Aileen Campbell

Answer · Stewart Stevenson · 6 Dec 2010

Planning legislation does not specify circumstances or procedures in this regard. In practice, specific issues relating to the proposed development and the stage in the planning process will determine the advice given by the planning authority.</p>

Answer · John Swinney · 26 Oct 2010

Approximately 98% of in scope public sector demand in Scotland “ some 24,000 buildings “ is now signed up to our national electricity contracts. Given that public bodies migrated to these contracts on an incremental basis from 1 October 2009 until 1 April 2010, the first full year where the majority of participating bodies received power via the national contracts is April 2010 to March 2011. For that year, we estimate that the contracts will deliver total benefits of around £10 million, with similar benefits achieved until contract expiry on 31 March 2013 - equating to around 5% of total contract value.</p> <p >Given that both the cost of electricity on the wholesale market and distribution charges have increased significantly over the past year and wholesale costs are likely to continue to rise, benefits take the form of cost avoidance.</p> <p >While it is for individual public bodies to calculate the benefits they have derived and will continue to derive from the new contracts, we estimate that the £10 million annual benefits will accrue to the participating sectors as follows:</p> <p >Central Government: 5.98%</p> <p >Local Authority, Fire and Police: 58.48%</p> <p >NHS Scotland: 21.04%</p> <p >Higher &amp; Further Education: 13.78%</p> <p >Third Sector: 0.72%.</p> <p >Importantly, the contracts also allow increased budgetary certainty for public bodies, as the flexible procurement model adopted involves multiple purchases on the wholesale market, which smooths out the volatility inherent in large, one-off transactions in commodity markets. Significant process savings have also been achieved for public bodies through going to market once for a large part of the public sector.</p>

Answer · John Swinney · 26 Oct 2010

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-36681 on 26 October 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx">http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx</a>.</p>

Answer · Stewart Stevenson · 15 Sep 2010

Speed restrictions are taken into account in the calculation of Sectional Running Times (SRTs) upon which timetables are constructed. Due to the tight curve radius and adverse camber at Carstairs junction, the line speed is restricted to 15mph.</p>

Answer · Stewart Stevenson · 17 Sep 2010

The Scottish Executive is aware that there are permanent speed restrictions for trains operating in both directions between Carstairs Station Junction and Carstairs East Junction. These restrictions comprise of 15 mph for a distance of 27 chains (543 metres) and 30 mph for 26 chains (523 metres). For clarity, this is only applicable on the route between Carstairs station and the Edinburgh line. The west coast route from Glasgow to Carlisle is operated at a much higher speed through the Carstairs area.</p> <p >Specific details of the reasons for operational and engineering speed restrictions on the rail network are the responsibility of Network Rail.</p>