Bute moorings dispute will be heard in Court of Session

It’s some years now since a story from the Isle of Bute caught my eye, concerning a few ordinary folk versus the Crown Estate. When I first saw it, I really expected it to go away quite quickly (with the Crown Estate walking all over its adversaries), and I thought it had back in 2006 (when the local council folded under the Crown Estate), but it refused to die as the people concerned refused to accept the council’s capitulation, and carry on their battle with the Crown Estate.

The problem centres on whether or not yacht owners need to pay to put down a mooring in Kames Bay, and the local newspaper has reported that the story will come to a head at a hearing at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, due to be heard over a period of four days next week.

Rothesay is a Royal Burgh thanks to two charters granted in 1400 and 1584, and the owners believe that the charters give them the right to establish a mooring on the sea bed without charge.  On the other hand, the Crown Estate believes they are bound to pay it a fee for establishing such moorings.

The town was established as a royal burgh by King Robert III in 1400,  and later declared a free port by James VI in a Charter of Confirmation granted in 1584, stating:

we give and grant to the magistrates and inhabitants of the said Burgh, present and to come, a free port and harbour for ships in the bay and station of the said Burth of Rothesay and the Kyles of Bute, the stations of Cumbray and Fairly and Holy Isle, and all others within the foresaid bounds, with free entrance and exit for ships and boats for carrying burdens with all kinds of goods and merchandise not prohibited by our laws and Acts, with all the privileges and liberties of a free port, and receptacle for ships, with power for the support of the foresaid port, to receive and raise off goods, merchandise, ships and boats.

In 2006, Argyll and Bute Council failed in its attempt to take on the Crown Estate, and it looked as if the fight was over, and the Crown Estate had prevailed.

The Port Bannatyne Moorings Association (PBMA)was formed in early 2007 (most, but not all owners joined), agreeing to collect fees from members for the Crown Estate’s, in return for a discount compared to paying up personally, however this “deal” led to a twist in the tale that kept the fight alive.

In April 2008,although the members had paid the required fees to the PBMA, it said it would not pass on the money unless it saw evidence of the Crown Estate taking action against holders of unlicensed mooring equipment. This led to the Crown Estate Commissioners raising a petition at the Court of Session in  seeking a declaration of their entitlement to remove all unauthorised moorings from the bay.

The case is due to be heard next week, with the local newspaper, The Buteman, promising to report daily.

Big Brother Watch

While it’s said that there is no such thing as bad publicity, it’s hard to see any real benefit in the scare stories spread by extremists and conspiracy theorists when the surveillance state, our civil liberties, and our personal freedoms are being considered. For one thing, the true stories are generally shocking enough all on their own, and need no such embellishments.

Glasgow has trialled surveillance cameras with microphones which can listen in without the knowledge of those being watched. The press has reported that the Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, and her Council have just banned parents from watching their own children at two council play areas in the town. We just had the ridiculous scenario where it was suggested that parents who might help one another by looking after each others children, or merely drove them somewhere, would have to be officially vetted first. We now have The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults, however some writers have suggested this body will be subject to abuse, claiming that not being registered with it will be interpreted can’t, and even those who have little contact with those it is intended to protect will end up having to register, or be disadvantaged.

A new campaigning group has been formed this month Big Brother Watch:

Coming this October, Big Brother Watch is the exciting new campaign from the founders of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, fighting intrusions on the privacy and liberties of ordinary Britons.

Big Brother Watch plans to produce regular investigative research papers on the erosion of civil liberties in the UK, beginning with a detailed investigation of the ways in which individual local authorities have encroached upon the lives of the ordinary British citizen, whether it be placing microchips in rubbish bins or snooping on your private telephone records. We will name and shame the local authorities most prone to authoritarian abuses.

We will also champion individual cases. We want to use the legal system to help the man in the street fight injustice and regain his personal freedom. We are building up a legal fund to back cases in which we feel a key principle is at stake.

…

Big Brother Watch also aims to expose the extent to which the web has become the first line in state surveillance. Recent examples of web companies being leant on to release personal data have opened the floodgates for the co-opting of internet activity into the state’s control. Safeguards are needed before it’s too late.

We hope Big Brother Watch will become the gadfly of the ruling class, a champion for civil liberties and personal freedom — and a force to help a future government roll back a decade of state interference in our lives.

This particular campaign is, of course, brand new. It remains to be seen how neutral it is, if there is an underlying agenda, and whether or not it is apolitical. These aspects can only truly be revealed in the fullness of time, as it develops a track record, however it does seem to form a broader platform than the various groups that have already formed to try and highlight the excesses of state intervention that have been railroaded into our lives on the back of claims that they are necessary for the “War on Terror”.

While I like to think I provide information to inform, I also try to avoid influencing anyone’s decisions (appeals against the destruction of historic sites excepted of course :)), so I merely leave the last word to Big Brother Watch, and their own published mission statement:

Mission Statement

Big Brother Watch fights injustice and campaigns to protect our civil liberties and personal freedoms.

The British state has accumulated unprecedented power and the instinct of politicians and bureaucrats is to expand their power base even further into areas unknown in peace time.

Big Brother Watch campaigns to re-establish the balance of power between the state and individuals and families.

We look for the sly, slow seizure of control by the state – of power, of information and of our lives.

We advocate the return our liberties and freedoms and look to ordinary people to join our cause.

Big Brother Watch is on your side.

Demolition order for Kirkwall Sector Operations Room

Although some two years have passed since The Orcadian first reported on the proposal to demolish the Kirkwall Sector Operations Room, also known as the Black Building, Orkney Islands Council is only now being reported to have signed the demolition order. This could see the site cleared and developed for flats, with the proposal made in 2007 indicating 12 self-build serviced sites were being suggested for the area.

During the war, this room would have functioned as the main communications centre for the Orkney Islands. The building earned its local nickname simply from its appearance, which was a consequence of its exterior finish.

The building also served as a repeater station after the war, when the GPO used part of the space to house their equipment.

The Black Building © Mark Crook

Although the building and its contents (communications equipment) are believed to have survived relatively intact for some years, its sale during the 1990s is reported to have left it open to vandalism, with the structure being stripped bare, and the remaining shell and surrounding grounds used as a dumping ground. Pictures of the interior taken in 2001 show it to have been stripped down to the brickwork and supporting steelwork, and that the brick and concrete shell of the building is intact. Originally located within a high fenced enclosure, this is also reported to have been vandalised. Much of the bomb-proofing was stripped from the roof, and was stacked somewhere in the industrial estate at Hatston to the northwest.

The Black Building now has its own page on Facebook, and an online appeal has been launched.

National Cat Day

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Thursday, October 29 is National Kitteh Day! While every day is Caturday, on National Cat Day we get to show our kittehs a little extra extra special affection, and give them even more of the much deserved attention they demand.

Happy National Cat Day to all of the kittehs around the world!

(And, no, I have no idea who said it was National Cat Day, but why not?)