A SPEED restriction of 7mph on Loch Lomond will harm the local economy, opponents warned yesterday, as a new weapon to enforce the controversial new limit was unveiled.
Motorboat users and businesses who depend on leisure users coming on to the loch are expected to lobby against a blanket ban being brought in across the central area of the waterway.
Yesterday, the deputy minister for environment and rural develo
pment, Rhona Brankin, helped to unveil a new motorboat that will patrol the loch when the new limit comes in.
The proposed by-laws, which will see the areas of the loch where a lower speed limit of 7mph is enforced extended to cover a third of its surface, are put forward for public consultation next month.
But Paul Dzierzeck, who runs Loch Lomond Leisure, a speedboat hire business, said that the park authority's plans were being widely resisted.
He said: "I have attended a number of the authority's consultation meetings, and they have been a case of we sit there and they talked, so it's not really consultation.
"Those at the top of the park authority have unrealistic ideas about the loch being unused. Their plans will damage a lot of the businesses around here," he added.
The new patrol boat, a 7m-long, rigid-inflatable boat called Osprey 1, is capable of reaching speeds of 56mph and will give rangers a second craft in which to patrol the waters.
Funding for the boat is contained within £9 million being made available to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park by the Executive to help protect its spectacular natural beauty. The majority will be used to fund a permanent headquarters in Balloch for the park authority, which has been based in a temporary building since it was set up in 2002.
George Boyd, the chairman of the Friends of Loch Lomond Association, welcomed the introduction of the boat, but he said that more needed to be done to make the area safe. "Anything that helps the park staff monitor the situation and enforce speed limits has to be a good thing," he said.
"The proposed changes to the speed, though, are a bit timid. The current 55mph limit is far too high, and so it needs to be reduced, not just the 7mph limit extended."
The cash for the new headquarters was announced by Ms Brankin on the banks of the loch yesterday, as she launched Osprey 1.
She said: "Much has already been achieved in meeting the aims of the park, and the additional funding we are making available will enhance the park authority's presence in the area and make it more effective in carrying out its vital role."
