Lothian in the lion’s den
ROADS Manager Alan Lothian must have felt like Daniel in the lion’s den when he came to Wednesday’s area committee meeting to give a presentation on the contentious issue of unsafe gravestones in local cemeteries.
The felling of memorial stones was brought to a halt a couple of weeks ago following a storm of protest from members of the public which was so serious that it featured on BBC radio.
However, the anger wasn’t confined to members of the public; councillors themselves reacted furiously, complaining that the work had been done without their approval, and they had not sanctioned it.
However, in justifying what had been done, Mr Lothian used a slide show to present a chilling picture of how some of the gravestones had been erected.
He showed views of stones, all of which had been erected over the last 15 years, which displayed appalling standards of workmanship. One was supported by two pins the length and diameter of a pencil, when the pins used should be between 16-20mm in diameter and 20cms long. Another, erected in 1990, was held in place with a single roofing nail, and one book memorial in Rothesay was held in place with double-sided sticky tape.
Mr Lothian showed a piece of equipment which was the accepted equipment to test the stones. He pointed out, however, that many of the stones in question could be easily moved by hand.
However, his explanation did little to placate councillors. Cllr Marshall said: “A huge amount of time and resources had been taken up, which was not authorised by councillors. Similarly a great deal of time has been spent answering calls from members of the public justifiably concerned over what was going on.
“This happened without the knowledge of either councillors or any public knowledge.”
He concluded unmercifully: “I roundly condemn your department for this.”
Mr Lothian responded by saying that the proposals had been on the council’s website and defended his department’s action strongly, saying: “My concern wasn’t about newspaper headlines, but about potential injury to members of the public.”
Cllr Walsh opened up by saying that money had been put aside to re-erect stones already put down - not to fund the pulling down of more stones.
“There was a press release on January 19 to the effect that we were going to support the stones with stakes,” he went on. “Of course there’s an issue about health and safety, but there’s an issue about common sense in terms of taking down stones two feet high.
“People go into cemeteries to pay their respects, not to swing off gravestones.
“It’s also worth considering we’ve acted irresponsibly here, because in pulling these stones down we’ve lost an opportunity to pursue those who erected them in such an irresponsible fashion in the first place .”
He added that he was getting complaints from people claiming that stones which had been re-erected were still shaky.
Mr Lothian admitted that in the past they had been lax in policing and monitoring. A procedure was now in place whereby the council now issued a permit for a foundation, laid the foundation, and then gave the mason a date to install the stone.
In terms of contacting people regarding headstones, he said that it was very difficult; the odds of doing so were no better than evens.
In terms of re-erecting the stones, this was being done at the rate of around three a day - 29 stones had been erected over the last 10 working days,
There were 713 stones down in Cowal and Bute, and it was estimated that to re-erect them would take at least two years.
Concluding, chairman Bruce Marshall said that websites were not the way for officers to communicate with councillors. “We must be kept informed by officers,” he said, and added that he was concerned about resources, in that two men were employed full-time on this. He also echoed Cllr Walsh’s point, that he had voted £100k to re-erect headstones, not to pull more down.


A bright new dawn
THE incoming Area Committee chairman, Councillor Bruce Marshall opened the inaugural meeting by welcoming the new councillors, Simon and McNaughton.
He pointed out that councillors were now paid, and the public would certainly expect them to perform. Welcoming the new coalition, he predicted, somewhat tongue in cheek, that in future all votes would be unanimous, and that all would be sweetness and light.
He felt that the area committee was an extremely strong one, well-placed to address the challenges which faced the council. He referred to the Pavilion in Rothesay and the Queen’s Hall in Dunoon as priorities.
He was, however, optimistic that over the next four years a great deal could be achieved, and that there was a need to bring a halt to ‘bad news stories’. He commended the Observer, however, for its coverage, saying that it had fairly reported events, and it was down to councillors to work to bring about a ‘good news’ environment.
He said that there was a serious funding shortfall, and hoped that the new Scottish Executive would address this. They had never really addressed the issue of deprivation in rural areas, and there had been an imbalance in favour of urban areas.


Vandalism response criticised
TWO weeks ago we featured a photograph of railings at the West Bay which had been damaged by vandals, and last week a letter appeared in Safety Valve which was critical of the decision to publicise the damage, since the writer felt that this would only encourage the perpetrators.
We suggested that it was better to publicise the incident on the basis that to ignore it would have been remiss, for doing nothing was not an option.
On Monday we received a letter from a local man who, for very good reasons, has asked not to be named.
He pointed out that the incident had in fact been reported, by at least two people.
He said many people did indeed witness the vandalism of the West Bay railings. “It didn’t happen at dead of night,” he explained, “it was early on a fine summer’s evening; tourists and local families were out along the esplanade, and I was playing with my children in the play park when the group turned up, about six boys, probably between 14-15, all of them local.
“They started off by pulling bottles out of the bottle bank and smashing them on the pavement.
“Then they went on to the prom and pulled the railings up. This was carried out largely by one of the youths. It only took a couple of minutes, then they ran along the esplanade with the metal poles.
He said that he had phoned the police immediately, adding: “as is the case now, we were put through to a call centre somewhere in the ether.
“Clear descriptions were given of all involved, but obviously due to slow communication, the police failed to arrive until at least half an hour after the event, by which time the group had moved on.”
He went on: “These boys are well known in the town, and descriptions were given, but as yet I am still waiting to give a statement or find out what follow-up there was to my complaint.
“The steady rise of incidents such as these need tackling straight away; if they go unheeded it gives rise to further and greater crimes.
“If it was my own children I would want to know and I would want them to make up for their misdemeanours, no matter how upsetting it would be, as I want them to grow up decent, responsible contributors to our community.
“I called the police, and I wasn’t alone. At least one other person did, and it was a long time afterwards before they turned up.
“The kids are all local – at least one of them lives in the West Bay area, for I see him around here all the time.
“It beggars belief that they would do this in broad daylight and expect to get away with it, but it looks as if they have – for no-one’s come near me for a statement, and I’d really like to know what’s being done in terms of investigating this.”
Inspector Marlene Baillie said: “A complaint was received at 19:39 and officers were on the scene at 20:01.
“The police are pursuing a positive line of inquiry and hope to be sending a report to the procurator fiscal shortly.”


New rural investment welcomed in Argyll and Bute
Investment of almost £1.6 billion for agriculture, forestry environment and community projects across Scotland was announced by the Scottish Executive last week.
This funding, part of the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP), will cover the years 2007-2013.
Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment Richard Lochhead said: “This is excellent news for rural communities across the country. Farmers, foresters and environmental interests will all reap enormous benefits. Not only am I able to approve the programme in its entirety, Cabinet have agreed to allocate a further £70 million of Scottish Government funding over seven years to expand it further.
“What we now have is the largest investment programme in history for rural Scotland which will benefit everyone. This will ensure the programme will increase competitiveness in agriculture and forestry, enhance the environment and support rural communities.
“I am pleased the rate of voluntary modulation - the transfer of funds from the Single Farm Payment to environmental and rural development programmes - will be much lower than some of the speculative figures that have appeared in recent weeks.”
New funding was also announced to inject some fresh blood into Scotland’s agriculture, as the average age for farmers continues to rise and the industry becomes increasingly unsustainable. On this subject, Mr Lochhead continued: “We will be going ahead with a £10 million package as part of the seven year programme to attract new entrants into farming. New blood is essential to sustain the vitality of Scotland’s rural communities.”
The rates of voluntary modulation for Scotland will be submitted to the European Commission as part of the UK submission on or before June 12.
These rates will be
* 5 per cent in 2007
* 8 per cent in 2008
* 8.5 per cent in 2009
* 9 per cent in each year from 2010-12 inclusive
Despite the increase in modulation rates, the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS) has broadly welcomed the main thrust of the announcement.
The union has argued for as low a rate as possible that will provide sufficient funding for a meaningful rural development programme without, at the same time, putting farm incomes at risk. The value of the programme is almost double the £811m spent over the previous 7 years and contains measures which will help farm businesses, the environment and rural communities.
Reacting to the announcement, NFU Scotland President Jim McLaren said: “We have made it very clear to the new Scottish Executive that we expected a rural development programme that will meet the needs of Scotland’s farming businesses and rural communities. Our calculations showed that this could be achieved without swingeing increases in the rate of voluntary modulation, which would have undermined the viability of individual businesses. While the eventual rates of voluntary modulation will be higher than the current 5%, which we believe could still have delivered a meaningful programme, they average out at 8% over the period up until 2013 and are boosted by a significant increase in Scottish Executive funding to £1,113m, compared to £552m in the previous programme.
“At this time the thing that farmers need most of all is stability. That is why we have been impressing on the Scottish Executive the need to keep modulation rates to the absolute minimum required. While an average modulation rate of 8% will put pressure on farm incomes, the programme includes a number of measures, such as farm restructuring, co-operation and animal health and welfare, that will help businesses adapt to the last CAP reform by cutting costs and adding value to what they produce. We also welcome the inclusion of a young farmers scheme, which will help bring new blood into the industry. Additional funding will allow more farmers and crofters into agri-environmnent schemes and the continuing commitment to supporting the Less Favoured Areas has addressed our top priority.”
In the local area, the announcement was welcomed by Councillor Robert Macintyre, Rural Affairs spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council, and Ron Simon, who is both a Cowal councillor and deputy Rural Affairs spokesman.
Robert Macintyre commented: “Despite the trepidation shown by NFU Scotland and the agricultural press, Mr Lochhead has delivered a programme which will allay fears in Argyll and Bute.
With the Rural Development Programme set to commence in the late Autumn, this gives everyone connected with rural Scotland time to assess what they want to do with their individual businesses. For those who are willing to do something meaningful, the opportunity is there.”