Quarrying quarrel
Later this month, a Scottish Government Planning Reporter will be holding a hearing in Cambusbarron to assess the future of Gillies Hill as an application to continue quarrying has gone to appeal.
It is profoundly disappointing that Stirling Council’s planning panel delayed taking this decision locally, allowing the quarry firm to appeal the application due to non-determination, and given the litany of failure by Stirling Council over many years on this issue, they have a responsibility to effectively argue the view of all parties represented on the council and the vast majority of local residents that this application should be rejected.
Gillies Hill is a site of natural beauty and incredible historical heritage – one communities local to the hill are justifiably proud of.
Two years ago, as a councillor on Stirling Council, colleagues and I brought forward a motion that instructed officers to assess the feasibility of making Gillies Hill a designated nature reserve in recognition of the many attributes of the area. The motion was passed with the unanimous support of all parties represented on Stirling Council, yet despite this, there has been no discernible progress to date in securing the site as a local nature reserve.
The failure to undertake democratically agreed action formed the basis of a complaint I submitted to Stirling Council earlier this year, and the many constituents who have contacted me about this issue will expect to be updated on progress the next time the council meets.
Communities across Stirling would feel the impact of any renewed quarrying operations with multiple heavy vehicles transporting aggregates through residential areas to the motorway network throughout the day.
There are clear planning reasons why proposals to reactivate quarrying at this location should be rejected and I hope the Reporter can be persuaded of this in the weeks ahead.
At Westminster, the agenda continues to be dominated by the continuing shambles that is the UK Government’s approach to leaving the European Union.
There is a complete lack of any kind of plan for Brexit, demonstrating how woefully ill-prepared the Tories are for the EU withdrawal many of them advocated during the referendum campaign and their efforts to push this through without parliamentary approval have now been rejected by the High Court, leaving this whole sorry process in compete turmoil.
New questions are emerging faster than the Tories are able to answer them – with confusion and secrecy surrounding the UK government’s deal with Nissan and the concerns raised by universities of the damage that Brexit will inflict.
The fact they are yet to appoint key negotiators ahead of vital trade talks shows the wrong-headed approach they are insistent on following – though it is unsurprising given their distaste for expert opinion as expressed during the referendum campaign.
The Prime Minister is telling our NHS to drop foreign doctors and our universities to ditch international researchers – yet she herself can’t find the expertise she needs in Britain to negotiate Brexit.
The Tory government must reveal the detail of what it hopes to gain from leaving the EU and how it intends to achieve it – meaningless assertions that “Brexit means Brexit” are simply not good enough.
The people of the Stirling constituency who voted so clearly to remain in the European Union are entitled to answers to some of these basic questions about the UK Government’s intentions on leaving the EU.
I can be contacted at: Steven Paterson MP, Springfield House, Laurelhill Business Park, Stirling FK7 9JQ by phone at 01786 406375; or by email at steven.paterson.mp@ parliament.uk.