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The Scottish Government welcomes this report by the Accounts Commission which sets out some valuable messages. It is, of course, up to councils to ensure they spend capital budgets effectively and in line with local needs.

I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13796 on 3 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

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I refer the member to the answer to question S4W-13796 on 3 April 2013. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

. In addition the Scottish Government will encourage local authorities to follow the guidance available.

A local authority has a statutory duty to observe the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA), “Prudential Code for Capital Finance in Local Authorities”. The Prudential Code recognises that in making decisions the authority must have explicit regard to option appraisal, asset management planning, strategic planning for authority and achievability of the forward plan. All of these represent elements of good practice for which guidance has already been provided by CIPFA and other authoritative sources.

Scottish Ministers welcome the findings in the report by Brodies LLP that challenges to planning decisions in Scotland are less likely to be successful than similar challenges in England and Wales. This demonstrates that decisions taken by local planning authorities and by the Scottish Government are soundly based and well-reasoned and play an important part in delivering sustainable economic development.

It is open to parties to seek review by the courts of planning decisions made by planning authorities or the Scottish Ministers.

Scottish Government has been actively engaging Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) on the development of National Planning Framework 3 (NPF3) and the preparation of revised Scottish Planning Policy (SPP) and looks forward to receiving SNH’s views on the NPF3 Main Issues Report and draft Scottish Planning Policy when these are issued for consultation. SNH will use their strategic locational guidance to help inform their response(s) to these consultations.

Scottish Natural Heritage are consulted on windfarm applications submitted to Scottish Ministers under Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 and there is a range of criteria which triggers consultation with SNH on applications submitted to planning authorities. SNH will use their Strategic Locational Guidance to provide consultation responses on these applications, which Scottish Ministers and planning authorities will take into account in determining these applications.

Before determining an application the planning authority must also consult SNH on any Environmental Statement accompanying the planning application, where such a statement is required under the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, SSI 2011/139 or where an appropriate assessment is required under The Conservation (Natural Habitats & c.) Regulations 1994 as amended.

Scottish Government, through Scottish Planning Policy (SPP), establishes the framework for Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH’s) strategic locational guidance (SLG) and provides statutory opportunities for SNH as a key agency to use their SLG to make representations to planning authorities on natural heritage matters to help inform local development plans.

The Scottish Government will be publishing a Scotland-wide report that will provide a summary of information collated from the annual performance reports by each planning authority and key agency. It is expected that each organisation will make their own annual report available on the web.

The Scottish Government publishes statistics on a quarterly basis that sets out the performance of planning authorities on different types of planning applications. This information guides authorities who benchmark against other comparable authorities and helps to focus attempts to improve efficiency. These statistics are not formally recognised as planning targets.