Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 22 Jun 2005
22 Jun 2005 · S2 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
European Funding (South of Scotland) (PE850)
Andrew Wood (South of Scotland Alliance):
Watch on SPTV
Thank you for allowing me to make a presentation. The supporters of the south of Scotland alliance work in the Cairndale group, whose remit is for rural development in Dumfries and Galloway. We liaise with the south of Scotland alliance, which is meeting in Brussels today with Eurostat and with members of the European Parliament. I believe that members have letters from one or two MEPs; there should also be a letter from Eurostat.I am here to talk not only about money for the south of Scotland, but about the social and economic development of the south of Scotland as a region. We have missed out over the past two assessments by being categorised under objective 5b and programme 2. The south of Scotland is highly dependent on agriculture, which has been hit by BSE, foot-and-mouth disease and climate change, all of which have had a negative impact on an area that is dependent on such an industry. Common agricultural policy reform will cut agricultural support to our region by between £20 million and £30 million. We need to fill the vacuum that will reduce the area's present support in income.The south of Scotland needs full reassessment of European Union funding to support the region's infrastructure, including the A75, A76 and A7. A phenomenal amount of wood is being extracted from the south of Scotland and that is having a detrimental effect on that infrastructure through roadsides getting cut up; bridges, too, will be in a bad state of repair by the time the extraction is finished. Just recently, a wood lorry went off the A7, which highlights what I am talking about.We have a problem in the towns as well. Dumfries, Douglas, Annan, Langholm and Stranraer all need to be redeveloped; they all desperately need an injection of money to get them bustling and to get the local economy going again. We need facilities for the young and the old. We need to be able to control antisocial behaviour and drugs. We are talking about affordable housing for the community and care support.Furthermore, we need training. We need to improve the job prospects of our young so that we can retain them in the south of Scotland. We must assist the Crichton campus and improve access to it by extending the road network infrastructure south of Dumfries. That would benefit not only the Crichton campus, but the hospital and the fire brigade service, which is based in that area.I will not concentrate too much on Dumfries, because other towns, too, have their problems. I mentioned Douglas; there is opencast there and large wind farms. We need to do something to encourage tourism in those areas to increase the local income. Tourism is building in strength, but it requires further support. The south of Scotland is the front door and the window to the whole of Scotland. It gives a first impression to our new visitors, who we want to return. The Scottish Parliament cannot act directly with the EU, as the power is not devolved, but we ask the Scottish Parliament for support and to influence Westminster to act in Scotland's interests. The money could be and would be lost to Scotland, only to return to Westminster as part of an EU rebate. I hope that the committee will have the courage, commitment and determination to support the petition to the full. Thank you for giving us this time.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Our next petition, PE850, is by Andrew Wood, on behalf of supporters of the south of Scotland alliance. The petition calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge...
Andrew Wood (South of Scotland Alliance):
Thank you for allowing me to make a presentation. The supporters of the south of Scotland alliance work in the Cairndale group, whose remit is for rural deve...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you.
Ms White:
SNP
Good morning, Andrew. I declare an interest, because I know Andrew Wood. I did not even know what NUTS stood for until I read it in the committee papers: it ...
Andrew Wood:
I confess that I do not have that information at hand, but other regions in the EU have been reclassified and have managed to secure extra support. I underst...
Ms White:
SNP
Perhaps if we write to someone we can find out which other regions with a similar population qualify for NUTS II.How tight is the timescale? Is the date immi...
Andrew Wood:
It is not imminent, but frankly we will have to act very quickly because, as we all know, politics is a very slow moving process. We have approximately a yea...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
Minimum and maximum population numbers, which are set down in regulations, would ordinarily rule out the south of Scotland, but I accept that that is not a s...
Andrew Wood:
I am led to believe that it would have no impact because the areas that we are talking about taking out are already in a lower classification. A reclassifica...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
I, too, have a timescale question. I hear what my colleague Sandra White has said, but I do not think that it gets to the nub of the issue. My understanding ...
Andrew Wood:
Indeed. That is why we have to act as quickly as possible. I hear what you are saying about 2007 and 2008, but we do not want to act too late.
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
I shall clarify what I was saying. I think that this is the showstopper in your petition: irrespective of what we do, the regulations do not come into force ...
Andrew Wood:
No. I am not suggesting that you are wrong; all I am suggesting is that if we do not act, we do not know what we are going to get. I hear what you are saying...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
For 2014?
Andrew Wood:
Basically, if it is not achievable in the current timescale.
Mike Watson:
Ind
My reading of the letter from Günther Hanreich of Eurostat backs up what Jackie Baillie just said. You said that if nothing can be done in time for the comin...
Andrew Wood:
I do not have an answer for you at this stage.
Mike Watson:
Ind
The information that we have is from our clerks, who are ultra-reliable. Given what the regulations state, it seems that the population issue to which Herr H...
Andrew Wood:
Yes.
Mike Watson:
Ind
I can see from the map how far south South Ayrshire stretches; it must be part of the south of Scotland. I wonder whether simply adopting two local authority...
Andrew Wood:
To return to your figures, I was led to believe that the 800,000 figure was not set in stone; it can be varied depending on the area.
Mike Watson:
Ind
There would have to be a big variant, would there not? There would have to be a complete departure from that principle.
Andrew Wood:
Even at present we are not sitting anywhere near 800,000.
Mike Watson:
Ind
I accept that. The current NUTS II area must have a population of more than 800,000.
Andrew Wood:
Not at present. Not as far as I am aware. I think that we are still short.
Mike Watson:
Ind
I am going by the map that we have here. The NUTS II areas of south-west Scotland seem to me—although it is difficult to be precise—to include Glasgow. Glasg...
Andrew Wood:
I apologise; I did not realise that the area took in the whole of Glasgow.
John Scott:
Con
I, too, am trying to understand the areas that we are talking about. For example, I have a specific interest in South Ayrshire, but does that area come under...
Andrew Wood:
Yes.
John Scott:
Con
It is therefore regarded as an area of even greater deprivation. Is that what NUTS III means?