New Year Resolutions?

It is 2003 and fishing continues to dominate. In fact I share with colleagues a commitment to make it a key issue in the Scottish Election that is only a couple of months away.

But if turnout at the election is not high enough, the credibility of any fishing campaign would be damaged.

So that is why throughout my nearly two years in Parliament, I have sought to establish groups and work with people in the community who are not identified with any political party. And that has been the source of our success on major campaigns such as to save Peterhead Prison and for new investment in a hospital in Banff.

The Cod Crusaders are the latest manifestation of that attempt to link community to politics to deliver results.

So my first resolution is to keep working with community interests.

Windy Places

My Parliamentary questioning this week flushed out that survey data about neighbours’ attitudes to wind farms is flawed. It seems that the Scottish Executive, the government, are now having to re-do the survey.

Meantime it may be appropriate to review decisions already made about wind farms. And for the local proposals near Hatton it should mean that added weight is given to concerns that members of that community have expressed.

We want more renewable energy. Scotland has long been strong in hydro power. Flooding glens and relocating inhabitants was, and some extent remains, controversial. But a benefit was delivered to us all.

Building and operating wind farms will be an important part of reducing our dependence on nuclear power. But we need to find the right locations, offshore must be a strong contender, and be sure that the economics stack up.

A second resolution is to support rational progress towards renewables.

Making Law

With 22 Bills and very little time before dissolution, I am very busy making law.

This week we shall be debating Land Reform over two days. In Committee I previously participated in 12 meetings lasting about 35 hours in total. And we considered over 500 amendments to the Bill.

Now at the final stage we are looking at a three figure number of amendments as well.

Bills to reform Agricultural Holdings and the Criminal Justice system are also keeping me very busy.

So what? Will this investment of time deliver value?

For farmers the new Bill provides new tenancy agreements that should create more opportunities for young farmers to start their careers. Only a lucky few have money to buy their own farm and the opportunies to purchase are few and far between as well.

Changes to the Criminal Justice system being introduced are quite wide-ranging. I have written previously about my initiative to head off Liberal Democrat plans to make criminals of parents who administer a light smack to a child. More importantly we have brought new rules to protect children from beating and injury to their head.

But it is changes for victims of crime that will probably deliver more for the many.

When passed, the Bill will ensure that victims can contribute to parole board reviews which take place before serious offenders are released. And the requirement that victims of serious crime are notified before offenders are released will be widely welcomed. The lack of this has long been an issue.

But the Land Reform Bill has taken most time.

At last it formalises the right of communities to buy land. Contrary to some reports it does not provide any money for communities to do that. They must, as at present, find the funds for themselves.

But for many a community looking for a plot for a village hall or some other community facility it will be a valuable new power.

Most interest, and time, has focussed on what has been called a “Right to Roam”.

Interestingly it seems that I have become the first MSP to be quoted in the Scots Laws Times. I had a vigorous interchange with a legal witness about whether trespass was a crime in Scotland. I said no. He claimed otherwise.

The text of our exchange seems to now be being used as part of Edinburgh University’s law courses.

Broadband

And more progress may be looming on getting our area on to the Broadband train. It seems that experiments in Crieff and Campbelltown are going well. They use the power company’s cables to deliver communications services as well.

And both Peterhead and Fraserburgh, perhaps Banff and Macduff, could justify the investment to get “Power Line Broadband”. I have met with the company working on this and I have added a resolution to step up my activity of this.

But Finally

But above all we must have a workable plan to save fishing commmunities. And it must be agreed no later than June.