Hansard

I begin by commending the petitioners and everyone else who has contributed as the petition has progressed. I am a South Scotland MSP, and, like Mr Burnett, my mailbag and surgeries are full of people who are concerned about the level of development that is happening in their communities. Ultimately, the petition is about how we balance the national imperative to reduce our vulnerability to volatile and finite fossil fuel resources against ensuring that communities who will have to live in the shadow of that infrastructure are not overwhelmed by it.

It is clear to me that we do not have that balance right. As the petitioners have highlighted in their submissions, all too often communities feel that they are fighting an uphill battle to be heard during the planning process. The complex and bureaucratic planning process for such infrastructure is not something that any group of individuals can take on easily. The costs are high, both in time and money, and the return on all that investment can end up being little more than an automated acknowledgement of receipt email from a Government department.

Some developers go above and beyond to engage with communities and alter their plans to try to accommodate local concerns, but that is often the exception rather than the rule. In many cases, people challenge development not because of a blanket opposition to it, but because they want to understand how it will affect them and to be confident that their concerns are understood. The current approach to planning is simply not equipped to offer any of that certainty, and there is no question in my mind about the fact that the planning process could and should be improved. The best day to improve it, of course, was yesterday.

I gently urge the committee to consider holding a debate in the chamber on the petition, which would allow members of all parties who are dealing with these issues to stand up for their constituents.