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Local Government and Communities Committee 31 October 2018

31 Oct 2018 · S5 · Local Government and Communities Committee

Item of business

Planning (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2

Beamish, Claudia Lab South Scotland Watch on SPTV

Amendment 141 is consequential on amendment 140. Committee members and others present might be pleased to hear that I do not intend to move it, because I have had reassurances from the Scottish Government and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in relation to amendment 140, on permitted development rights, which I did not move. Amendment 331 is designed to ensure that the planning system can be used to enable and support local decision makers to explicitly weigh up the long-term cost implications and climate change impacts of development proposals against potentially competing considerations such as shorter-term economic considerations. The amendment is supported by Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, which is a broad coalition of groups including trade unions, community groups and churches as well as non-governmental organisations. It is important that decisions in housing and transport planning, for example, are based on comprehensive information regarding the environmental impacts of infrastructure. Frankly, current practice is generally poor when it comes to considerations of lifecycle energy use and contributions to greenhouse gas emissions. 09:45 Requiring national and major developments to conduct a lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions assessment would help decision makers to make more informed judgments when weighing up project proposals, leading to more sustainable development and avoiding investment that will not serve us all well in the future. Amendment 331 would oblige a planning authority to consider “the likely impact of the development’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions on achieving national greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets”. Amendment 331 refers to the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, so it might be that further consideration must be undertaken, even if there is a keenness on the amendment, given that the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Bill is currently being considered by the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee. As amendment 331 says, “‘lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions’ means the emissions associated with the construction, operation and decommissioning of a development.” I believe strongly that Scotland must future proof in that area. Amendment 230 would require community open space to be a condition of planning permission for a development of four or more dwellings. This is a probing amendment. It defines “community open space” as space with “green infrastructure or civic areas” and excludes parking spaces from falling under that definition. It is about creating positive living spaces for people, setting the tone for more communal environments, with potential benefits in terms of health, air quality, the local economy, inequality issues and general mental wellbeing. Homes for Scotland highlighted concerns about amendment 230 in relation to a risk to already marginal activity that might be made unviable. As a representative for South Scotland, which is partly rural, I understand the concern, but I believe strongly that Scottish residents have a right to public community spaces where they live. In a similar way to the way in which amendment 227, which has already been considered, dealt with the play sufficiency assessment, amendment 230 highlights the importance of our living spaces and place making, with an emphasis on the need for community space in our housing developments. Finally, I want to speak positively about Mark Ruskell’s amendment 318.

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Local Government and Communities Committee 31 October 2018

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