Councillor Mike Barnacle

Working hard for your community.

Forward Together in Perth and Kinross

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Here in Perth and Kinross, there was an overwhelming 60% to 40% vote in favour of being part of the UK. Nationalism was not supported by the majority of Scots.
A whole raft of new powers are coming to Scotland, so we can shape our own future but still have the benefits of being part of the larger UK family.
Forward Together is a group which wants to bring our community back together. It’s about being for Scotland and its people. We want to:

  • heal the divisions caused by the campaign for Scottish independence.
  • build a stronger Scotland which is a leader within the UK.
  • promote the UK as a country which shares risks and resources to create opportunities and fairness for all its citizens, no matter where they live.
  • celebrate the union as a force which brings people together and strengthens the ties which bind us in contrast to nationalism which divides and weakens us all.

To find out more, email us at forwardtogetherpk@gmail.com

● In a world where nationalists are working to divide people, we want to bring them together.
● The SNP does not believe in Westminster, so when the election comes let’s choose people who do – people who are positive and truly want to be there representing us and our families.
● A huge benefit of being part of the UK is that we share in a large, broad economy which keeps our incomes, benefits and public services safer.
● Decisions about healthcare are made in Scotland but the taxes to fund our NHS come from citizens all over the UK – being in the UK is good for our health.
● As Scots in the UK, we can work, study and do business in a big, successful country – let’s carry on bringing barriers down, not creating new ones.

What can you do?

Forward Together – Co-operation not separation in the UK General Election

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The following email and attachments were sent by Councillor Mike Barnacle to fellow Councillors in relation to the “Forward Together” campaign that should follow the “Better Together” campaign for the referendum.

 

Dear Colleagues

Following the Independence Referendum that produced a clear majority in Scotland for us to remain part of the UK (although you would not think so from media coverage since), I have become increasingly alarmed, as we approach the forthcoming UK General Election, at the growing strength of the separatist SNP and the number of recent opinion polls suggesting a nationalist landslide, with the increasing and frightening prospect of the SNP holding the balance of power at Westminster.  I am left pondering the real danger that the vote of the ‘NO’ camp (over 2 million people) will be fragmented by tribal loyalties to party politics that don’t realise the importance of the bigger picture (the survival of the UK as a family of nations) and lose out to a totally focussed nationalist party and the YES activists that remain in place.

I had thought that the offer of enhanced devolution through the Smith Commission would settle matters for a while but, as expected, the nationalists would never be happy with that (their politics of grievance knowing no bounds) and their opponents sometimes appear to pander to such sentiment rather than defend the clear reasons and advantages of maintaining our union.

Given this situation, it is surely incumbent for the parties in Scotland who backed ‘better together’ to support ‘forward together’ on a national basis, in order  that the candidate best placed in each constituency to prevent a nationalist victory gets the support they need.  I am sure this could be organised and suggest it is urgently required, if the forecast scenario above is to be avoided at this critical juncture for the future of Britain.

I have refrained from circulating the many people who helped the ‘NO’ campaign in Kinross-shire, although alluded to this tactical approach at a ‘thank you’ evening last November for supporters.

One idea I have is a logo showing 2 flags side by side, the Union Jack and the Saltire, above the words ‘co-operation, not separation’.

I would be interested in your thoughts and welcome a response ASAP.

Kind Regards

Councillor Mike Barnacle

Independent Member for Kinross-shire

ps I enclose background viz:

  1. My article of 16/10/14
  2. Ian Campbell’s email of 5/1/15
  3. Guardian leader 4/2/15
  4. Guardian article 5/2/15

Special Landscape Areas (LLA’s) to Replace Areas of Great Landscape Value (AGLV’s)?

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The following letter was written by Mike Barnacle to Graham Esson at Perth & Kinross Council. It makes the case for inclusion of the land covered by the former AGLVs in the new Special Landscape Areas, and in particular supports the submissions of Fossoway Community Council and Kinross-shire Civic Trust as regards the Devon Gorge and Cleish Hills respectively.

 

Dear Graham

Special Landscape Areas – Draft Supplementary Guidance

I refer to your email of 2/12/14 re the above, seeking views on the consultant’s report by 19th instant. I will restrict my comments to the proposals that impact on Kinross-shire Ward.

You may recall the enclosed article I wrote for Rural Scotland’s Spring 2014 Newsletter (Page 4) that also appeared in the May 2014 edition of Kinross CC’s Newsletter. This charted the Kinross-shire experience on landscape designation since 2000; in particular the hard-fought successful campaign to extend the Areas of Great Landscape Value (AGLV’s) to the shire’s hill and river borders in the Local Plan 2004, the loss of them in PKC’s Local Development Plan (LDP) adopted 3rd February 2014, due to a change in Scottish Government Planning Policy and the ‘policy gap’ before supplementary guidance is produced on what is to replace them.

I noted a Review of Local Landscape Designations at PKC was to be undertaken, with consultants having been appointed and sought participation.

I have since attended three meetings of the Review Panel, comprising PKC councillors (I represented APRS and Kinross-shire), community councils (Cleish, Fossoway & Glenfarg from Kinross-shire ward), environmental organisations (Friends of the Ochils, John Muir Trust, etc.)

On 14th August 2014, I attended the evening workshop for PKC councillors (4 only present) at which the consultants final report was produced and at which it was decided to circulate all councillors with prior to this final public consultation.

The LLA’s proposed for Kinross-shire are Lochleven, Ochil Hills and Portmoak which I fully support. Despite strong representation from myself, Cleish & Fossoway CC’s within the Review Panel, the consultants have excluded from designation the former AGLV’s of the Cleish Hills and the River Devon and its gorge. I believe this is a major omission and seek a change to the proposals to include these omitted areas. An examination of the 10 evaluation criteria used by the consultants for designating LLA’s is necessary to see what landscape characteristics these excluded areas possess that justify designation. The criteria are landscapes which:

  1. make a positive contribution to the wider identity, image and sense of place of Perth and Kinross.
  2. are rare or unique landscapes
  3. are well managed and in a good state of repair
  4. feel wild or remote
  5. have strong scenic qualities
  6. are important for recreation and tourism
  7. have a strong historic character or important cultural or spiritual associations
  8. have important natural features and habitats
  9. form part of the setting of towns and villages
  10. have important views, viewpoints or land marks

I suggest that Cleish Hills meet at least six of the above and it is worth noting that Fife Council’s LLA’s border the PKC boundary here and cross boundary designations were raised in the Review Panel but have been ignored here.

As regards the River Devon and its gorge, it should be remembered that the Reporter to the Local Plan public enquiry in 2003 regarded this area as of outstanding quality that merited inclusion as an AGLV, especially as the river flows out of the Ochil Hills designated area. I suggest that the river and its gorge meet at least eight of the above and I note the strong historic character and important cultural association of the Devon with Robert Burns’ song ‘The banks of the Devon’; conversely, in supporting an LLA in the Aberfeldy area, the consultants quote Burns’ song ‘The Birks of Aberfeldy’.

I note that Muckhart Community Council and Clackmannanshire Council are discussing the merits of designating the Devon Gorge as an SLA.

I would commend the submissions of Fossoway Community Council and Kinross-shire Civic Trust as regards the Devon Gorge and Cleish Hills respectively.

I would also cite the excellent submission from Friends of the Ochils to your consultation, noting particularly their support for the inclusion of these omitted areas as SLA’s.

In summary, I am extremely disappointed that the final consultant’s report has ignored review panel representation on the Cleish Hills and the River Devon/Gorge when selecting their proposed LLA’s and seek to ensure that PKC and its elected members change these proposals and include these areas as LLA’s within the supplementary guidance for our recently adopted LDP.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Michael Barnacle

Independent Member for Kinross-shire

PS Please let me know if you wish any further clarification on the criteria that I feel are met by the omitted areas.

cc        Glenfarg & Kinross-shire CCs

Kinross-shire Civic Trust

Friends of the Ochils

Rural Scotland (APRS)

Councillors Cuthbert, Giacopazzi and Robertson