Hansard

The Convener: Lab

We can now welcome our first panel to this morning's meeting of the Transport and the Environment Committee. Douglas Murray is the secretary of the Associati...

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): Con

Good morning, gentlemen. Have the new planning regulations afforded organisations and local communities a greater say in the siting of telecommunications dev...

Findlay Turner (Scottish Churches Committee):

My feeling is that the effect has been quite neutral. My impression is that, from the churches' point of view, the regulations have not made people more voca...

Timothy Parker (Church of Scotland General Trustees):

Certain procedures have been in place ever since we first started dealing with applications for inserting things in our buildings about six or seven years ag...

Findlay Turner:

Churches are very much part of the community. Once such applications become known within congregations, the knowledge very quickly becomes public. The proces...

The Convener: Lab

Does Mr Murray want to respond on behalf of the Association of Scottish Community Councils?

Douglas Murray (Association of Scottish Community Councils):

The new regulations have helped make people more aware of the planning system and the guidance that has been published. I have the perception that many more ...

John Scott: Con

Have mobile operators become more sensitive to community, environmental and amenity issues since the introduction of the new regulations, or have they become...

Timothy Parker:

I think that the mobile operators have become more sensitive. With the introduction of the 10 commitments, the operators know that if they do not take the co...

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): SNP

The papers that we have received suggest that the Church of Scotland has the greatest experience of dealing with masts, as among the largest number of masts ...

Timothy Parker:

It is difficult to tell. I am the main person who deals with the proposals—I receive applications through the agents and have correspondence as a result of t...

Bruce Crawford: SNP

I want to focus on the proposals that reach the planning application stage. How many planning applications have been rejected? Can you give us a feel for how...

Timothy Parker:

I would say that it is a small percentage. As is outlined in our submission, we always seek an indication that the planning department of the relevant local ...

Bruce Crawford: SNP

That leads to my final question, which is about the process. Given that people are being alerted earlier to the fact that applications have been made and it ...

Timothy Parker:

It is difficult to say because, as I understand it, just as with a normal planning application and neighbour notification, there are relatively few grounds f...

Findlay Turner:

What about health grounds?

Timothy Parker:

The system enables people in the vicinity to bring concerns to the local authority planning department's attention. Those concerns might not, strictly speaki...

John Scott: Con

Could the Mobile Operators Association's 10 commitments to best siting practice be improved and, if so, how?

Timothy Parker:

I am not actively involved with the 10 commitments because we have laid down our own procedures, which are described in our submission, but I know of the 10 ...

Douglas Murray:

I recall a recent media article in which concerns were raised about the siting of equipment in advertising signs at places such as petrol stations. The main ...

Findlay Turner:

I am not terribly familiar with the commitments and how they work, but I wonder whether there is room for an advertisement stage in advance of the planning s...

The Convener: Lab

It would be useful if the paper could be supplied to the clerks for circulation. Thank you.

Timothy Parker:

The paper is based on the guesstimates of the various other denominations. They stressed that the figures are not hard and fast, as quite often we do not kno...

Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): Lab

I will direct to Mr Murray some questions about the views of the Association of Scottish Community Councils. In your submission you say that a community coun...

Douglas Murray:

Objections on the ground of exceptional circumstances would be likely to relate to health concerns that might be raised by a community. The guidance in the n...

Maureen Macmillan: Lab

Does the fact that the new regulations are in place mean that not so many objections are being made on the ground of exceptional circumstances?

Douglas Murray:

Our general impression is that a large number of concerns are addressed prior to the application going to a community council or out for general consultation...

Maureen Macmillan: Lab

Thank you. In your submission, you say that "There appears to be little or no contact from Telecom Operators to Community Councils".The telecommunications op...

Douglas Murray:

I received one specific response from an urban area that said that telecommunications operators have approached community councils. In that particular set-up...

Maureen Macmillan: Lab

So you would be concerned if the telecommunications industry was lobbying community councils rather than just informing them that an application was going to...