Maritime safety is about saving lives... not money
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THE recent visit to Caithness from the Chief Secretary to the London Treasury, Danny Alexander, was empty of any content whatsoever. Hair shirts are the only goods on sale from the Lib Dem/Tory coalition.
Within a day or two the Inverness, Nairn and Badenoch MP was slagging off the SNP Government over A9 upgrades. He forgot to mention that far more had been spent under the SNP governments than any previous regime. Anyway who was it punted the Edinburgh trams? Lib Dems, Tories and Labour members from Highlands, Lowlands, west and east alike voted the tram costs through.
Yet right among our sea lanes in the Pentland Firth and far beyond a crisis of potential disaster was unfolding. The London coalition was set to axe the rescue tugs stationed at Lerwick and Stornoway. Last Friday was the day the axe was due to fall. One of the tugs was in dock for a refit with "Coastguard" painted out. Then a three-month reprieve was announced and choreographed by Highland Council Lib Dem leader Michael Foxley and Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael.
Scotland was to be left without coastguard tugs for days, despite the UK Government giving Scotland’s two emergency tugs a three-month stay of execution, because the company that runs them had not been contacted. The SNP has said enough is enough, now is the time for control over maritime safety to be handed back to Scotland.
The announcement of the reprieve from the UK Government lacked any details, which have yet to be revealed, but this could still leave Scotland without any emergency cover in the middle of this winter.
The attempted axing of this vital service was nothing but a cost-cutting exercise by the coalition Government. I understand that UK ministers had not undertaken any risk assessment, and this must now be done urgently and with a contract concluded that could include a levy on users of those seas to defray the costs.
It’s a shocking position for any government to get themselves into. This combined with the closure of the Forth and Clyde coastguard stations and the downgrading of the Aberdeen station raises serious questions.
Maritime safety must come under Scottish control as a matter of urgency. If this was to happen we could ensure that our emergency strategy was based on saving lives, not saving money. We only have to look at the proposed shipment of nuclear materials from Scrabster to Belgium as to what potent cargoes enter waters that are regular routes for tankers and bulk carriers, not to mention ferries to the Northern Isles.
THE transport minister Keith Brown has acknowledged the strong case made by SNP MSPs across the Highlands and Islands in his decision to retain the Scrabster to Stromness route as the main lifeline across the Pentland Firth.
He said, "I acknowledge the strong and compelling case made to me by, Rob, Jean, Mike and John to retain the lifeline service between Scrabster and Stromness with a 90-minute target journey time."
The transport minister’s comments followed the publication of the tender document which specified that the ports in Caithness and Orkney should continue to be used as the main lifeline service. I believe this is excellent news.
It was important to me and my Highland and Islands colleagues that the lifeline service continues between these two ports. I am glad that our combined efforts have managed to pinpoint the value of the route.
LAST week MSPs met Duncan MacIntyre, a representative from the Hi-Scot Credit Union, at Holyrood to promote its Highlands and Islands reach. As part of its expansion in the Highlands it is currently considering recruiting a member of staff to be based in either Caithness or Orkney, to cover both of those areas.
Hi-Scot began life as Western Isles Credit Union in 2006 and due to its success there, it was asked as part of the Highland Council’s recession action plan of 2010 to expand its operation to include the whole Highland Council area plus Orkney and Shetland.
It’s quite a challenge and in November 2010 Hi-Scot received authorisation from the Financial Services Authority to expand its area of service.
As you can imagine this is a huge undertaking for a "not for profit" organisation like Hi-Scot but one its workers have shown to be very successful to date.
Credit unions provide a safe and ethical place for members’ savings combined with providing a source of affordable credit for the community, helping to combat the scourge of financial exclusion which is a very real problem in all our communities.
There are no external shareholders, all the profit is kept within the credit union and used solely for the benefit its members; this ensures that all the money stays in the Highlands and Islands. I’ll be joining up as even small amounts can help others to get loans at rates well below the commercial banks as savers can then be borrowers.
I HAVE been actively in touch with the proposed changes to the Dunbar Hospital, awaiting a briefing from NHS Highland for too long.
The chair of the board has promised this but at time of writing it has not appeared.
I am intent on seeing a range of services maintained in Thurso. I have yet to be convinced that respite beds for older patients are no longer needed.
My experience of constituents who have used the hospital is of great care from the nursing and other medical staff. These are precious assets that must not be lost.
www.robgibson.org
