/press/pr20050406.html
[3] Along with communities across the country, Friends of the Earth Scotland
has been calling for the introduction of a LIMITED Third Party Right of
Appeal for applications falling within the following criteria:
1. where the planning decisions is a departure from the development plan;
2. where the local authority has a direct interest in the planning
application;
3. where the application is a 'major development', defined as those which
fall under either Schedule 1 or 2 of the Environmental Impact Assessment
regulations;
4. where the planning officer has recommended refusal of planning permission
to the council.
A full briefing is available:
http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/nation/TPRA_briefing.pdf
or: http://www.foe-scotland.org.uk/nation/tpra.html
Statistics: Posted by dccairns — 03 May 2005, 20:01
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4447329.stm
Statistics: Posted by Gemini — 16 Apr 2005, 19:13
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Thanks
Malcolm.Chisholm.msp@scottish.parliament.uk;susan.Deacon.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
Statistics: Posted by Gemini — 23 Feb 2005, 00:03
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