Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 09 September 2020
I thank Murdo Fraser for bringing the debate to the chamber. The matter is of great concern to many of our constituents, especially those who live in the Highlands and Islands, Perthshire, the Borders, and local beauty spots.
I start by agreeing with Murdo Fraser that there have been serious problems and a significant amount of careless, reckless and antisocial behaviour by those camping by roads and in scenic areas. I unequivocally condemn that kind of behaviour.
However, I do not want us to overreact to this, and there is a concern that we might. We must keep the problem in perspective. For example, this Friday, an interim paper is going to the Cairngorms National Park board that looks at the summer visitor experience. It says, for example that
“Early August was very busy with large numbers of visitors to the park ... Despite a noticeable increase in irresponsible behaviour the vast majority of visitors have been reacting favourably to information offered by the Rangers with few, but significant, occasions of difficult behaviour.”
A more detailed analysis of Badenoch and Strathspey, Deeside and the Atholl and Angus Glens says that the data in annex 2, to which I just referred
“shows a relatively small (by total visitor numbers) but noticeable increase in irresponsible behaviour.”
It is vital that we do not get the framing of this debate wrong. Indeed, punitive action involving police, permits, and permissions might be appropriate in particular cases, in the short term, and in particular locations, but the problem highlights wider questions about the relationship between land and people, and it also signals wider opportunities for a renaissance in outdoor recreation. From conversations that I have had with rangers and outdoor activities instructors, I know that many who have engaged with the so-called dirty campers say that they are doing things like cutting live wood and leaving litter because of genuine ignorance. Who is responsible for that ignorance?
For centuries, the law has sought to punish those who camp; to punish those who travel; and to punish those who use land for recreation. Luckily, we now have some of the best access legislation in Europe: it is a statutory right to camp responsibly in Scotland.
We should react to the situation, but rather than reacting solely to the most extreme examples, we should also ask how to encourage people to act responsibly, how to educate, and how to inspire a love of the outdoors in a generation that is more used to Mediterranean beaches and music festivals.
Scotland has woeful outdoor infrastructure, woeful basic camping facilities, and a woeful lack of toilets. It was mentioned that, at Loch Lomond National Park, byelaws restrict camping to designated sites, but there are no basic toilet facilities there and then there is surprise that people are doing what they need to do. That was the intention when the byelaws were introduced. Photomontages were presented about it.
I have cycled in the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark. Those countries take outdoor recreation very seriously. They provide appropriate facilities, even in the midst of some of the most intensively managed landscapes in the world.
We therefore need to democratise our countryside, and that means a vastly expanded programme of infrastructure provision, significant media and education programmes, proper resources for outdoor education centres, and an expansion of ranger services, as Finlay Carson said. It means that we must ensure that such services have sufficient funding to protect fragile landscapes and communities, and educate visitors. We should be accelerating the hutting movement to levels that have been the norm in Germany and Finland for decades.
Land around cities should be managed primarily for recreation, community food projects and recreational hutting rather than for low-output, publicly subsidised agriculture, so that the public have easy access to high-quality, low-impact leisure opportunities. The Cairngorms National Park Authority interim paper notes that, over the summer, there appears to have been
“a shift towards a younger demographic, with an increase in visitors under the age of 35”,
so what an opportunity to turn around centuries of prejudice and hostility to those who want to enjoy the fresh air. This is the moment to transform the countryside, to embrace the newfound interest in the outdoors and put in place the infrastructure and management that is taken for granted in any normal European country.
18:35