Chamber
Plenary, 03 Feb 2000
03 Feb 2000 · S1 · Plenary
Item of business
Sustainable Development
The Government development strategy document states that
"the overall aim of all our policies for rural Scotland is to foster and enable the sustainable development of rural communities."
I am sure that all of rural Scotland hopes that the Executive will heed this advice soon.
Consider the situation in rural Scotland today.
Rural poverty is now a reality. Provisional farm income figures for 1999, published just four days ago, show that incomes have fallen, on average, by another 22 per cent to £3,600, which underlines the continuing crisis engulfing the whole of Scottish agriculture. Since agriculture remains the key industry in Scotland, it is still an important factor in the economic viability of rural communities.
Social exclusion is a rural problem. Studies show that disadvantage is widespread in rural Scotland and excluded groups form a large part of the rural and islands population. Rural disadvantage is compounded by isolation, lack of choice, lack of access to services and the higher costs of essentials. We are talking about the threat to rural infrastructure, the closing down of rural sub-post offices, garages and small shops, the lack of child care, the price of petrol and the price of food.
Compounding the problem is the lack of accurate measures of rural disadvantage, which has remained an issue without resolution for years, and which denies many communities much- needed access to funding. That suggests that the Government's policies are clearly not fostering and enabling the sustainable development of rural Scotland. I suggest that its policies are actively inhibiting the sustainable development of rural Scotland and are contributing to rural decline.
Across Scotland farmers and crofters are being called upon to contribute to the delivery of UK, and local, biodiversity action plan objectives. They cannot do that without adequate support. The rural development regulation of the Agenda 2000 common agricultural policy reforms provides the Scottish Executive with the opportunity to increase spending on agri-environment schemes, to provide essential support for farmers and crofters who farm in an environmentally sensitive way.
I call upon the Government to put into practice some of its alleged commitment to rural Scotland: to secure more and better-quality job opportunities and greater prosperity for rural Scotland; to improve the quality and availability of services and housing to enable local communities to retain population and expand the social and cultural infrastructure; and to safeguard, and where possible enhance, the natural heritage and environment of rural Scotland.
"the overall aim of all our policies for rural Scotland is to foster and enable the sustainable development of rural communities."
I am sure that all of rural Scotland hopes that the Executive will heed this advice soon.
Consider the situation in rural Scotland today.
Rural poverty is now a reality. Provisional farm income figures for 1999, published just four days ago, show that incomes have fallen, on average, by another 22 per cent to £3,600, which underlines the continuing crisis engulfing the whole of Scottish agriculture. Since agriculture remains the key industry in Scotland, it is still an important factor in the economic viability of rural communities.
Social exclusion is a rural problem. Studies show that disadvantage is widespread in rural Scotland and excluded groups form a large part of the rural and islands population. Rural disadvantage is compounded by isolation, lack of choice, lack of access to services and the higher costs of essentials. We are talking about the threat to rural infrastructure, the closing down of rural sub-post offices, garages and small shops, the lack of child care, the price of petrol and the price of food.
Compounding the problem is the lack of accurate measures of rural disadvantage, which has remained an issue without resolution for years, and which denies many communities much- needed access to funding. That suggests that the Government's policies are clearly not fostering and enabling the sustainable development of rural Scotland. I suggest that its policies are actively inhibiting the sustainable development of rural Scotland and are contributing to rural decline.
Across Scotland farmers and crofters are being called upon to contribute to the delivery of UK, and local, biodiversity action plan objectives. They cannot do that without adequate support. The rural development regulation of the Agenda 2000 common agricultural policy reforms provides the Scottish Executive with the opportunity to increase spending on agri-environment schemes, to provide essential support for farmers and crofters who farm in an environmentally sensitive way.
I call upon the Government to put into practice some of its alleged commitment to rural Scotland: to secure more and better-quality job opportunities and greater prosperity for rural Scotland; to improve the quality and availability of services and housing to enable local communities to retain population and expand the social and cultural infrastructure; and to safeguard, and where possible enhance, the natural heritage and environment of rural Scotland.
In the same item of business
The Minister for Transport and the Environment (Sarah Boyack):
Lab
Environmental and sustainable policies are at the heart of everything that our Executive stands for. In moving this motion, I want to keep sustainable develo...
Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I am grateful for the tenor and spirit of the minister's speech. It may come as a surprise to some in this chamber and elsewhere that I do not seek to take i...
Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con):
Con
I thought at times during Kenny MacAskill's speech that I had strayed into time for reflection or thought for the day. In his generally consensual and constr...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
It is my intention to communicate the thrust of what we are discussing in the ministerial group on sustainable Scotland. I am looking at how we might do that...
Mr Tosh:
Con
I thank the minister for that very positive statement, which allows us to conclude in a tone of considerable, broad agreement. We have only one, limited plan...
Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD):
LD
Today I have found out two things—that rhetoric can be at different levels and that it can be both consensual and aggressive. The contrast between the mornin...
Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab):
Lab
I support the minister. One of the difficulties that I had in preparing for this debate was that the minister is making such rapid progress on all these issu...
Mr MacAskill:
SNP
Can Helen Eadie assure this chamber that fuel prices will not escalate in next month's budget? We may have to face a fuel duty escalator with a different nam...
Helen Eadie:
Lab
We have already announced modifications to the fuel duty escalator, as Kenny MacAskill knows. It will continue to be used to develop public transport, which ...
Mr Tosh:
Con
Coming to a debate on sustainability when we had heard nothing from the minister on planning issues and other issues related to development, it was impossibl...
Helen Eadie:
Lab
Thank you.The magnitude of the work that we have ahead of us is such that, despite the best will of all of us, we have to commit to it absolutely, because ne...
Irene McGugan (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
The Government development strategy document states that "the overall aim of all our policies for rural Scotland is to foster and enable the sustainable deve...
Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green):
Green
It is a great shame that there are not more people here for the first debate on sustainability in this Parliament. I welcome the tone and content of Sarah Bo...
Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab):
Lab
If sustainable development began to rank as a key issue in the late 1990s, it is clear that, as we go into the new millennium, global survival depends on eac...
Mr John Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD):
LD
As I came in, I picked up the little booklet "Scotland the sustainable?" and one item caught my eye: "If sustainable development is so sensible, why is more ...
Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
I am delighted to contribute to this important debate, which I hope—unlike many debates on subjects such as sustainable development and other environmental m...
Dr Jackson:
Lab
I inquired into why we had only just received the recycling bins and I gather that the contract had to go out to tender. I do not know whether Mr Lochhead wa...
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
Thank you for that intervention. It says quite a lot about the Government's policy. This country has an abundance of natural resources, and hundreds of thous...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Does Mr Lochhead think that there was a problem with Westminster because it is in London, or because of the political priorities of the Government at the time?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
Well, both. I am sure that the minister will not be surprised to know that I am about to come on to the difficulty with Westminster. Although the SNP will su...
Sarah Boyack:
Lab
Will Richard Lochhead give way?
Richard Lochhead:
SNP
No, I have already taken two interventions. Surely it would be much more productive and valuable for Scotland to have a seat at the United Nations and to pla...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Patricia Ferguson):
Lab
Before I call Maureen Macmillan, I should tell Parliament that recycling is a matter for the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body and that the Presiding Off...
Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab):
Lab
I thank John Farquhar Munro for his speech on transport in the Highlands. Perhaps we in the Highlands and Islands have a different perspective on sustainable...
Robin Harper:
Green
Does Maureen Macmillan agree that it is astonishing that the Executive said that the land reform bill had nothing to do with the environment? Does she think ...
Maureen Macmillan:
Lab
I am talking about sustainable development. When communities can own their own land, we will see such development. We are looking for balance. Debates in the...
Euan Robson (Roxburgh and Berwickshire) (LD):
LD
The debate has been very welcome, and many members have made good, fundamental points. I was pleased to hear that the minister's priorities will be to cut wa...
Dr Winnie Ewing (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
I am sure that the member would be as thrilled as I was on a recent visit to Shetland to see the incinerator programme there. All waste from Shetland and mos...
Euan Robson:
LD
I agree with the member. More could also be done to use recycled building waste in construction. I welcome the minister's comments on sustainable travel. She...
Mr David Davidson (North-East Scotland) (Con):
Con
I had the pleasure of being the inaugural chairman of the Association of Scottish Community Councils. One of the first things that we managed to do, in consu...