A Taynuilt Community Council petition calling for the removal of forestry parking charges has been heard at the Scottish Parliament.
Undine Achilles-Day lodged the ‘Abolish car parking charges for all Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) Sites’ petition on behalf of the Taynuilt community on August 29 2o23.
It calls for parliament to urge the Scottish Government to scrap the FLS car park fees, which were implemented at the Fearnoch and Sutherland Grove’s sites near Taynuilt earlier this year.
The petition argues that this would “help to promote access to forests and greenspaces across Scotland.”
“Parking charges were introduced, without community consultation nationally. Local people concerned about penalties are now staying away, where previously these forests were well used”, the petition adds.
“These costs are deeply unfair and create inequality in society. In a cost-of-living crisis, this is an expense that the less affluent can’t afford and will have a long-term impact on the health of the nation.”
SNP MSP Fergus Ewing commented on the petition when it was heard by the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee at Holyrood on Wednesday November 22.
Mr Ewing, who previously held ministerial responsibility for FLS as the former Cabinet Secretary for Rural Economy and Tourism, said: “There have long been parking charges for 23 sites. That was increased in 2012 to 44 sites, but now it has been increased to 110 sites.
“However, many of the car parks have no facilities whatsoever – they are basically open ground. I cannot see that it is justified to make charges at such sites.
“There seems to be a lack of rationale for how and why the charges have been introduced. Why have some charges been made and not others?
“The key decisions should be based on what facilities there are, such as toilets and whether rangers are present. I would be keen to get details of all that from FLS.”
Mr Ewing added: “If the costs of running the 300 destinations are £13 million, can we get some detail and breakdown from FLS of what that cost entails? It seems to be an awful lot of money.
“If charges are to be imposed everywhere, some drivers, instead of parking in the car park, might park alongside roads to avoid having to pay charges.
“I am not against bodies recovering their costs. It is a principle of government that brings problems with it.”
It was agreed by the Scottish Parliament committee that they would approach FLS for clarity on the charges and at the time of writing the petition has 1,553 signatures.
The committee’s convener, Jackson Carlaw MSP also read a summary of FLS’ position on the petition, which it had submitted on the Scottish Government’s behalf.
Mr Carlaw said: “FLS states that it has been charging for car parking at its most popular sites for 20 years. Although it is expanding the number of sites where parking charges apply, two thirds of its car parks will remain free to use.
“The response goes on to note that the decision to increase the number of sites where charges are incurred followed a challenge to public bodies by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and the Economy (Shona Robison MSP) to actively increase income from visitors, to offset the increasing costs of managing visitor pressures.
He added: “Abolishing charges would impact the sustainability of Forestry and Land Scotland’s finances and could lead to similar calls on other parts of central and local Government that charge for parking.”
A FLS spokesperson said: “We are aware of the committee’s discussion and will be happy to provide whatever additional information it requires. It would be inappropriate to comment further while this process is underway.”