Holyrood chiefs are considering landscaping the grounds beside the Scottish Parliament to stop any future protest camps being set up there.

Land reformer and Green MSP Andy Wightman, a member of the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), said the option was being examined as one possible solution to the problem.

He spoke out almost a week after a group of campers were removed from a site beside the parliament after losing a long running court battle with the SPCB.

The group set up camp in November last year with a vow to stay until Scotland became independent but were evicted after losing a legal fight with the Parliament in July.

Conservative MSP Adam Tomkins called on the SPCB to set out how it would prevent "such disruptive, aggressive and illegal behaviour" from recurring.

Speaking in the Holyrood chamber, he praised the response of the parliamentary authorities to the camp, but added: "I am concerned, as many members will be, that illegal camps should not be set up on the parliament's estate in the first place.

"Of course, the public has the right to peaceful protest but not where that protest interferes with the rights of others, causes physical damage to the parliament's grounds or is incompatible with the nature of the parliament's grounds, which the Court of Session has said are unsuitable as a camp site."

A temporary fence has been set up around the area where the independence camp stood to allow remedial work to the ground.

Wightman said: "The corporate body also intends to consider possible longer-term measures. We're conscious that any such measures must be effective both in terms of cost and function.

"They would also have to be sympathetic to the landscape and maintain freedom of access to the many who come to the public areas of the parliament's estate to protest peacefully and lawfully or to simply enjoy the surroundings.

"We are considering landscaping works on the grounds, that's one obvious possibility, but there is a limit to what one can do lawfully to prevent incursions onto the parliamentary estate without interfering with legitimate rights to access our land."

He said that in addition to "proportional physical barriers" the court action had set a precedent if any further any encampments were attempted.

The IndyCamp group has said its removal was unfair and it has applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court in London.


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