our campaigns
Real rights in planning
Scotland’s planning system is undergoing a major overhaul. New legislation currently going through the Scottish Parliament will lead to less scrutiny of national planning decisions (on things such as waste dumps and motorways) and an overall reduction in the rights you currently have. We are particularly disappointed that despite 86% of respondents to the Scottish Executive’s consultation being in favour, calls for a limited Third Party Right of Appeal have been rejected.
Read November update on our campaign.
Taking our campaign to the parliament
We know that very
many people care about what is being proposed: more than 5000 people
signed the LINK/Association
of Scottish Community Councils’ petition
to the Parliament calling for better scrutiny of the National Planning
Framework and more rights for communities.
Representatives from Scottish Environment LINK and the Association of Scottish Community Councils took our petition to the Scottish Parliament in January.
Left: ‘Reject ropey reforms’ : LINK members
stage tug of war to publicise third party rights of appeal
Right: MSPs in support of third party rights of appeal: Donald Gorrie,
Mike Rumbles, Dennis Canavan and Patrick Harvey with LINK representatives
Help us call for real rights!
The Planning
etc. (Scotland) Bill was published on 19th December. On May 17th,
after a debate in the chamber the general priniciples were approved.
The bill has now returned to the Communities
Committee for stage 2 where it will be scrutinized line by line.
It is vital we get our message across loud and clear whilst the Bill
is still being considered and there is the opportunity to get real rights
for our communities and safeguard our environment. The Bill must be amended
to include independent scrutiny of the National Planning Framework, meaningful
commitments to sustainable development and real rights for communities.
You can help to make that happen. Act now to help Scottish Environment
LINK bring equity to the planning system.
Individuals, communities and groups that care about their environment across Scotland support the organisations that make up Scottish Environment LINK.
For a quick and easy guide to how things could be, see: “A
tale of two planning systems”. There is also more detailed
information on all the issues in this campaign, including the latest briefing
from LINK since the publication of the Bill.
Half Term Report
How is the Scottish Executive doing on the environmental commitments it made in 2003?
Climate Change Campaign
must do it
The everyone campaign is extremely pleased that almost all of our challenges to the political parties made before the May 2003 Scottish Parliament elections are now commitments in the new government coalition partnership agreement. The next step is to keep the pressure up on these issues, because as is often the case in politics, words are one thing, committed action is another.
The next step is to keep the pressure up on these issues, because as is often the case in politics, words are one thing, committed action is another. As part of this, we have produced a review of the Executive’s progress,
Second Term, One Year On - Government Progress on the Environment in Scotland.
More information on the must do it campaign.