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Plenary, 11 Jan 2006

11 Jan 2006 · S2 · Plenary

Item of business

Sustainable Development

Kane, Rosie SSP Glasgow Watch on SPTV

The minister is aware of the pollution levels. The same pleas were made in relation to the M74 and the M77. We have those pollution levels because too many cars are on the roads. Building roads simply moves those cars to another place and, in the long term, increases traffic and, therefore, pollution. We will be even more aware of pollution in the future, as will people in the area that will be affected.

People have not been afforded environmental justice and they now fight their corner with the odds stacked against them. What about the people of Carmyle, Rutherglen, Toryglen and Cambuslang, who stand on chromium, arsenic and lime? The locations of many such polluted sites in those areas have not been identified because people were not given environmental justice or the resources that they needed to locate and reveal those sites.

I can see that development has taken place, but the Executive cannot claim that it has been sustainable development. The Executive may well pat itself on the back and claim that it is doing well, but the evidence suggests the contrary. In November last year, North Lanarkshire Council was fined £4,000 after admitting to poor management of Auchinlea landfill. The fine will be paid, but the damage has been done and the opportunity to do more such damage still exists. In a separate case, Western Isles Council was fined £2,000 for failing to inspect waste that was being delivered to landfill. The damage has been done and the fine will be paid, but the potential and the conditions still exist for such breaches to take place.

Sustainable development relies on an empowered and educated society with the resources to make informed decisions, but there is no evidence that that is even on the Executive's radar. In 2003, members of the public in Glasgow made 241 complaints to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency; people in Ayrshire made 210 complaints; people in Dumfries made 282 complaints; in Dumbarton, people made 264 complaints; in Galloway, 173 complaints were made; and in North Lanarkshire, 101 complaints were made. That is a small snapshot, but it shows the high number of complaints.

In 2004, Professor Mark Poustie produced "Environmental Justice in SEPA's Environmental Protection Activities: A Report for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency". It contains 14 lengthy recommendations, which start from page 102. If members have not read that report, I ask them please to do so—a glance at the recommendations shows a huge deficit in environmental justice.

The Executive is in no position to promise environmental justice. Communities have been, are and will be excluded from the equation. Resources and political will are required to change that. No improvements in environmental justice have taken place during the Scottish Parliament's life or since the Rio declaration of 1992. Does the minister know that only 11 procurators fiscal are dedicated to environmental justice? That does not bode well, given the number of complaints that I have outlined and the increase in complaints that we hope to have if we progress environmental justice. Does the minister intend to do something to improve the situation and to allow the process to develop?

The Brundtland declaration of 1987 defines sustainable development as follows:

"Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs."

Those are words, but we need deeds. I hope that we will have answers to some of the questions and a truly green and clean Scotland.

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Plenary, 11 Jan 2006

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