Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 31 May 2006
31 May 2006 · S2 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Speed Restrictions on Inland Water (PE964)
Kevin Lilburn:
Watch on SPTV
That raises several issues. A lot of the impetus for the changes came towards the end of 2004, when the implementation of the Windermere restrictions became apparent and a grave concern arose that vast numbers of boats and other watercraft would move north to Loch Lomond, because it is the next nearest significant waterway. That led to a lot of press interest in the matter and a focus on the national park's performance up to that point. Several lobby groups existed at that time, notably the Friends of Loch Lomond, the Loch Lomond Association and the Loch Lomond Angling Improvement Association. The anglers have their own agenda, which is pretty much to promote their sport. That is fair enough, as that is what the association was set up to do, as the title suggests. With the other two associations, particularly the Friends of Loch Lomond, the management committees are made up mostly of people who are in excess of 60 years old and who have a rather different perspective from the people who are out on the loch day to day. To be frank, they could sit down and write letters to newspapers and generate publicity for the agenda that they were pushing.The Loch Lomond Association purports to represent all loch users and all activities on the loch but, in recent years, as my father will confirm, its views have polarised somewhat. That is largely due to apathy and an unwillingness to participate among the younger, more active members of the loch community. The voice that was making itself heard at that point was at one end of the spectrum.The second aspect of this is that the make-up of the national park board and the staff of the national park is largely an environmental-ecological make-up. Not one member of the park board lists recreational boating—or any form of boating—as an activity in which they participate, although they take part in hill walking, birdwatching and all the shore-based activities that, it is argued, are adversely affected by activity on the water.In summary, first, there was an apparent public position on the matter; secondly, there is an internal position in the park authority that tends towards the proposals that it has come up with.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
Our next new petition is PE964, by Kevin Lilburn on behalf of Fair Play Loch Lomond, which calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Executive to...
Kevin Lilburn (Fair Play Loch Lomond):
Thank you for that introduction. My colleagues and I are humbled to share this meeting with the petitioners who went before us. Ultimately, we are talking ab...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you for a highly comprehensive introduction. I invite questions from members.
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
I declare an interest. I have met the petitioners before because Loch Lomond is in my constituency and that of Sylvia Jackson.I have no issue with the propos...
Kevin Lilburn:
We certainly welcome any reduction in the scope of the original proposals. The figure of 8 per cent is slightly misleading because it relates to the total su...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
If we are to believe what the park authority says, the measure is designed to protect sensitive areas, which are those around the islands in the middle of th...
Kevin Lilburn:
I draw your attention to another submission that you should get today, which is a summary of the ecological impact report on the loch. The report is the nati...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
That is interesting. I notice that you did not mention jet-skis. Let me just probe that. To judge the matter on the basis of my constituency mailbag, I have ...
Kevin Lilburn:
I did mention jet-skis; I used the generic term, "personal watercraft", which covers them.
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
I missed that.
Mr Gordon:
Lab
Good politician.
Kevin Lilburn:
I agree that the issue comes up time and again. The first thing that I would say is that, if that is the issue, we should have a debate about that and not ta...
Johnny North:
Strathclyde police force has bought a jet-ski this year, which is great news and which could change the situation incredibly. The present patrol boat cannot ...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
That is interesting.
Kevin Lilburn:
In the committee's discussion of the previous petition, an issue was raised about a gap between policy and practice. We are in the same situation. The policy...
Jackie Baillie:
Lab
I am hoist by my own petard.I have one final question. Sylvia Jackson and I have formally requested a meeting for all parties with the Deputy Minister for En...
Kevin Lilburn:
Can I have two things? First, I would make an amendment about young people. It is important that, when young people have an opportunity to express their sens...
John Scott:
Con
I have visited Loch Lomond, which is a beautiful place, but I do not know a great deal about it. Can you say what the driver is for the new byelaws, when the...
Kevin Lilburn:
That raises several issues. A lot of the impetus for the changes came towards the end of 2004, when the implementation of the Windermere restrictions became ...
Mr Gordon:
Lab
I am a townie, but like many Glaswegians, on sunny summer weekends—which we get about twice a year—I have been known to drive my family to the east shore of ...
Kevin Lilburn:
The situation would certainly be alleviated if the current byelaws were rigidly enforced. One of the problems with jet-skis is that they tend to stay close t...
Mr Gordon:
Lab
So, I should go to Loch Katrine or Loch Ard in the future.
Kevin Lilburn:
If ultimate peace and quiet is your goal, you have the option to do that.
Mr Gordon:
Lab
You must bear in mind the fact that, to a Glaswegian, peace and quiet is a relative term.
Kevin Lilburn:
Indeed.
Lawrie Lilburn (Riparian Owners of Loch Lomond):
I have been involved on the loch for a very long time. In 1987, when jet-bikes—personal watercraft, but I still call them jet-bikes—first started to appear, ...
Kevin Lilburn:
I should clarify that 800 jet-bikes are registered to use Loch Lomond—anyone who wants to use the loch must register their vessel. That does not mean that th...
John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD):
LD
I appreciate that jet-bikes can be annoying on a quiet Sunday afternoon, when people are having a picnic with their families, as Charlie Gordon did.In your s...
Kevin Lilburn:
There are two reasons, both of which are economic. Boat numbers reached an all-time high at the end of the 1980s, which to some extent reflected the trend fo...
Johnny North:
Also, much uncertainty has been created by the review of the byelaws. There is evidence that people are deciding not to buy a boat because they do not know w...