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Hansard

Every contribution to the Official Report — chamber and committee — searchable in one place. Pulled from data.parliament.scot, indexed for full-text search, linked through to every MSP.

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Showing 60 of 2,354,908 contributions. Latest 30 days: 0. Coverage: 12 May 1999 — 25 Mar 2026.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
I am still confused. However, on that basis, let us look at the University of Leeds report of 2010, which states:“In Scotland, effort to safeguard wild land has focused on maintaining the qualities that are valued for recreational use ... Areas of wild land character in some o...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
19 Feb 2013
Current Petitions
Issues such as the relationship between guidance for planning authorities and the lack of consistency and the apparent inability to produce spatial frameworks in development plans for particular areas and to take on board the definition of “wild land” do not apply only to this...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
Let us try some more objectivity, given that I am saying that the debate is largely about wind farms. The wild land research institute at the University of Leeds produced a report for the Scottish Government. It mentioned wild land, but it went on to state:“In Scotland, effort...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
This is like trying to grab a bar of wet soap. We have asked witnesses before to define what wild land is and I have still to get a meaningful answer. There is confusion between wild land and wildness, so I will ask a question. How thoroughly is the mapping of wild land define...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
It is great that we have some consolidation of the work, but before we run around doing high fives I want to return to the issue of wild land. Last year, we were told of delays to SNH’s mapping of wild land and when that would be delivered. Today, we heard from people who sh...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
In talking about wild land, another issue that we discussed in the other committee was land registration. Who owns the wild land that you are mapping? When will that mapping be complete?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
That is the point: the debate is not about wild land at all, but about wind turbines. You mentioned wind farms five times in your opening statement, and I have reams of paper in front of me that mention them. The issue has nothing to do with wild land.10:15
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
It goes back to the lack of a definition of wild land. Last night, the BBC ran another episode in its series about the introduction of wildlife in the Hebrides. In your opinion, is it okay to have defined wild land inhabited by the creatures that inhabit it and yet have people...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
Perhaps Mr Bell can answer this question. One issue that we tussled with is the definition of wild land. Do you have a clear idea in your mind as to what wild land is?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
You said that there are lots of different views on wild land. I think that your point was that you would endorse a case-by-case approach rather than a direct development management approach to wild land protection. Is that correct?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
On that basis, I ask Helen McDade whether market conditions and prohibitive costs would secure wild land. People are not going to look at investment, transport infrastructure or other resources for what I understand Mr MacLeod refers to as core wild land, so the element that c...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
I understand that, but it would be helpful to know about ownership, given that another parliamentary committee found that only 21 per cent of Scotland’s land is registered and we do not know who owns the land. Given the discussions that we have had with regard to wind farm app...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
That is very helpful. Can you help me with another point? On the basis of the mapping work that SNH has done, who owns the land and what discussions have taken place on their land being defined as wild land?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
02 May 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
I endorse that. The convener used the word “equity”. I endorse what has been said about looking at the scale of applicants. At stage 1, the committee debated the issue of trying to complete the land register as quickly as possible. Particularly if we can discount fees, there i...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
What if the owners do not wish their land to be characterised as wild land?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
The reason why I asked about that is that there is little point in defining areas as wild land and accompanying that with Scottish Government planning guidelines drawn up by SNH if developers choose their own guidelines on how that land should be developed. It comes back to Ja...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
18 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Again without making an oblique or direct political statement, I would have thought that it was desirable from an environmental and economic point of view for us to have a nearly complete land register. If we were taxing land values, for example—I am not suggesting that we sho...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
25 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Last week, we were told that, back around 1910, Lloyd George was able to get all the land in the United Kingdom registered in four years. What financial resources do you have, and what would you require to complete the land register in a much shorter time? What surplus do you ...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
25 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I ask the following questions acknowledging that you have been in situ only since July 2009. They are also predicated on my desire to see the land register completed sooner rather than later. I would like much more proactivity than the passivity that is suggested by, for examp...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
18 Apr 2012
Crown Estate (Devolution)
First, let me dispense with the question that Mr Fergusson raised. Section 6(1) of the Sovereign Grant Act 2011 states:“The amount of the Sovereign Grant for a financial year ... is to be determined by the Royal Trustees as follows ... Calculate 15% of the income account net s...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
Good morning, Mr Thin and Mr Jardine. There is no such thing as wild land, is there, Mr Thin?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
When you gave evidence to another committee on which I sit, you said that you thought that we were talking at cross-purposes. I quote:“First, let me be clear that Scotland is an entirely man-made landscape”.You went on to repeat:“Scotland is entirely a man-made landscape, or a...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
Depending on their perspective, some people might consider that an invasion of so-called wild land.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
I will ask one direct question that I have already asked. Is it not the case that the issue has nothing to do with the definition of wild land but has grown because of the development of wind energy?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
I do not think that you answered my other question. When will the mapping of wild land be completed?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
I will come back to my question about completing the mapping. In our briefing papers, we have a map of relative wildness in Scotland, which was published last year. I understand that you have been examining options for identifying wild land areas that are considered to be part...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
I do not want this to take up the committee’s time, but we will need further clarification. The advice that we have had is that there is a map of relative wildness but that the mapping of defined wild land areas is not complete.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
16 Apr 2013
Current Petition
In the past fortnight, several Scottish newspapers have reported that maps drawn up by SNH—which you have alluded to and which we are seeking clarification on—have identified that about 28 per cent of Scottish countryside is wild land. Where did those newspapers get that infor...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
29 May 2013
Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
My last question is for SNH. It is interesting that, yesterday, the Public Petitions Committee discussed wild land and conflict. As is mentioned in the schedules, SNH will have significant input to the Regulatory Reform (Scotland) Bill. What happens when you make recommendatio...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
Good morning, ministers, Mr Connal and Mr McNairney. Minister, there is no such thing as wild land, is there?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
I hear what you say, minister. You mention SNH. At a previous meeting, the chief executive of SNH said:“We cannot offer a clear definition of what is or is not wild land”.That was followed by the chairman of SNH saying:“we have been seeking to get a tighter definition that wil...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
28 May 2013
Current Petition
But land is not wild if it is being used for recreational purposes.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
I take Mr Cronin’s point about it making sense to procure local gas. I cannot wait for us to produce low-cost gas from the Firth of Clyde and the near Atlantic, which are opportunities that have been denied us over the past 30 years. We have talked about the separation distan...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
I understand that. When you spoke about tourism, that flew in the face of the report that we received for our renewables inquiry from Ms Aitchison of the University of Edinburgh. You say that you know where the wild land is, and you have defined it—thank you for that—but we ha...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
You know as well as I do that, in some cases, community councils are not elected by the largest part of the community. Where is the evidence from the people who are most affected by the development or not of wild land, as defined by you?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
05 Feb 2014
National Planning Framework 3 and Scottish Planning Policy Review
Okay. We have talked a lot today about wild land and mapping. As I said, it feels like a bar of greasy soap. I wonder if I might talk briefly about offshore energy. One of the major initiatives in Europe is the port services directive, which we could benefit from to improve o...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Good morning. Given the nature of the bill, how much priority would you give to completing the land register by having all land in Scotland transferred to it? What advantages do you believe will come from achieving that? Would it be acceptable to have a system of payment for a...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I understand that.Currently, only 21 per cent of the landmass of Scotland is covered by the land register. That means that a vast amount of property—property on the remaining 79 per cent of the landmass—is not registered. We are talking about property that is not urban and whi...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
08 Sep 2011
Scottish Government’s Legislative Programme
As would be expected, I welcome the Government’s programme for our nation for 2011-12, which is against a backdrop—a canvas—of savage cuts in public spending and capital investment that is not of our making. That is not so much our own water as our own oil being thrown in our ...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
18 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
On the issue of completing the land register by the end of the century, I understand that Registers of Scotland has fairly substantial surplus funds. Is it a question of resource or skill that would allow us to accelerate the process of completing the land register earlier?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
25 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I have a very quick question. Is Crown Estate land fully or partly registered? How much of the near-shore Crown Estate land is registered?
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Committee
08 Feb 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Good morning, minister. You referred to the timescale for the completion of the land register. The policy memorandum states:“Completion of the Land Register is considered to be the most important policy aim of the Bill.”Will you expand on what is meant by that?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
08 Feb 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I take the minister back to Westminster circa 1911, when Lloyd George, as a result of his desire to apply land value taxation, completed a register in four years by applying the appropriate resource. So far, in Scotland, after 30 years, only 21 per cent of the landmass is on t...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
02 May 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 2
When the Solicitor General was before the committee, I questioned the use of the word “reckless”. My question was answered fully, but being the cynical individual that I am, I went off to check. Indeed, although it is not widely used, it is an acceptable term and it is used in...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
30 Apr 2013
Current Petitions
The penultimate current petition is PE1465, by Tony Ivanov, calling on the Parliament to urge the Government to put in place legislation to enable local authorities to force owners of vacant plots of land within towns, including former green belt land and previously developed ...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
06 Nov 2013
Glasgow Airport Rail Link
I am never one to intrude on personal grief, and I know that Labour Party members have had it hard over the past few weeks. However, I find it inconceivable, and even unbelievable, that poor Mr Kelly—for whom I have the greatest respect—should again have been sent out of the L...
Chic Brodie SNP Chamber
27 Nov 2014
Programme for Government 2014-15
Forgive me, but I will carry on, if I may. Participation in the workplace goes beyond involvement. Success in achieving a high-wage and high-productivity economy is built on innovation and an improved research and development environment. It requires—in fact, it demands—expan...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
27 Nov 2012
Current Petitions
I am sure that we sympathise with the objective, but on the basis that the letter that we have just received indicates that there are no travelling circuses using wild animals that visit Scotland or have their headquarters in Scotland, I am not sure how profound or expansive t...
The Deputy Convener SNP Committee
30 Apr 2013
Current Petitions
PE1400, by Libby Anderson on behalf of OneKind, is on banning the use of wild animals in circuses. Do members have any comments on it?
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I understand that, but you went on to say that the bill“offers this Committee and this Parliament the opportunity to develop the land registration system to be more equitable, robust, clear, efficient and in the public interest while greatly improving the conveyancing process”...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Things are not necessarily clear-cut. The system leads to disputes over who owns what land.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I do not know whether any other panel members wish to comment on the completion of the land register.
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
11 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Pardon my naivety but, on your comment about solicitors finding problems and correcting the land register, how proactive should the keeper be in ensuring that the register is up to date?11:15
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
08 Sep 2011
Flavour Fortnight 2011
I am delighted to speak in support of Aileen McLeod’s motion. I, too, congratulate her on the debate. Flavour fortnight represents the best of the outputs of Dumfries and Galloway’s food and drink industry. I claim that, along with South Ayrshire, the area represents the premi...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
18 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
Following on from that response, I note that you say in your submission that, although the bill is technical, certain “public policy dimensions” should be taken into account. You mentioned the Crown in that respect and, on page 301 of your immensely readable book, you make the...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
25 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
I understand the value of service and efficiency in organisations. I come to IT. You kindly provided information about the ARTL—automated registration of title to land—system. We heard two weeks ago that it is unfit for purpose and a written submission from the Council of Mort...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
25 Jan 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
A slightly different view was expressed to the committee. Leaving that for a minute, let us concentrate on IT, and management and efficiency. The 2010-11 annual report and accounts for the Registers of Scotland says:“This year two projects in the change programme were reviewed...
Chic Brodie SNP Committee
08 Feb 2012
Land Registration etc (Scotland) Bill: Stage 1
In an article in Journal Online in October, to which you and the keeper contributed, the keeper stressed the importance of the land register to the Scottish economy and spoke of it“underpinning a property market worth over £20 billion.”It is interesting that she also says that...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
29 Mar 2012
Tribunal System
In its way, the debate—enjoined as it is to the Government’s consultation paper on a new tribunal system for Scotland, as announced by the minister on March 23—will, I opine, help to redefine significant elements and redraw the geography of common and fair justice in Scotland....
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP Chamber
20 Feb 2013
Historic Buildings
It is indeed a privilege to bring this debate to the Parliament. In doing so, I thank the large number of my fellow members of the Scottish Parliament who supported the motion. I pay tribute to the friends of Seafield house, some of whom are here tonight and whose acknowledged...
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Committee

Public Petitions Committee 16 April 2013

16 Apr 2013 · S4 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
Current Petition
Wild Land (Protection) (PE1383)
Brodie, Chic SNP South Scotland Watch on SPTV
I am still confused. However, on that basis, let us look at the University of Leeds report of 2010, which states:“In Scotland, effort to safeguard wild land has focused on maintaining the qualities that are valued for recreational use ... Areas of wild land character in some of Scotland’s remoter upland, mountain and coastal areas are very sensitive to any form of development or intrusive human activity.”Who defines what is intrusive human activity? We seem to be saying that wild land is for recreational use, but we also seem to be saying that there should be no invasion of human activity to impact on wild land. How did the report even attempt to reconcile those views?

In the same item of business

The Convener Lab
Item 3 is consideration of a current petition. We are considering PE1383, by Helen McDade, on behalf of the John Muir Trust, on better protection for wild la...
Andrew Thin (Scottish Natural Heritage)
I ask you to note for the record that, although I was at one time a member, a trustee and indeed the chairman of the John Muir Trust, I resigned from all tho...
The Convener Lab
Thank you, Mr Thin. I have a couple of questions, and I invite Ian Jardine to come in at any stage.First, I would like you to clear up some confusion in my m...
Andrew Thin
I do not think that it would need a designation. A designation is an option, but I question whether it is the best option. Planning policy is an equally effe...
The Convener Lab
Are you quite comfortable that there is a clear and absolute definition of what we mean by wild land?
Andrew Thin
I will turn to Ian Jardine on that. We have done an awful lot of work on the issue, but clearly an experiential quality is exceedingly hard to define. I ask ...
Ian Jardine (Scottish Natural Heritage)
We need to be honest about the fact that there is no single national or international definition of what we mean by “wild land”. In our mapping work, we have...
The Convener Lab
That is the point that I made to Andrew Thin. This seems to be a bit of a vague area, whereas we have two national parks with defined boundaries.I have a tec...
Ian Jardine
I would be happy to write with all the technical information, but the issue is that we have had technical problems with updating that indicator. I should emp...
The Convener Lab
Many constituents have written to us recently, not least because of the petition, to argue that the development of wind energy is the main threat to Scotland...
Ian Jardine
That is one of the significant developments affecting wild land and landscape issues across the country. As we all know, in the context of promoting the Gove...
Chic Brodie (South Scotland) (SNP) SNP
Good morning, Mr Thin and Mr Jardine. There is no such thing as wild land, is there, Mr Thin?
Andrew Thin
I was careful to say that wildness is an experiential quality. It is the experience that people have that is wild; it is not the land that is wild.
Chic Brodie SNP
When you gave evidence to another committee on which I sit, you said that you thought that we were talking at cross-purposes. I quote:“First, let me be clear...
Andrew Thin
No, I do not think so. Scotland is entirely a man-made landscape or a people-made landscape. There is no question but that it has been made by people over th...
Chic Brodie SNP
I am still confused. However, on that basis, let us look at the University of Leeds report of 2010, which states:“In Scotland, effort to safeguard wild land ...
Andrew Thin
I find that a difficult definition from the University of Leeds. Actually, the vast majority of Scotland is also somebody’s workplace. For a stalker or a kee...
Chic Brodie SNP
Depending on their perspective, some people might consider that an invasion of so-called wild land.
Andrew Thin
That is possible, but it is clear that Scottish planning policy states that we should protect “wild land character” or wildness. That in no sense precludes m...
Chic Brodie SNP
In talking about wild land, another issue that we discussed in the other committee was land registration. Who owns the wild land that you are mapping? When w...
Andrew Thin
Scotland is owned by a lot of different people. Off the top of my head, I cannot tell you how much of the wild land is—
Chic Brodie SNP
What if the owners do not wish their land to be characterised as wild land?
Andrew Thin
Planning policy of any kind does not necessarily take that into account. Planning policy applies to land, whoever owns it. The question of who owns the land ...
Chic Brodie SNP
I will ask one direct question that I have already asked. Is it not the case that the issue has nothing to do with the definition of wild land but has grown ...
Andrew Thin
Wind energy is one of the planning challenges that Scotland has to tackle effectively at the moment and over the next few years, but it is only one of a numb...
Chic Brodie SNP
I do not think that you answered my other question. When will the mapping of wild land be completed?
Andrew Thin
The mapping has been completed. That is why we are here.
Angus MacDonald (Falkirk East) (SNP) SNP
Good morning, Mr Thin and Mr Jardine. In his introductory remarks, Mr Thin mentioned the responsibilities of local authorities, and he has just mentioned the...
Ian Jardine
Obviously, given its timing, the consultation on the revisions to SPP and NPF3 is very much in our minds. We are looking at ways of helping to inform the rev...
Angus MacDonald SNP
Do you have a view on my comments about local authorities departing sometimes from local plans?