Burntisland Harbour: councillors call for report to clarify access rights after fences go up

This week, Fife Council agreed to produce a report outlining what rights people do have to use the land - as they have done for as long as anyone can remember.

And that clarity could help shape the next steps in a long-running campaign to open up the harbour once again.

Forth Ports was given the go-ahead in 2021 to put up fences on the grounds of health and safety, and to make the site safe and secure - but that blocked all harbour side access for the first time in living memory, sparking a backlash among the community.

A petition started by Burntisland Harbour Access Trust (BHAT) was signed by 3000 people - the equivalent of half the town’s population - and it raised £9000 to get legal opinion with the aim of getting the fence removed and access restored.

Councillors have now asked for a report on its legal position on managing access rights under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act, and that will be put before the Cabinet at its meeting in August. The motion calling for the report was submitted by Councillor Kathleen Leslie (Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, Conservative) who spoke of her concern at the “increasing time lag” in the local authority establishing its position.

She said: “The folk of Burntisland would like access restored and ultimately if this cannot happen then they need to know why.”

At Thursday’s meeting of the full council she joined her motion with an amendment from Councillor Julie MacDougall (Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy, Independent), to push the matter forward.

Cllr Leslie stressed: “This is not attack on Forth Ports,. It acted with health and safety paramount and we should take cognisance of that. It is a working harbour but there are other examples where people can still walk.

“The Land Reform Act is clear. It is duty of local authority to assert and protect any route or waterway by which access rights may be reasonably exercised. A report to Cabinet will allow us to understand how that sits within legislation and its relevance to Eat Docks.

“This time it is Burntisland. What if it is somewhere else next? It is important to bear that in mind.”

She was backed by Councillor Darren Watt (Cowdenbeath, Conservative) who said: “This is a chance for dialogue to re-open harbour. There are too many barriers, physically and otherwise in communities - it is not up to us to put up more, but to remove them and facilitate.”

The August deadline for the report came on the back of Cllr MacDougall’s amendment, and was accepted by the full council.

She said it was “disappointing” the matter had to come before councillors to spark progress, and criticised Forth Port’s communications with the town and community.

"The harbour is part of our lives, young and old,”she said. “We understand the need to comply with health and safety restrictions, but when communication is not forthcoming it exacerbated the situation. I hope we can finalise access rights, put this to bed and enjoy the harbour area.”