'No night parking' call is knocked on

A COUNCILLOR’S bid to reinstate no-overnight-parking signs at High-land viewpoints and car parks has been deferred pending legal advice.

Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh Conservative member Derek MacLeod had support for a motion he put to last week’s full council meeting in Inverness.

But after some debate SNP ward colleague Ian Cockburn recalled a legal challenge in which a tourist argued that it was his human right to park up overnight in a layby.

Cllr MacLeod wants signs, removed by the council some years ago, brought back to prevent "wild camping, particularly by camper vans and their associated littering".

He told colleagues: "Staying overnight in a layby does not contribute to our rural economy. There are many high quality campsites where all the requisite facilities are already provided."

Thurso and north-west Caithness councillor Struan Mackie backed the argument, based on feedback from constituents.

"In surgeries, this is right up there with wind farms as an issue they want to discuss with me," he said. "There’s probably nothing more frustrating than seeing somebody wild camping almost directly opposite an established camp site and that doesn’t do anything for a local economy."

The council’s tourism spokesman Allan Henderson, who is also chairman of the transport agency Hitrans, said more local consideration was needed before considering reinstatement of the signs.

The council’s head of corporate governance, Stewart Fraser, said he would refresh his memory about the detail of a 2012 legal case raised by an individual who campaigned on the specific issue. He said: "At that time, there was a report prepared [for committee] to recommend the removal of all of those no-overnight-parking signs and, I think, there was then a decision made to do that."

A vote on the issue was deferred.