Celebrating Scotland's beaches this summer

WITH the summer well and truly under way and the official bathing season kicking-off this week, the spotlight was on Scotland's beaches.

With this summer set to be another magnificent one, we should take full advantage of our many spectacular beaches and use the opportunity to appreciate their distinctive beauty.

We can also afford to take some credit for the excellent condition of our beaches around the country and indeed in Banff and Buchan.

This year seven Scottish beaches and one marina were awarded with the internationally recognised Blue Flag and a total of 51 gained the Seaside Award for more rural beaches.
Here in Banff and Buchan, two of our beaches, at Inverboyndie and Cruden Bay, were credited with this prestigious award.

This recognition is given on the basis of good bathing standards, litter management, information provision and community involvement and is certainly not easily achieved.

It is a major tribute to the efforts of local people who have shown remarkable community spirit in contributing to the upkeep of our beaches and indeed to all of those who use the beaches, for acting so responsibly and respectfully during their visits.

Each of these beaches has its own distinctive assets and amenities which makes it so appealing to visitors and local people, and attracts tourists to Banff and Buchan.

Inverboyndie for example has a four star council-managed caravan park adding to its attraction while Cruden Bay lies close to the historic Slains Castle and boasts superb sandy dunes.

We also have numerous other beaches including Peterhead Lido, Fraserburgh Beach, Rattray and Sandend which host a variety of visitors every year with many diverse interests ranging from families and holiday makers to surfers and water sports enthusiasts.

These awards will ensure that standards remain high and guarantee that visitors continue to come along with all the revenue that that brings to our area.

I was delighted to be asked to present the award at Inverboyndie Beach and, swept away in the spirit of the impending summer, was even persuaded to join Keep Scotland Beautiful's Chief Executive in the worthy exercise of building a sand castle – some welcome light relief from my ministerial duties.

Positive action on post offices

IN THIS, the third session of the Scottish Parliament a sense of freshness and a break from the past can be distinctly felt in the corridors at Holyrood.

Even at this early stage the new SNP government are making their distinct impression on Scottish politics and bravely delivering on their policy commitments.

This dedication was illustrated in one of the first days in the chamber; in Cabinet Secretary for Finance, John Swinney’s statement to the Parliament on Post Offices.

The Cabinet Secretary’s statement reiterated the SNP’s determination to safeguard the Post Office network in Scotland. Following the UK government’s decision to support the closure of 2500 post offices, about 200 in Scotland, he vowed to fight for the maintenance and, indeed, development of Scotland’s postal service.

The SNP are committed to protecting access to post offices in rural areas through pragmatic measures such as co-locating public services.

This move by the UK government only serves to further illustrate the unfair nature of the current devolved settlement, and to highlight how much more could be achieved in Scotland’s interest in an SNP-run independent Scotland.

However, an SNP government at Holyrood is the first vital step in releasing Scotland’s true potential and one from which there is no turning back.

The people have spoken

THURSDAY, May 3, will be remembered as a truly momentous day in our national history - it was the day the people of Scotland made their voices resoundingly heard.

Faced with two basic choices – to take Scotland forward to a new era of development with the SNP, or to remain stagnant with Labour, the people chose the SNP. It was an emotional moment for many of us, and one which few of us will forget, as the SNP hailed victory in the North-east and across Scotland.

As the party with the most seats nationally, eight out of 16 members regionally in the North-east and locally the largest number of councillors across Scotland, the people opted for SNP representation at every level of government.

This election was fought over many policy areas – council tax, healthcare and class sizes to name but a few. However, underlying the various debates was the issue of confidence. The contest was between a party that displays confidence and ambition in Scotland and Scottish people and other parties that downplay Scotland's qualities, abilities and potential.

While other parties espoused an image of Scotland as a dependent country unable to survive without the support and direction of Britain, the SNP always maintained that Scotland is an enterprising and dynamic country with the ability to manage its own affairs.

Endowed with a wealth of natural resources, a valuable fishing industry and a skilled workforce, Scotland boasts just as many, if not more, advantages than other small independent nations such as Ireland and Norway.

The SNP recognises these attributes and believes that, given the opportunity, Scotland can and will flourish. This is why the party ran a consistently positive campaign about Scotland and our party's distinctive policies and, unlike Labour, did not resort to defensively attacking other parties – a fact which was not lost on the public.

This election was a clear vote of confidence not only for the SNP but for the future of Scotland. It's time for Scotland to make her own decisions and realise her true potential.

For my part, I was carried to a soaring victory with more than 58% of the votes cast, thanks to the people of Banff and Buchan, 16,031 of whom gave me their backing.

I am honoured to have been given such an overwhelming endorsement by my constituents and grateful to have been granted the opportunity to continue to serve their interests for the next four years, both in Parliament and in Banff and Buchan.

I take this opportunity to sincerely thank each and every one of my supporters and everyone who voted, regardless of who they supported.

In my third term as an MSP I want to extend on my progress in Banff and Buchan. In the last term I utilised every opportunity to promote industry and improve public services in the area. Thanks to our diverse industries such as fishing, oil and gas, farming, food processing and engineering, advanced by SNP parliamentary representation, we have a thriving economy with an average wage higher than the national average and the second highest level of self-employment in the country.

However, we must relentlessly build on these assets. Promotion of industry, investment in infrastructure such as the A90, reduction of crime on our streets and in our communities and local control of healthcare will remain my top priorities in this session.

I look forward, over the next four years, to delivering on my assurances and to representing the many and diverse needs of each of my constituents to the best of my ability.