Committee
Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Bill Committee, 17 Nov 2004
17 Nov 2004 · S2 · Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Bill Committee
Item of business
Edinburgh Tram (Line Two) Bill: Preliminary Stage
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The only item on the agenda today is the taking of oral evidence. Members have had the opportunity to consider the folder of written evidence from objectors and the promoter. As at the committee's previous meeting, we will have several panels of witnesses before us today. I ask other witnesses and members of the public to bear with us if there is some disruption as witnesses change over in the course of the meeting. We will attempt to get through the evidence taking as quickly as possible.I draw to the attention of witnesses the fact that the purpose of today's meeting is to study and hear evidence on the environmental statement and its adequacy. Some witnesses will appear before the committee at a later stage as objectors; therefore, there will inevitably be some straying from the purpose of today's meeting on the basis of the evidence that those witnesses will give in the future. However, I ask all those who will give evidence this morning to stay within the constraints of the purpose of today's meeting, which is to assess the adequacy of the environmental statement.Our first panel is Lily Linge, David Campbell and Carolyn Clark, representing Historic Scotland, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Natural Heritage, respectively. I wish you all good morning and invite you to introduce yourselves and make any opening remarks that you wish. The committee will want to question you in some depth, so your opening remarks may be restricted.
In the same item of business
Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con):
Con
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. The only item on the agenda today is the taking of oral evidence. Members have had the opportunity to consider the folder...
Lily Linge (Historic Scotland):
I have no opening remarks to make. I am content with what we have said already.
David Campbell (Scottish Environment Protection Agency):
I have no opening remarks to make. We have made a written submission that is available for comment.
Carolyn Clark (Scottish Natural Heritage):
Likewise, I have no opening remarks to make and have made a written submission.
The Convener:
Con
On that basis, we proceed straight away to questioning. We open with a series of questions relating to the Huly Hill scheduled ancient monument. In your writ...
Lily Linge:
The rescheduling is currently going through the legal process and it is as set out in the plans that are appended to our evidence. We have had no further dir...
The Convener:
Con
All right. Assuming that the limits of deviation will not extend into the scheduled area of the monument, is Historic Scotland satisfied that the scheme will...
Lily Linge:
Yes, we are content that there would be no impact on the site, that being the case.
The Convener:
Con
As far as the scheme as a whole is concerned, does Historic Scotland consider that no other ancient monuments will be directly impacted upon?
Lily Linge:
That is the case, yes.
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD):
LD
With regard to listed buildings and the world heritage site, in paragraph 32 of your written evidence you quote the environmental statement as saying that it...
Lily Linge:
Since writing that, we have considered further the interplay of the environmental impact assessment and the prior approval system. I am aware that in evidenc...
The Convener:
Con
I hear what you are saying, but, for the moment, we are stuck with the procedures that are in force. I assure you that we are acutely aware of the difficulti...
Kate Maclean (Dundee West) (Lab):
Lab
Could we get that information in writing?
The Convener:
Con
Yes, we could certainly get it in writing later.
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
I will come back later to some of the specific elements of street furniture. On an associated element regarding the process, you raise concerns about the sta...
Lily Linge:
We have been fully consulted on the preparation of the design manual to date. We were consulted by the planning authority before the version of the manual th...
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
Your evidence states:"We consider that, as a matter of priority, the Bill must include appropriate provision to secure this end."If you are providing supplem...
Lily Linge:
On that point, and in addition to what I said about the environmental impact assessment, we cannot see why it is not possible to introduce the appropriate pr...
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
If you could add that to your written evidence, we would be grateful. I return to listed buildings and some of the street furniture around St Andrew Square, ...
Lily Linge:
We would need to know what the precise position is with regard to those structures and whether or not they are directly affected. If they are to be affected,...
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
Have you not asked the promoters about that previously?
Lily Linge:
Only in the context that I have just described. It is fair to say that, until we saw the environmental statement, we were not aware that those items were to ...
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
When was that? When did you see it?
Lily Linge:
We saw the environmental statement only in July this year: a copy was forwarded to us by the clerk to the committee when we were invited to give evidence on ...
Jeremy Purvis:
LD
So, as things stand at the moment, you are not confident that the promoters have responded to your concerns adequately.
Lily Linge:
I am aware that certain issues were raised in the supplementary response, which is on the website, but I have not been able to check the details of that—I do...
The Convener:
Con
We will now turn to questions to SEPA, so thank you for your evidence, Ms Linge. Mr Campbell, it is now you who will be answering our questions.
Alasdair Morgan (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
Good morning. In your response to the promoter on 12 March, you commented on the generalised nature of mitigation measures for pollution of groundwater. At t...
David Campbell:
It depends on how detailed one wants to be in an environmental assessment and in planning. The environmental assessment indicates that abatement measures wil...