The local MSP for the Pentlands has called for urgent action from Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Government to tackle dirty camping in the area.
Lockdown has seen pictures emerge of parts of the Pentland Hills being left covered with rubbish and abandoned tents.
'Anti-social' campers left behind general rubbish as well as human waste, sanitary items and toilet paper.
Edinburgh Pentlands MSP, Gordon MacDonald, has today called on Edinburgh Council and the Scottish Government to take action to tackle dirty camping in the Pentland Hills.
In debate about the issue, Gordon MacDonald called on the Edinburgh Council to use their £5 million allocation of The Scottish Government’s Spaces for People funding to provide a path to the Pentlands from Balerno.
The MSP said that the area is “seeing increased traffic and inconsiderate parking which is creating major problems for farmers and local residents - people are parking across junctions, access roads or narrowing the carriageway.”
Mr MacDonald, who had previously raised the matter with The Scottish Government on 11 August 2020, also called on The Scottish Government to consider providing long term funding.
Commenting, the SNP MSP said: "Dirty camping is an issue which has sadly been a problem that many of us, around the Pentland hills, have been dealing with for a number of years. The local community should not have to put up with this.
“Hopefully this will be the turning point - Dirty Camping has been a problem that many of us have been trying to tackle for several years but, as a result of the current pandemic, we are now seeing dirty camping on a different scale.”
“Unfortunately, this type of behaviour is giving all campers a bad reputation which is not fair. We know that it is only a minority of people ruining it for everyone and this antisocial camping needs to be dealt with.
“ I was pleased to be able to raise these issues in The Scottish Parliament again and look forward to working with The Scottish Government, local authorities and others to find successful long term solutions.
“We need to tackle the issues before they become the new norm.”
