January proved to be a very busy month for COAST committee members as they worked on a new proposal. With the help of Calum Duncan MCS & advice from David Donnan SNH & Gabriella Piereccini SEERAD.
The new proposal was written & printed off in record time to be able to be posted to the Scottish Executive, SNH & many MSPs in the first few days of February.
This new 2005 Proposal can be downloaded from this Web Site
On the 27th January Don, Tom & Howard met with a team from Scottish Water led by project officer Andrew Scott in Brodick.
COAST told Scottish Water in the strongest language that as far as they were concerned, Scottish Water’s new revised plan to put the sewage pipe along to Clauchlands point but then direct it due south back through the Maerl bed was not on. Furthermore they were going back on assurances given to COAST last year that the outflow would go out into the Clyde north of Hamilton Rock. COAST were told by Scottish Water that to put the pipe north of Hamilton Rock was not possible due to the deep water & other engineering problems. COAST asked Scottish Water for an independent engineer’s report & advised them that, if they wouldn’t pay for it, COAST would organise & pay for it.
COAST told Scottish Water that if they pursued their present proposals that they would be contravening the new Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004. Which as a result, public bodies across Scotland must take into account rare or protected habitat. That we would not only use the full force of the law, but we would make sure it was widely covered In the national press.
Finally COAST told Scottish Water of the extensive Sea Grass beds off of Whiting Bay & asked them to take them into account when designing the sewage outfall in Whiting Bay later this year.