McArthur makes sure Orkney's voice is heard on Marine Bill (North Tayside Liberal Democrats)

North Tayside Liberal Democrats <info@libdems.org.uk>

McArthur makes sure Orkney's voice is heard on Marine Bill

July 23, 2009 10:17 AM
Originally published by Scottish Liberal Democrats

Orkney Islands Council has been invited to give evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Rural Affairs and Environment Committee when it considers the Marine (Scotland) Bill. This is the result of representations made by Orkney MSP, Liam McArthur, who sits on the committee.

The Bill, which aims to simplify the planning system for developments in Scotland's coastal waters, will cut across the powers Orkney Islands Council already holds thanks to the Orkney County Council Act. As currently planned, the Bill will give the key role in the planning process to a number of Scottish Marine Regions, (SMRs). The number and boundaries of the SMRs will be determined by Ministers after the Bill is passed, using secondary legislation. There is therefore currently no guarantee that Orkney will get its own SMR.

Liam McArthur has already written to Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs & the Environment, questioning how the new Bill will impact on the Orkney County Council Act. He suggested that the Bill provides an opportunity for Orkney Islands Council to build on its experience of marine management under the OCC Act, with the most straightforward way of achieving this being to guarantee that there will be an Orkney SMR. He pointed out that the same logic applied to Shetland, where the Council has wide marine planning powers under the Zetland County Council Act.

Commenting, Liam McArthur said,

"The position of the Islands Council areas is special. In the islands, coastal waters are of much greater economic and social importance than they are in mainland council areas, where the coastline makes up only a small part of the overall area. Between them, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles have more than a third of Scotland's coastline - Orkney alone has a greater length of coastline than the Firths of Forth and Tay combined. So the case for each of the three Islands Council areas having their own SMR is very strong.

"That is why I have already raised the issue with the minister, following my meeting with local stakeholders in Kirkwall earlier this month. It is also why I have made sure that the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee, which is leading the scrutiny of this Bill, invited Orkney Islands Council to give evidence. This will ensure that my fellow committee members get a chance to hear and understand an islands perspective on this vital issue.

"The aims of the Bill are generally sound, but we need to make sure that it builds on the marine planning work which is already undertaken by the Councils in Orkney and Shetland, rather than undermining it."

Notes:

Orkney Islands Council has been invited to give evidence to the Rural Affairs and Environment Committee on the 9th September.