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Background
Burntisland is a small town on the north side of the Firth of Forth in Scotland. Directly across the water lies the city of Edinburgh.
Burntisland Harbour has seen many changes over the years, but one thing that remained constant was the freedom for generations of townspeople to wander around it. In all that time there was not a single accident reported by a member of the public, even during the days when it was very considerably busier than it is now!
Hundreds of locals regularly visited the harbour, which is a designated Listed Building, to walk the dockside, the derelict land or the breakwater, maybe with the dog, watch birds and even whales, go fishing, feed Sammy the tame seal, take photographs, or just enjoy the views and the spectacular sunsets. The ability to walk around their harbour was of great benefit to the community’s mental and physical health, even more so during the pandemic.
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Sammy the seal (Alison Meredith)
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The fence
In 2020 the harbour’s owner, Forth Ports (FP) met with Burntisland Community Council to inform them that they intended to install high-security fencing around the harbour, thus rendering it completely out of bounds to the public. Their stated reason was for health and safety.
There are plenty of examples of harbours and ports around the country where access is permitted. Sensible and proportionate measures such as warning notices and post and rail fences to prevent falls off the side are deemed sufficient to discharge the owners’ health and safety liability.
Why could Forth Ports not take this more enlightened, common sense approach? Only the northern side of our dock is in commercial use, and that sparingly. The rest of the site was abandoned long ago and was now used only for leisure, so there was absolutely no logic in their decision to exclude the public from the whole area.
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Access lost to areas coloured yellow. New gates indicated by black circles.
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The “justification”
FP’s main justification for their proposal is health and safety. They bizarrely claim that the fences they describe are the “minimum intervention” required to address the risks they identify. It is clear that every one of these “risks” either (a) doesn’t exist, or (b) could be nullified by simple control measures which don’t necessitate the public being deprived of access by structures which wouldn’t look out of place around a maximum security prison and which are totally inappropriate for an historic and culturally important site.
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Forth Ports claim that with this almost 8ft high fence in place “the special character of the historic dockside, materials, open-ness and views” will still be able to be appreciated!
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Forth Ports claim “it is necessary to exclude the public from the operational port area” – so why fence off the breakwater?
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The campaign
In Feb 2021 an online petition was launched, attracting 1,175 signatures in the first 24 hours. It eventually reached a staggering total of 3,047.
Along with a representative from the Community Council we met with FP’s Senior Port Officer and his deputy. But despite us making a very strong case against the proposal and demonstrating the strength of public opposition, they wouldn’t budge.
In March 2021 we created the #SaveBurntislandHarbour Facebook group (now 1100+ members), and an Instagram account too, where people could post photos and artworks to visually celebrate the harbour and discuss the unfolding events.
On 1st May 2021 BHAT was formed. Over the new few months the team subsequently spent very many hours researching the history of the harbour, the legal and planning complexities and land designations. We attempted to obtain the H&S report which apparently led to FP’s decision. The Health & Safety Executive refused to grant access to it, although they advise us that a fence is not one of their requirements.
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Listed Building Consent
13th May 2021
The harbour is classified as a B-listed structure so FP required formal consent to erect the fence. Despite 253 objections and an independent expert’s report concluding that consent should be refused, it was duly granted.
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Does this look like part of a “working port”? There will be no more public access here – it’s too dangerous for us!
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March and Rally
27th Nov 2021 On a beautifully crisp, cold day sandwiched between storm Arwen and a fall of snow, around 500 people, led by pipers from the Burntisland & District Pipe Band, marched from the Beacon to the harbour to demonstrate their support for the campaign. They rallied in front of the old railway station to hear stirring speeches from Sandra Maguire, George Fisher, Andy Wight-Boycott and Alan Hobbett before singing and dancing along to Don’t Fence Me Out and Who’ll Feed Sammy by the Burntisland Hat Band.
The event marked the transition from fighting the erection of the fence to registering a community right to buy the harbour and other land in the immediate area under the provisions of the Land Reform Act. It was an extremely successful, and quite emotional, day. You can watch the edited footage on YouTube
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Community Right to Buy
Our application was submitted on 8th Feb 2022.
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BHAT Application for Registration of Community
Interest in Burntisland Harbour
Most of the land around the harbour is owned by Forth Ports. In addition, Network Rail own a long strip between the railway and the East Dock, running east to Lammerlaws Road. We are interested in acquiring all of this land for the community.
Our application to the Ministers in respect of Forth Ports’ land was acknowledged on 15th Feb 2022 and we received confirmation that it was successful on 11th July. The corresponding dates for the Network Rail land were 16th March acknowledged, 8th July confirmed.
Some of the key points of our application:
- The town and the harbour together constitute Burntisland: harbour is the town’s most defining cultural and heritage asset
- The East dock is a major element of the town’s coastal continuum
- In terms of community use and access the East dock is of fundamental importance to the town and the broader community
- Community ownership would bring largely redundant, vacant land back into beneficial use from social, environmental and economic perspectives
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Based on suggestions from the town and some consultation with harbour users, tenants and others, we’ve come up with a variety of possible proposals for how the harbour and land could be used:
- all weather diving facility,
- decommissioning of caustic tank,
- nature reserve,
- campervan/ camping/ eco-pods, with showers and toilet block also available to fisherman,
- fishing tackle depositary,
- Fife Coastal Path loop with on demand bridge,
- heritage museum,
- all tides boat slip,
- extension of artists quarter,
- community owned affordable housing,
- bar-b-que area for all,
- improved access,
- floating restaurant,
- Shank’s Pier Boat Reserve,
- bad weather haven for boats,
- improved safety measures,
- removal of security fencing!
- enhanced facilities for north side including electricity points for ships allowing for docking without generators / engines running,
- renewable energy.
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These are initial proposals as required for the purposes of our application, but would be the subject of widespread consultation and ultimate approval of the BHAT membership. So why not join and have your say?
If we were to exercise a right to buy, there would be a ballot of all those on the electoral role in the town to demonstrate majority support for our acquisition, which is a condition of the registration.
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Green Freeport
So now we know: the Firth of Forth Green Freeport bid has been accepted. We’ve been informed that the likelihood is Burntisland will be twinned with Leith to develop off-shore energy installations and/or to be an overspill area. At our last meeting with Forth Ports (FP) they acknowledged the problems of shallow docks, narrow entrances and poor road access but pointed out the existence of relatively deep water immediately offshore. The West Dock, with existing infrastructure, planning permission etc, would be easier to develop than the East Dock. We have no further information as to what is planned or the consequences for the town and the community – except of course the closure of access to the harbour and breakwater.
We believe that regardless of FP’s successful bid they need to consult with the community to determine the optimum use of Burntisland Harbour (and the East Dock in particular) regarding jobs on the one hand and loss of amenity on the other. Sitting tight and denying the community access for both recreation and/or developing alternative ideas is no longer acceptable.
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These are initial proposals as required for the purposes of our application, but would be the subject of widespread consultation and ultimate approval of the BHAT membership. So why not join and have your say?
If we were to exercise a right to buy, there would be a ballot of all those on the electoral role in the town to demonstrate majority support for our acquisition, which is a condition of the registration.
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Public access ends
The gates were closed with effect from 6 February. Six days later a section of the fence was surgically removed by person or persons unknown.
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Are there existing rights of access?
We are working to identify all relevant legal documentation, acts of parliament, charters, and by-laws etc, to create a comprehensive record of customary and practised access by the community. We know of cases, including that of Cove Harbour, Aberdeenshire, where court recognition of customary rights has resulted in landowners having to remove fences and other barriers, erected to prevent public access. FP have formally acknowledged the existence of customary rights of access but did not, apparently, take this into consideration in when fencing off the East Dock. We need to hear from individuals who have used or accessed the docks for recreational reasons, how and when they did so and why. We need to collect evidence from the community to establish community rights of access.
Can you help?
If you have any knowledge or experience of public access as described above, could you please contact David Paty at BurntislandHAT@gmail.com (attention David Paty). David is collecting and collating the information we seek. This can be something as simple as having walked from Lammerlaws Road to the station on your way to and from work, regularly fished from the southern or western breakwater or just walked your dog.
A simple email along the lines of: “I, Jock Tamson of 14 Lochies Road, Burntisland commuted to my work at Rosyth Dockyard by train for 14 years between 1972 and 1986, accessing the railway station via the East Dock from Lammerlaws Road. As a boy I helped my father, James Tamson, moor, load and unload his fishing boat at Shank’s Pier. For over twenty years we both fished for mackerel from the Western and later the Southern Breakwater. We were never challenged by Forth Ports, Burntisland Ship Builders, Consafe, the Royal Navy, MoD, or others for doing so. I would be pleased to discuss this with David Paty and can be reached text 01592 87xxxx or by email at Happyislander@btxxx.com. “
Further Initiatives
We are pursuing include feasibility studies looking at the infrastructure and ecology of land at and around the harbour (so that we know what we’re dealing with should the right to buy be triggered), determining areas of archaeological interest, assisting the Active Transport initiative in developing “green routes” and looking into other land in the area which could maybe be brought into community ownership.
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