Calls have been made for the Scottish Government to re-evaluate access laws to protect Perthshire’s rural beauty spots.
A motion has been put forward by Perth and Kinross councillors for leader Grant Laing to write to the Scottish Government to request that NatureScot carry out an “urgent review” of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC).
The code, which sits along side the Land Reform Act (Scotland) 2003, outlines a various set of regulations in which people must follow when “enjoying the outdoors” in Scotland.
Scotland’s ‘right to roam’
The Land Reform Act allows people the “right to roam” in Scotland, allowing access to forests, lochs, beach, rivers, parks and some types of farmland.
Councillors Ian James and John Duff say that despite some minor changes in 2016, the Land Reform Act and SOAC have remained ultimately unchanged for almost 20 years.
Both councillors say the code should better reflects modern day issues and ensure rules can be enforced by local councils following an increase in dirty camping in rural Perthshire.
Mr James represents the Strathtay ward areas like Clunie in Blairgowrie which have seen some of the biggest impacts of irresponsible visitors and campers recently.
The problems have only worsened since the start of the pandemic due to an increase in staycationers avoiding travel restrictions and chaos at airports.
He said: “People who would generally go abroad are now staying at home and because we have the right to roam in Scotland – which we’re very lucky to have – people are not au fait with the rules because nobody ever says anything.
“So we’re seeing incidents of people leaving piles of rubbish, human excrement and just a whole myriad of things and the rules aren’t in place to allow us to address those issues.
“The latest one is people camping next to cars, it’s damaging loch sides and nature while also causing a whole host of other issues.
“I’d like to get NatureScot to review and bring up to date the rules that are there.
“20 years ago these rules were brought in place for lone hikers climbing up munros – they weren’t expecting people to turn local beauty spots into holiday camps for the weekend.
“With the council, we’ve addressed some of these problems with rangers, we’ve also put in clear ways but we’ve had to do it legally – if the rules were there to aid us to do it, we wouldn’t have the expense of trying to address the problems.”
In 2020 calls were made for a camping ban at Loch Clunie to secure the safety of visitors after and an increase of dirty campers.
Discussions to make Visitor Ranger Service permanent
In 2021, the council piloted a Visitor Ranger Service to curb littering, damage to property and inconsiderate camping and parking after a spike in visitors to Perthshire.
The council are set to make a decision on whether to make the service permanent with discussions to me made around the revenue budget in coming years.
James said the rangers have been “worth every penny” but can only continue to do great work if “legislation and rules allow them to do it”.
Currently, rules around camping in Scotland set out by SOAC are:
- taking away all your litter
- removing all traces of your tent pitch and of any open fire (follow the guidance for lighting fires)
- not causing any pollution
Dirty camping issues worse than ‘anything faced before’
Highland ward Conservative Councillor John Duff said: “Large parts of our rural countryside are experiencing visitor numbers well in excess of anything faced before and this is significantly impacting on many of our popular, scenic areas and on those who live and work in the countryside.
“It has also brought with it some extremely challenging behaviour.
“A review of the code is needed to modernise the guidance and propose any changes to the primary legislation thought necessary.”
Conversation