National Litter and Flytipping strategy: island communities impact assessment

4. Assessment

We anticipate that the overall vision of the Strategy to prevent and reduce litter and flytipping will have a positive impact on Scotland’s people and environment, irrespective of geographical location.

The Strategy sets out a vision and set of outcomes and objectives to reduce litter and flytipping in Scotland with an accompanying Action Plan that outlines how we will achieve this vision over the strategy’s six-year lifespan. The purpose of publishing the Strategy is to provide a framework through which actions will be identified, designed and implemented.

The wide scope of the Strategy and associated Action Plans will impact on a range of individuals and organisations that engage in activities that contribute to littering and flytipping. The Strategy will be implemented across Scotland, but does not itself specify target geographical areas or sections of society. At this stage it is not apparent to what extent geographic location would be impacted, however it the implementation of the Strategy is not anticipated to have a significantly disproportionate impact on island communities. Impacts on island communities in the possible areas outlined in Section 2 have not been identified in the 2023-24 Action Plan, which was informed by engagement through a full public consultation and completion of a partial Islands Communities Impact Assessment in 2022.

It is not yet clear how the systems approach to litter and flytipping prevention will differ in application across islands. If there is any differentiation, this will be identified and mitigated during the design and implementation stages of individual actions and the development of future Action Plans, which will be overseen by the Governance and Delivery Framework to ensure a wide range of input from stakeholders, amongst which island representation will be included. Any policy interventions would be subject to further proportionate impact assessment.

Date: 28 June 2023

Authorised by: Katriona Carmichael

Position: Deputy Director, Circular Economy Division