§ Mr. Raymond S. RobertsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about the reorganisation of area tourist boards in Scotland.
§ Mr. LangI am most grateful to the Scottish tourist board for the work it has done in developing a range of options for the reorganisation of area tourist boards—ATBs—in Scotland. After wide consultations, and within the framework of these options, I have concluded that the needs of Scotland's tourist industry will be best served by a 14-board structure, to be established on 1 April 1996. In order to ensure a smooth transition I intend to appoint the initial members of the new area tourist boards entirely on the basis of nominations from existing boards and from local authorities.
The Scottish tourist board will be responsible for advising me on the detailed arrangements for establishing this new network, including the individual schemes which will be required by each of the new boards. In carrying out this responsibility I will require it to collaborate closely with existing ATBs, with existing and shadow local authorities and with the tourist industry generally.
Many of those involved in the operation of area tourist boards have put it to me that, in order to meet local needs and retain local loyalties, it will be essential for the new boards to be locally accountable for their operational arrangements. I accept this advice and am asking the Scottish tourist board to pay particular attention to identifying suitable local arrangements in the schemes it works up for individual boards. Here again, it will be required to work in close collaboration with the tourist industry itself.
I am confident that the new 14-board structure will provide visitors to Scotland with a greatly improved service. Our tourist industry will be given a competitive edge by a network which is sensitive to local needs and which delivers the effective marketing called for in the tourism review. A map illustrating the new structure is being placed in the Library. Subject to parliamentary approval the composition of the new boards will be as follows:
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Proposed area tourist board1 Proposed new councils2 1. Shetland Shetland 2. Orkney Orkney 3. Western Isles Western Isles 4. Highland Highland 5. Grampian City of Aberdeen Aberdeenshire Moray 6. Tayside Angus City of Dundee 7. Fife Fife 8. Perthshire Perthshire and Kinross 9. Loch Lomond, Stirling and Trossachs, Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute Stirling Clackmannan and Falkirk Dumbarton and Clydebank
Proposed area tourist board1 Proposed new councils2 10. Glasgow and the Clyde Valley City of Glasgow Inverclyde Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire East Dunbartonshire North Lanarkshire South Lanarkshire 11. Edinburgh and Lothian City of Edinburgh East and Midlothian West Lothian 12. Scottish Borders The Borders 13. Ayrshire and Arran North Ayrshire South Ayrshire East Ayrshire 14. Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway 1 The exact name of the Board will be a matter for local decision. 2 Position following First Scottish Standing Committee's consideration of the Local Government, etc. (Scotland) Bill. Boundaries of local authorities lying within each ATB may be subject to change during the remaining stages of the Bill.