Cairngorm

Scotland is at last getting National Parks. One, the first, is around Loch Lomond. The second is on our doorstep and includes the high hills in Cairngorm National Park.

The Rural Development Committee, which I am on, will be meeting on 11th October in Kingussie so that local opinion can express its views on the proposed boundaries.

And as a ‘warm-up’ to that we grilled Deputy Minister Allan Wilson in Edinburgh this week.

I suspect that we will hear a great deal more sense in Kingussie than Edinburgh. No change there you might say.

But there is real debate about Laggan – which wants in and isn’t, and about planning powers for the park.

The government want to leave planning with local authorities, and I broadly agree, but some argue that this would deny the Park ‘world heritage’ funds that would help protect and develop the natural beauty of the area.

So the debate needs clarification.

Local Government

Despite what many might think, we are the most under-represented people in Europe. We actually have fewer elected politicians per head of population than any other country.

For each 100,000 population we have about 33 people elected to represent us. England has over 40 and Greece about 650!

So the a Bill on councils could help. But if it doesn’t make it easier for a wider range of people to stand for election, if it doesn’t help share the load a little wider, it probably won’t.

I shall be watching the Parliamentary debate with interest.

Leaves on the Line

I may be treading in the footsteps of royalty this week. Like Prince Charles, I have become a friend of a tree.

When I am down at Parliament each week, where I stay has an elderly sycamore in one corner of the garden. And it is right next the Glasgow – Edinburgh railway line.

It transpires that when the railway opened in about 1840 it had only been possible because a part of the garden had been taken to build it. And thus the sycamore is very near the railway. But it does not overhang it.

The problem, as Railtrack see it anyway, is that the railway curves gently round the tree. So gently that the speed limit is 90 mph.

Foolishly when electric signals replaced the old semphore ones of my childhood, they put the new signal ‘round the bend. And when the sycamore is in full flower, the densely packed leaves limit the ability of drivers to see past the tree and see the signal.

So they think the tree should be cut down.

The alternative suggestion that since the tree was there first, Railtrack should move the railway – or the signal, has not been greeted with approval.

The tree is a local landmark and we are going to win this one. So it looks like a compromise will see a few low-hanging branches lopped off.

So we will be doing our bit to remove the excuse of ‘leaves on the line’.