Agenda item

Consider report by Director Infrastructure and Environment. (Copy attached.)

There had been circulated copies of a report by the Director – Infrastructure and Environment which sought approval of the draft Regional Land Use Framework (RLUF) for the South of Scotland for public consultation for a 12-week period and agreement for the final version to be submitted to Scottish Ministers by March 2024.  The South of Scotland Regional Land Use Framework was one of 5 pilots being developed as part of Scottish Government’s pilot programme.  The pilot was a tripartite approach between Scottish Borders Council, Dumfries & Galloway Council and SOSE and was supported and governed through the Regional Economic Partnership. The pilot aimed to test governance structures that delivered collaborative decision making for land use and used a natural capital approach to identify priorities for land use change that supported government climate change and biodiversity targets. The Chief Housing Officer, Mr Ian Aikman, presented the report and responded to Members questions.  Mr Aikman introduced Mr Andy Tharme, Strategy Manager – Natural Resources Net Zero, Nature & Entrepreneurship of South of Scotland Enterprise to the meeting.  It was highlighted that a collaborative with all partners, land managers and farmers would be essential to ensure that the RLUF was fit for purpose.  Regarding the number of people employed in the fishing and aquaculture sector in the region, Mr Aikman undertook to investigate whether the figure provided in the report was accurate.  In response to a question regarding peat extraction in the region, Mr Tharme explained that ongoing extraction operations would likely be tied up in existing mineral permissions and would require national policy change to curtail.  The draft framework was focused on informing national and regional policies. Regarding the proposed Agricultural and Rural Communities Bill, Mr Tharme explained that the South of Scotland could provide its priorities, and input, on the legislation through undertakings such as the RLUF.  In response to a question regarding plans to make decision-making on land use issues less centralised, Mr Aikman confirmed that a report was expected to be presented to the Planning and Building Standards Committee in January 2024.   Mr Tharme confirmed that events with stakeholders were planned for December.  It was outlined that if fundamental changes were made to the RLUF then it would be referred to Council for agreement.  Mr Aikman undertook to ensure that community councils were on the list of interested parties for communication purposes.  In response to a question regarding the assessment of the RLUF’s success, Mr Tharme confirmed that by working with Nature Scotland a landscape scale natural assessment tool, amongst other measures, would be used to analyse data.  Members unanimously agreed to approve the report. 

DECISION

AGREED to:-

(a)     approve the draft Regional Land Use Framework contained in Appendix A to the report as the basis for a 12-week consultation; and

(b)     delegate authority to the Director of Infrastructure and Environment to submit the finalised version of the Framework to Scottish Ministers by March 2024, unless there were substantive changes to the document as a result of the consultation, in which case the matter would be referred back to Council for agreement.