A HOLYROOD committee is to write to the Scottish Government over plans to regulate how trampolines in back gardens are used.
Stacey Clarke petitioned the Parliament earlier this year, urging MSPs to “implement regulations on the ownership and use of residential trampolines.”
She said the popular jumping devices were “a source of misery for millions of neighbours for a variety of reasons including noise and privacy intrusions”.
Clarke said the Government should look at bringing in licences for users, and suggested anyone looking to stick a bouncy platform in their back garden should first get planning permission.
The petitioner also suggested a jumping curfew to stop anyone having a late night leap, and new restrictions to stop suburban springboards being higher than fence height.
Clarke said: “These trampolines, whilst a source of fun for children, have become a misery for millions of neighbours who cannot enjoy their outside space, and privacy is impacted by the ability to see into their gardens.”
Clarke's petition, which hasn't been signed by anyone, was being discussed on Thursday by MSPs on Holyrood's petition's committee.
Convener Johan Lamont said she had dealt with constituents complaining about neighbours “using trampolines at inappropriate times”.
However, she wasn’t convinced the measures put forward by Clark were “credible”.
“It feels to me costly and not necessarily effective,” she said. “It feels overregulated when at the same time we want to encourage our young people to go and do healthy things and to take physical exercise and so on.
"I'm not sure you can how legislate for that kind of thing. Managing on neighbour disputes quite often involves a lot of diplomacy on behalf of local agencies and so on.”
Tory MSP Tom Mason said members should seek more information from local government and “associations which represent trampolining activity”.
“To kill off the development at the grassroots end unnecessarily would be a mistake,” he said.
The SNP’s Gail Ross said she could see both sides.
“It can be the cause of neighbor disputes, a lot of the correspondence that I've had certainly has pointed to that. Whether it's suitable for a planning issue, I’m less sure.
“I think that had the petitioner had included a safety aspect in terms of trampolines not being tied down in gardens when there’s storms, they do damage, then perhaps that could be something that could be considered, but at the moment it just seems to be an anti-social factor and these sorts of things you would hope would be sorted out between neighbours.”
The committee decided to write to Kevin Stewart, the Scottish Local Government Minister. They're also keen to seek the views of the relevant body for trampolining.
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