Hansard

Like Angus MacDonald, I think that we should keep the petition open. We have achieved a lot and useful progress has been made. However, the petitioners raised a number of questions in their submission of 1 March, in response to the Scottish Government’s action to date. It would be useful to write to the Scottish Government with those questions to find out whether they can be answered and dealt with as part of the review process. We need to ensure that the Government not only has a review and issues guidance but, at the same time, answers the petitioners’ questions. There is no point in the Government producing a review document that says what it will do if some of the questions that the community council has raised are still outstanding. It would be useful to write to the Scottish Government, saying that further questions have been asked, asking for clarification on those issues and urging the Government to ensure that they be covered as part of any guidance that is issued. There is a particular issue with SEPA’s powers. As we have discussed previously, it is okay to say that an agency has powers but, if it does not have sufficient resources to use those powers, the powers are, in effect, meaningless. 11:30