The Herald

Council gives green light for anti-GM vigil
DAVID ROSS

Highland Council yesterday snubbed Ross Finnie, the rural affairs
minister, by unanimously voting to give anti-GM protesters planning permission to
continue their vigil on council land beside the GM site on the Black
Isle until next August.

In recent weeks civil servants and Mr Finnie himself have written to the
council urging them to move the camp. They alleged that the protesters
had harassed Jamie Grant, the farmer conducting the GM trial on Roskill farm
near Munlochy, and his family.

No complaint was received by the police, however, and a planning
application from the protesters was received for "two caravans, a toilet, and 
a yurt (central Asian nomads' tent) acting as an information centre".

More than 120 letters supporting the application were received mostly
from people living in and around the Black Isle, underlining the strength of
local feeling. Only 17 objected, many of them from the farming
fraternity.

Jim Farquhar, the Ross and Cromarty area planning manager, reported to
councillors in Dingwall yesterday that he had initially been concerned
about road safety, but concluded that drivers slowed down out of curiosity and
while there were still dangers "these are probably no greater than
normal in relation to any countryside road."

Neither was Mr Farquhar too concerned about the aesthetic threat posed
by the camp.

He said: "Its impact is not far-reaching - it can only be seen over a
short distance by users of this road. Its temporary nature and mobility of the
structures mean that its impact will be short-lived. Measured against
community council views and popular support, I do not consider that its
existence for a temporary period is damaging in a non-sustainable way."

The granting of planning permission is just the latest round in a
dispute between the council and Mr Finnie. The minister outraged councillors in
August last year by giving Mr Grant permission for his first GM trial
without the prior local consultation specifically requested by the
council, which then unsuccessfully petitioned the Court of Session to make GM
field trials subject to planning controls.

In August Mr Finnie gave Mr Grant permission for a far larger trial,
leading to the protest and vigil. Five protesters were subsequently charged with
aggravated trespass and are due to stand trial in January.

Neither Mr Grant nor the executive would comment yesterday, but Black
Isle councillor David Alston said: "I think we have an obligation to allow
people to protest in a reasonable manner and that's one of the reasons we are
allowing this on council land."

- Nov 21st