Loch Kinord consultation
- fitlikejoggers
- Dec 3, 2021
- 3 min read
Loch Kinord
We have been invited to take part in a survey on the future of water-borne access on Loch Kinord.
In the summer of 2020, the nature reserve saw a rise in water-sports, including paddleboards.
NatureScot - who manage the NNR – became concerned that the increased levels of human presence was causing disturbance to breeding birds and that the cumulative effect was likely to be harmful.
In June 2021 NatureScot introduced revised Local Access Guidance asking visitors not to go on the water during the bird breeding season (until end August).
Their latest consultation will inform what happens in future years. I’d encourage you to take part and express your views on behalf of the paddleboarding community.
The survey will be open until Sunday 19th Dec 2021.
If you wish to respond other than via the survey, please send to tayside_grampian@nature.scot
By way of background information:-
Paddleboarding was banned, along with all water access at Loch Kinord, from June until the end of August - the prime months for paddleboarding.
Loch Kinord is one of the most accessible, warm, safe and shallow lochs for paddleboarding.
A new large public car park is soon to be built to further enable access.
It is important to remember that the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, gives the Right of Responsible Access to people in Scotland.
This should only be removed by correct legal process, and in the case of a long term ban on access this is only possible by the issuing of a local byelaw (as in the case of parts of Loch Lomond). This at least enables full debate and exchange of information and is transparent and accountable. The Access Code is of guidance value only (like the Highway Code) and not enforceable in itself.
The access authority is Cairngorm National Park Authority but the nature reserve is managed by Nature.Scot.
Aberdeenshire Council were not even consulted before the ban was put in place.
Nature.Scot refer to the ban as "not a legal ban".
Nature.Scot did not take legal advice before making their decision.
CNPA were not supportive of the ban, recognising the need for a balanced approach. They have stated that they are not willing to accept the same position next year and will be working towards a more equitable solution
Whether the ban on water access is legally enforceable or just "local guidance" is largely irrelevant if people think it is an enforceable ban and their access rights are restricted as a result of a lack of clarity.
A ban on water access in the summer months amounts to a permanent Paddleboarding ban for many paddle boarders who will only go out in the summer months.
Their evidence to support their ban consists of a short Excel spreadsheet with a few observations that there were more birds on the loch at dawn than later in the day when people were using the water.
There is not necessarily any link between the two. There can be any number of reasons why more birds are seen at dawn
There is no evidence that paddleboarding or swimming in the Loch is any more harmful to birds than, for example, walking dogs along the paths at the side of the loch.
In summary, a ban on water use on a Loch such as Kinord is a significant restriction on access rights under the Land Reform Act. It should not be taken lightly, and has the potential to set further precedent.
Please don’t make personally critical remarks on this post or use it to draw attention to how supposedly nature-friendly you view yourself. Use it as a chance to feed into the consultation.
But do we really want to see future generations of people in Scotland banned from paddleboarding or swimming in Scotland's lochs?
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