LABOUR’S Jackie Baillie has said she is increasingly of the view that jet skis should be banned from Loch Lomond. 

The MSP, whose Dumbarton constituency takes in much of the national park, said there had been a huge increase in the numbers of high-speed personal water vehicles over the pandemic. 

Ms Baillie suggested that an upcoming review of the bylaws put in place by the park could look at introducing new restrictions. 

The comments came during a debate on creating a new national park. 

Ms Baillie - who took part in the debate in 2000 which paved the way for the creation of the first national parks - said that her constituency welcomed four million visitors every year.

“That helps the local economy but it's fair to say that it's been a challenge too,” she told MSPs. “On sunny days, and we have them in Scotland, some communities in Loch Lomond have been overwhelmed by a combination of daytrippers, visitors from across the UK and overseas visitors too. 

“Everything from litter, antisocial behaviour, wild camping and cars gridlocking narrow streets have challenged the park to constantly improve its visitor management.”

Ms Baillie said jet ski registration on Loch Lomond had increased gradually in the years since they were banned on Lake Windermere in 2005. 

“It has risen exponentially during the last two years of the pandemic. 

“Lots of people have holidayed at home, we've all had staycations, but some of them have brought jet skis with them. Many of the jet skis on Loch Lomond are not registered. 

“They're launching at different points in the loch, and the behaviour of some users is incredibly dangerous - driving whilst drunk, driving whilst using drugs, buzzing swimmers close to the shoreline and travelling at dangerous speeds is becoming all too common. 

“Enforcement is clearly challenging. And when I asked the Scottish Government how many people have been charged by the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service from 1999 to August 2021, the number was precisely three. That's simply not good enough. 

“The debate now is whether to allow jet skis at all or to confine them to parts of the loch. And I have to say given the problems with enforcement, I am increasingly of the view that they shouldn't be allowed at all. 

“I visited Lake Windermere last year. It was busy, but it was peaceful. That annoying buzz of jet skis was wholly absent, wild swimmers could proceed in relative safety. In this case, conservation and protection of our natural environment should perhaps be the priority.”

As part of the Bute House agreement between the SNP and the Greens, the Scottish Government has committed to creating at least one new national parks before the end of the parliament in 2026. 

Opening the debate in parliament, biodiversity minister Lorna Slater said she found it “astonishing that we have just two national parks” in Scotland. 

She told MSPs: “Our existing national parks in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms are at the forefront of actions to tackle climate change and nature restoration and also welcoming, educating and managing millions of visitors a year. 

“Our national parks model how people can live and work alongside restored nature, for the rest of Scotland and the world, I am excited by what we can achieve through the creation of at least one new national park for Scotland.“

She called for a national conversation “to capture what stakeholders most value about national parks and how this will inform the identification of the areas to be taken forward for designation as Scotland’s next national parks.”

“As you will appreciate, identifying the areas to be designated as national parks is only half of the story, as there is then the legal process laid out in the Act to define the boundary of the new park and establish the park authority.  

There are seven areas that have previously been suggested as potential sites for new national parks, including Ben Nevis, the Cheviots and Border Hills, Galloway, and Harris.

Labour MSP Sarah Boyack who was the environment minister in the Labour government that created Scotland’s first national parks, called for more ambition than just one new site. 

“In her opening speech, Lorna Slater herself made the case for more national parks plural. She didn’t restrict herself to one national park. So let’s get a strategy underpinned by political commitment, not just to celebrate our beautiful landscapes, but to make them more easy to explore.

“In some ways, I’ve got an easy job, because I’m not asking for a particular national park in a particular area. I want more national parks so that my constituents can explore Scotland can go on holiday in Scotland and add to our local environment and add to our local economies, and so that their children can learn from our beautiful country.”