Meeting of the Parliament 12 December 2024
I thank David Torrance for bringing the motion to the chamber for debate, not only allowing us to pay tribute to the Kingdom Off Road Motorcycle Club and welcome those who are here today to represent it, but giving those of us across the country who are interested in these issues the chance to recognise that club in Fife and to consider how it could serve as an example of how to make a bigger difference.
The club is clearly a great example—because of the volunteer effort, the investment and the organisation that has gone into making it happen—of the difference that constructive youth work and strategic investment can make.
As I have said before in this chamber, when I was first elected as MSP for Edinburgh Northern and Leith in 2016, we faced significant issues with motorbike crime in the north of the capital city because stolen motorbikes were being brought there, driven dangerously and then burned out.
Operation Soteria by Police Scotland was activated to deal with that. Along with the stronger north initiative, the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit, the council, the third sector, funding from the Robertson Trust and a youth work collaborative, it made a difference through diversion and intervention.
At that time, one of the projects that was looked at was in Fife. That shows that, even then, there was an understanding that what was being done in Fife was interesting because it was providing an alternative place for young people to learn about motorbiking in a safe way and to get the thrill of participating in that activity without engaging in criminality.
At the moment, in my constituency, the situation in the north of the city is not perfect, but it is not problematic in the way that it was. However, in Leith, as I have said in the chamber on several occasions in recent months, we have experienced issues with off-road vehicles—both two-wheeled and four-wheeled—being driven dangerously as part of a wider issue, with a very small minority of young people engaging in dangerous antisocial and criminal behaviour.
We can learn important lessons from the example that David Torrance has brought to the chamber. As Mr Torrance mentioned, this debate feeds into Bob Doris’s debate and other recent debates about how we not only better support the police but intervene in other ways to challenge this growing trend in communities in Scotland.
In some ways, it is a social media-driven trend. As I have said before, there is an element of organised crime in some incidents, but, along with some general crime trends that concern a very small minority of our youth, the situation has definitely got worse in the capital city and elsewhere in 2024.
In 2025, how do we undertake new initiatives collectively to improve the situation and make sure that it does not get worse? The working group proposal, which was discussed in previous debates and mentioned again today, is a good one. I would be interested to hear, not just in the minister’s response but as we go into the early quarters of 2025, what the Government will undertake to ensure that we have initiatives in all areas across the country that can make a difference by intervening, providing more positive destinations for young people, giving the police the resources and powers that they need, and putting public safety above everything else.
Although £90,000 is a lot of money, compared with, for example, the spending that would be needed if people ended up in the criminal justice system, it is not a large amount of money and could be a really important example of the Christie principle of engaging in preventative spend. What more preventative spend, such as the example that has been brought to the chamber today, can we have to make sure that we get on top of this issue in 2025?
13:08