A Building Standards Register is maintained by local authorities under the terms of Section 24 of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003. Local authorities are responsible for granting permission for work to be done (building warrant) and for a completed building to be occupied (completion certificate). These registers are online and searchable and published as weekly lists in a similar way to planning applications. Registers typically contain details of applications at the following stages of the building warrant process: - Received - Decided - Commenced - Completed The datasets are presented as follows: 1. Building Standards - Weekly Lists (Points):  A point layer showing an amalgamation of the current calendar year's weekly lists for all Scottish planning authorities in terms of applications registered and/or decided by a local authority. This should be a complete dataset across Scotland using X/Y co-ordinates, UPRN or postcode as corresponding geometry. This is categorised by application status, local authority and date of weekly list. 2. Building Standards - Weekly Lists (Polygons): A polygon layer showing an amalgamation of the current calendar year's weekly lists for most Scottish local authorities in terms of applications registered and/or decided by a local authority. This is only for authorities that publish site boundary mapping data online. This is categorised by application status, local authority and date of weekly list. 3. Building Standards - historic year layers (Polygons): Polygon layers for all previous year's building standards applications with summary details for most Scottish local authorities. This is only for authorities that publish site boundary mapping data online and is not complete across Scotland. This data is collected and published weekly (for weekly lists) and this metadata record is updated weekly. *Moray's planning data has currently been removed from this dataset. We will find a solution to this in due course*

Each local authority creates gritting routes and regimes to keep their most important roads (and in some cases footpaths) and networks clear come bad winter weather. Most LAs create these as line datasets. So the national dataset is a line format dataset. We now have two layers: one for road gritting and one for footpath. Some LAs collect this data as a polygon dataset. We are working with them to convert this into line formats in the future. We have removed trunk roads that are cleared by private companies e.g BEAR and AMEY from this dataset for the time being as they aren't currently under the LA gritting route regime. Eventually, the Street Gazetteer will enable us to identify these routes more accurately and coherently.

This dataset contains areas classified by their suitability for onshore wind turbine development, falling into one of three groups: Group 1: Areas where wind farms will not be acceptable: National Parks and National Scenic Areas Group 2: Areas of significant protection: Recognising the need for significant protection, in these areas wind farms may be appropriate in some circumstances. Further consideration will be required to demonstrate that any significant effects on the qualities of these areas can be substantially overcome by siting, design or other mitigation. National and international designations: World Heritage Sites; Natura 2000 and Ramsar sites; Sites of Special Scientific Interest; National Nature Reserves; Sites identified in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes; Sites identified in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields. Other nationally important mapped environmental interests: areas of wild land as shown on the 2014 SNH map of wild land areas; carbon rich soils, deep peat and priority peatland habitat. Community separation for consideration of visual impact: an area not exceeding 2km around cities, towns and villages identified on the local development plan with an identified settlement envelope or edge. The extent of the area will be determined by the planning authority based on landform and other features which restrict views out from the settlement. Group 3 - Area with potential for wind farm development: Beyond groups 1 and 2, wind farms are likely to be acceptable, subject to detailed consideration against identified policy criteria. Reference should be made to Scottish Government planning and renewable energy policy. In the first instance, this is Scottish Planning Policy (June 2014) paragraphs 161 to 174, in the context of the overarching policy of "A Low Carbon Place". It should be noted that some terminology relating to "spatial frameworks" and "areas of search" may no longer be in use, and reference should be made to planning advice on renewable energy (February 2017) at https://www.gov.scot/publications/renewables-planning-advice-index/

'Development management' is the name given to the process of deciding planning applications and various other associated activities including enforcement of planning controls. For the purposes of planning applications, development in Scotland is put into one of three categories – 'local', 'major' or 'national'. The different categories mean that applications are treated in a way which is suited to the size and complexity of the proposed development and the issues they are likely to raise. Most applications will be for 'local' developments. 'Major' developments include applications for 50 or more homes, certain waste, water, transport and energy-related developments, and larger retail developments. 'National' developments are specific projects which have been identified in the National Planning Framework because of their national importance. Scottish Ministers become involved in a small minority of cases, but only do so where it involves a matter of genuine national interest. This dataset consists of 3 separate layers: 1. Planning Applications - Weekly Lists (Points):  A point layer showing an amalgamation of the current calendar year's weekly lists for all Scottish planning authorities in terms of applications registered and/or decided by a planning authority. This should be a complete dataset across Scotland using X/Y co-ordinates, UPRN or postcode as corresponding geometry. This is categorised by application status, planning authority and date of weekly list. 2. Planning Applications - Weekly Lists (Polygons): A polygon layer showing an amalgamation of the current calendar year's weekly lists for most Scottish planning authorities in terms of applications registered and/or decided by a planning authority. This is only for authorities that publish site boundary mapping data online. This is categorised by application status, planning authority and date of weekly list. 3. Planning Applications - historic year layers (Polygons): Polygon layers for all previous year's planning applications with summary details for most Scottish planning authorities. This is only for authorities that publish site boundary mapping data online and is not complete across Scotland. This data is collected and published weekly (for weekly lists) and this metadata record is updated weekly. *Moray's planning data has currently been removed from this dataset. We will find a solution to this in due course*

This product displays the stations where mercury has been measured and the values present in EMODnet Chemistry infrastructure are always above the limit of detection or quantification (LOD/LOQ), i.e quality value equal to 1. It is necessary to take into account that LOD/LOQ can change with time. These products aggregate data by station, producing only one final value for each station (above, below or above/below). EMODnet Chemistry has included the gathering of contaminants data since the beginning of the project in 2009. For the maps for EMODnet Chemistry Phase III, it was requested to plot data per matrix (water,sediment, biota), per biological entity and per chemical substance. The series of relevant map products have been developed according to the criteria D8C1 of the MSFD Directive, specifically focusing on the requirements under the new Commission Decision 2017/848 (17th May 2017). The Commission Decision points to relevant threshold values that are specified in the WFD, as well as relating how these contaminants should be expressed (units and matrix etc.) through the related Directives i.e. Priority substances for Water. EU EQS Directive does not fix any threshold values in sediments. On the contrary Regional Sea Conventions provide some of them, and these values have been taken into account for the development of the visualization products. To produce the maps the following process has been followed: 1. Data collection through SeaDataNet standards (CDI+ODV) 2. Harvesting, harmonization, validation and P01 code decomposition of data 3. SQL query on data sets from point 2 4. Production of map with each point representing at least one record that match the criteria The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols. Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data : • For water: contaminants in the dissolved phase; • For sediment: data on total sediment (regardless of size class) or size class < 2000 μm • For biota: contaminant data will focus on molluscs, on fish (only in the muscle), and on crustaceans • Exclusion of data values equal to 0

A ‘polling place’ is defined as the building or area in which a polling station will be located. A ‘polling station’ is the room or area within the polling place where voting takes place. Unlike polling districts and polling places which are fixed by the local authority, polling stations are chosen by the (Acting) Returning Officer for the election. The Representation of the People Act 1983 places a duty on LA to divide the local authority area into polling districts based on ward boundaries, and to designate a polling place for each district. LAs also have a duty to keep these polling arrangements under review. The Electoral Administration Act 2006 introduced amendments to the 1983 Act (which in turn has been superseded by The Electoral Administration Act 2013). Now local authorities must conduct a full review (with public consultation) of its polling districts and polling places every four years, however adjustments to the boundaries of polling districts and the designation of polling places within LA wards can be proposed at any time in response to changes in ward boundaries or to the availability of premises that can be reasonably designated as polling places. The Fifth Review of Electoral Arrangements concluded in May 2016 when the LGBCS made recommendations to Scottish Ministers for the number of Councillors and the electoral ward boundaries in each of Scotland's 32 local authorities. The review recommended changes in 30 LA areas of which all but 5 were accepted and came into force on 30th Sept 2016. As a result, ward boundaries (and therefore polling districts and possibly polling places) were changed after this date in time for the May 2017 elections.

In November 2004, Audit Scotland published a document entitled ‘Maintaining Scotland’s Roads’, effectively introducing a requirement on local authorities in Scotland to produce a Roads Asset Management Plan (RAMP). Following this publication, The Society of Chief Officers for Transportation in Scotland (SCOTS) produced a common asset management framework through which all local authorities could develop their own RAMP. Street assets/furniture are a key part of the RAMP and as such a requirement exists for a national dataset of information. This can include (although is not limited to) features such as bollards, road signs, barriers, parking bays, bus shelters, cattle grids, gates, street lighting columns, benches/seats, information boards, dog/litter/grit bins, cycle stands, ticket machines etc. etc. We are currently only including furniture types that have been provided by more than one council. These are: Grit Bins Street Lights Traffic Calming Traffic Signals Litter Bins Cattle Grids Weather Stations Dog Litter Bins Benches Bollards Picnic Tables Memorials Cycle parking Electric Vehicle Charging Points We understand that some local authorities are loading this data into the VAULT system. We will work with the team managing that system to ensure that there is one definitive list in the future.

Local authorities have the power to make by-laws to prohibit the drinking of alcohol in designated public places under provisions contained in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (under sections 201, 202 and 203) subject to confirmation by Scottish Ministers. To date, 27 local authorities across Scotland have by-laws which prohibit the drinking of alcohol in designated public places in more than 480 towns and villages across Scotland, together with the built up areas within the city of Glasgow and Edinburgh have such by-laws. They range from a total ban on drinking at all times, to a ban at specified times or on specified days.

The Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey is a national data collection undertaken to establish the extent and state of vacant and derelict land in Scotland. The survey has been operating since 1988. This survey is associated with the Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, under which cash allocations are made to local authorities. Every year the Scottish Government Communities Analytical Services produce a comprehensive national survey based on data collected and processed from all Local Authorities and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority. The Spatial Hub takes this survey data and joins it (using site ID) to the polygon site information provided by local authorities. To create this dataset we have taken all of the spatial data provided by councils for the current survey year (2018 published in 2019) and combined it to this year's statistical survey (using the site reference). However: - where local authorities have not provided spatial data for the current year, their previous spatial data return has been used. - where there is no spatial data at all for sites we have buffered the easting and northing provided in the survey, to create a circular polygon area for a site. (Dumfries and Galloway Council and Highland Council)

This product displays the stations present in EMODnet validated dataset where tributyltin levels have been measured in sediment. EMODnet Chemistry has included the gathering of contaminants data since the beginning of the project in 2009. For the maps for EMODnet Chemistry Phase III, it was requested to plot data per matrix (water,sediment, biota), per biological entity and per chemical substance. The series of relevant map products have been developed according to the criteria D8C1 of the MSFD Directive, specifically focusing on the requirements under the new Commission Decision 2017/848 (17th May 2017). The Commission Decision points to relevant threshold values that are specified in the WFD, as well as relating how these contaminants should be expressed (units and matrix etc.) through the related Directives i.e. Priority substances for Water. EU EQS Directive does not fix any threshold values in sediments. On the contrary Regional Sea Conventions provide some of them, and these values have been taken into account for the development of the visualization products. To produce the maps the following process has been followed: 1. Data collection through SeaDataNet standards (CDI+ODV) 2. Harvesting, harmonization, validation and P01 code decomposition of data 3. SQL query on data sets from point 2 4. Production of map with each point representing at least one record that match the criteria The harmonization of all the data has been the most challenging task considering the heterogeneity of the data sources, sampling protocols. Preliminary processing were necessary to harmonize all the data : • For water: contaminants in the dissolved phase; • For sediment: data on total sediment (regardless of size class) or size class < 2000 μm • For biota: contaminant data will focus on molluscs, on fish (only in the muscle), and on crustaceans • Exclusion of data values equal to 0