Committee
Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee 24 February 2016
24 Feb 2016 · S4 · Rural Affairs, Climate Change and Environment Committee
Item of business
Subordinate Legislation
Reservoirs (Enforcement etc) (Scotland) Order 2016 [Draft]
I am very supportive of the legislation and the order, but I want to probe the situation a little with regard to the reservoirs that are affected and the costs. The business and regulatory impact assessment states that there are 690 controlled reservoirs of the size under regulation, which is 25,000m3 or more. Of those, 250 are owned by a variety of private estates, individuals, trusts and community groups. Those are the ones that I am most concerned about, in particular those under individual ownership. There is the potential for very considerable necessary expenditure, particularly as it is an open secret that the Reservoirs Act 1975 was more honoured in the breach than in the observance. We know from incidents that took place in 2008 and 2009, if I am right, that those reservoirs were not well maintained. Is there an estimate of how many of those reservoirs require work to be done; of what the cost will be; and of what SEPA will have to do to make that happen? I find it difficult to believe that there will not be a significant cost, and some of the cost will fall on bodies that probably do not have the assets to undertake those repairs. The situation is more complex than it appears. The work will have to be done, but I fear that the Government may in the end have to step in.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Item 4 is subordinate legislation. We welcome once again the Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Dr Aileen McLeod, and Scottish Governm...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I am pleased to still be with the committee to support the committee’s consideration of the draft Reservoirs (Enforcement etc) (Scotland) Order 2016. From ...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. Various members wish to respond to that—Michael Russell, first of all.
Michael Russell (Argyll and Bute) (SNP)
SNP
I am very supportive of the legislation and the order, but I want to probe the situation a little with regard to the reservoirs that are affected and the cos...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
Claire Dodd may have the details.
Claire Dodd (Scottish Government)
I do not have the details. The BRIA was carried out for the order. All the reservoirs come under the 1975 act. Not that many changes are being made—a high-ri...
Michael Russell
SNP
I am happy to have a conversation about the matter. I seem to recall that an incident near Johnstone, or somewhere in Renfrewshire, resulted in the discovery...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I am certainly happy to bear that in mind. Mr Russell makes a number of very good points for us to consider further.
Neil Ritchie
Further to that, I, like Claire Dodd, am not aware of any significant problems, but we are happy to have a discussion with Mr Russell. It would probably be h...
Michael Russell
SNP
There is no point fining people who cannot afford to do the basic maintenance work. That just makes the situation worse. However, I would be grateful for a c...
Graeme Dey
SNP
This is on a point of information. If we accept Mike Russell’s point about the resources that may be available at the smaller reservoirs, it strikes me that ...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
Under the old regime, all the reservoirs with a capacity of 25,000m3 of water or more were regulated in a similar way. Under the new regime, SEPA will assess...
Neil Ritchie
When we introduced the bill that became the Reservoirs (Scotland) Act 2011, we were clear that we were focusing on the existing regulatory regime for reservo...
Graeme Dey
SNP
Do we know roughly how many of the smaller reservoirs currently exist in Scotland?
Neil Ritchie
No, we do not have a firm figure. We did not have a firm figure for the 25,000m3 ones until last year and until the registration process had been undertaken....
Claudia Beamish
Lab
Has there been or is there likely to be any assessment of the relationship between more extreme weather events and these reservoirs? I ask mainly because con...
Aileen McLeod
SNP
I will answer your question in two parts. The 2011 act requires SEPA to “establish and maintain” a public “controlled reservoirs register”, which incl...
The Convener
SNP
We move on to the Croft House Grant (Scotland) Regulations 2016.
The Convener
SNP
As there are no further questions, we will move to item 5, which is to consider motion S4M-15450 and ask the committee to recommend approval of the Reservoir...
The Convener
SNP
I thank the minister and her officials.