Scottish CND Faslane Peace Camp
Moves to evict Faslane Peace Camp were delayed following a meeting on 21 Sep between the campers and Argyll and Bute Council. Discussions took place between two peace campers with their lawyer and Councillors Bill Petrie and Dick Walsh.
During the meeting the campers repeatedly asked the Councillors to state why they were trying to evict the Peace Camp. Councillor Petrie said that he had received complaints from local residents. He was asked to provide evidence of this but refused to produce anything to substantiate his allegations. The Peace Campers told the council that they have had petitions signed by thousands of peope in support of the camp, many of them local residents. The Councillors refused to take any account of this.
The Ministry of Defence is trying to sell a large piece of land, formerly St Andrews School, next to the Peace Camp. This is for residential development and the site is worth millions of pounds. The Peace Campers suggested that there might be some connection between Councillor Petrie wanting to evict the Peace Camp and the sale of this land. At this point both Councillors became very uneasy and categorically denied any such suggestion. There had been a similar nervous response when Councillors were asked the same question at a meeting last year.
The Camp has been given 8 weeks to find an alternative site after which time another meeting will be arranged. After the meeting, the leader of the Council, Dick Walsh, said:
"If it is not possible for them to identify an alternative piece of land by December, we will have to carry this process through and evict them, subject to costs. If the wish politically is to spend money in carrying out the eviction process then that will happen but I personally am not sympathetic to spending several hundred thousand pounds on this."