§ Sir Hector Monroasked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has reached a decision on the proposals to control the erection of livestock units near 6W residential properties set out in the consultation paper issued by the Scottish Development Department on 23 January 1984.
§ Mr. RifkindI have carefully considered the representations received in response to the consultation paper, which proposed that buildings for housing pigs and poultry and associated structures should need planning permission if they were to be larger than 465 sq m in area and erected within 400 m of residential and similar properties. At present many such buildings benefit from the deemed planning permission given by class V of the General Development Order. The proposals were generally welcomed and were accepted by the National Farmers Union of Scotland. Several respondents, including the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, suggested that control should be extended to cover buildings housing rabbits and animals bred for their skins and fur and we have amended our proposals accordingly. I should emphasise that in proposing such controls we are not seeking to prevent the establishment of such buildings, only to ensure that they require planning permission in the same way as most other types of development. These changes will be brought into effect by means of amendments to class V of the General Development (Scotland) Order, as part of the further amendments to and consolidation of the order which we hope to lay before Parliament during this Session. At the same time we intend to clarify the test governing the exercise of class V rights.