Hansard

Thank you, Presiding Officer—it is good to finally get to the start of the debate. I thank members from all sides of the chamber who signed my motion to allow the debate to take place.

Although dirty camping is an issue in my local area of Perth and Kinross and across Mid Scotland and Fife, I know that it is a national problem. I am sure that members will want to comment from their different local perspectives on what has been a significant issue during this summer, in particular.

I will start by putting the debate in context. There is a long Scottish tradition of what we know as wild camping, in which individuals—singly or in groups—go into the countryside to camp, taking everything with them and taking everything away at the end of the trip, leaving no trace of their presence but footprints. Wild camping has been going on in Scotland for decades, if not centuries. I have done it myself in the past, braving bugs, rain and midges—a lot of midges. It is important to stress that that is not what tonight’s debate is about. I want genuine wild camping to be able to continue without restriction.

We are talking tonight about something quite different: the relatively recent phenomenon of what we call “dirty camping”. That is where groups of individuals—often large groups—camp at the roadside, on a loch shore or at a beauty spot, taking a large amount of equipment with them. They cut down trees and light fires, and they often play loud music and disturb local residents. At the end of their stay, they do not tidy up but leave a mess behind them—a mess of litter and human waste. They often leave behind some of the camping equipment that they brought with them—in some cases, entire tents and sleeping bags have been abandoned.

In my area, there has been a significant problem with dirty camping over many years, and this summer it seems to have got a lot worse. It is particularly acute on lochsides in highland Perthshire—around lochs such as Rannoch, Tummel, Tay and Earn—and in attractive glens such as Glen Shee and Glen Lyon. Local residents in those areas are both concerned and distressed by the explosion in dirty camping. Passing places on narrow roads are blocked by parked cars, field gates are obstructed, litter is left for someone else to clear up and there can often be a problem with noise nuisance into the very early hours of the morning.

Earlier this summer, there was a horrific incident at the Loch of Clunie, just outside Blairgowrie. A local estate worker went down at 3 am to remonstrate with a group of men who were dirty camping and playing loud music, which was disturbing local residents. He ended up being stabbed and seriously wounded—fortunately, not fatally—and individuals have been charged with the offence. That is an extreme case, but it illustrates what can go wrong if the issue is not addressed.

As I mentioned, dirty camping has been an issue for some years, but the numbers seem to have exploded this summer, in particular. That may well be because of Covid-19 restrictions on overseas travel, which mean that many more people are taking their holidays closer to home. Whatever the reason, it is fast becoming a crisis in rural Scotland, and it needs to be addressed.

What needs to be done? First, we need to consider whether the laws in this area are adequate. The law on access to Scotland’s countryside, which currently provides for a right of responsible access, permits wild camping, but it is clear that the dirty camping to which I have referred is already unlawful. The problem is that the law is, in effect, unenforceable. The only remedies that are available to a landowner would involve going through the civil courts, which is an inefficient, bureaucratic and expensive way of trying to resolve the problem, and it would mean trying to identify the individuals involved. The law as it stands is simply not working.

The problems with dirty camping around the shores of Loch Lomond led the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park to experiment some years ago with the introduction of a permit scheme for campers in the area. That was hugely controversial at the time, and it was vigorously opposed by groups such as Ramblers Scotland. I remember at that time raising concerns that the scheme would have a displacement effect, pushing people who had previously camped around Loch Lomond to camp at other sites further afield, outside the restricted zone—and there is a great deal of evidence to show that that is exactly what has happened.

One possibility would be to look at extending permit camping zones to other parts of the country, beyond the existing scheme in the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. However, the creation of an exclusion zone is a lengthy and expensive business that involves the introduction of byelaws by local authorities or by the relevant national park authority. Some people make the reasonable argument that the money that would be required to do that might be better spent in other ways.

Beyond the legal issues, there are two areas that need to be addressed: education and enforcement. It is a sad fact that many of the people who indulge in dirty camping may not actually realise that they are doing anything wrong. People see what looks like an empty piece of land in an attractive rural spot and they do not appreciate that there are restrictions on how they might behave while they are there.