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Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill Committee, 26 Mar 2003

26 Mar 2003 · S1 · Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill Committee

Item of business

Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill: Consideration Stage

McCabe, Tom Lab Hamilton South Watch on SPTV

Good afternoon and welcome to the consideration stage of the Robin Rigg Offshore Wind Farm (Navigation and Fishing) (Scotland) Bill. I apologise for being a few minutes late—I was involved with a constituency matter. We are all a bit pressed at the moment because of the way in which times have been changed and meetings have been squeezed into suspensions of meetings of Parliament. I thank members for making themselves available today, which has been a problem for us all. If any members of the press and public are present, I welcome them.Colin Campbell and Jamie McGrigor, who, for good reasons, were not able to be present with us at our previous meeting, are present today. However, under the rules of the Parliament, to allow them to take part in today's proceedings, we had to obtain the agreement of the promoters, objectors and witnesses. Thankfully, our staff have worked hard during the past few days to obtain that agreement, which means that those members can take part in today's proceedings.Today's agenda item is the detailed consideration stage of the bill. The stage is broadly similar to the stage 2 proceedings of a public bill; the difference is that, in private bill proceedings, only the members of the committee may lodge amendments. Because the rules of the Parliament do not allow the promoters to lodge amendments, Mike Rumbles has kindly agreed to lodge a number of amendments to the bill on their behalf. He will speak to the amendments, but it is important to stress that, when it comes to a vote, he is under no obligation to vote for them. That situation is rather strange, but members are placed in it as a result of the rules of the Parliament. It is important to explain the situation to avoid any criticism that might be visited on members because of a misunderstanding of the rules.Members have been supplied with a series of papers. The amendments have been grouped to facilitate debate and they will be called in turn from the marshalled list. As normal in considering legislation, we cannot move backwards; when we have finished consideration of amendments, there is no facility to return to them.As members will be aware, if they intend to oppose agreement to a section, they must do so by moving an appropriate amendment. Given that no such amendment has been lodged, any member who wishes to oppose a question to agree to a section must do so by moving a manuscript amendment. As convener, it would be my decision whether to accept such an amendment.