Thank you, convener.
Scotland has a long and proud tradition in the world of motor sport. We want to recognise that tradition and allow it to continue by permitting the holding of stage rallies and other motor sport events on Scotland’s road network.
However, motor sports can be dangerous. We recognise the need to balance the potential for public enjoyment of and economic benefit from events with a high degree of safety for spectators and participants.
Since the tragic events at the Snowman rally in 2013 and the Jim Clark rally in 2014, which resulted in four fatalities, no motor sport events have been held on closed public roads in Scotland. Since then, we have had the benefit of learning vital lessons from the Government-led motor sport safety review and the detailed and thorough fatal accident inquiry into the fatalities. Steps have been taken to implement the lessons that have been learned, and the self-regulation of rally events that Motorsport UK enforces is now much stricter than it was before those tragic incidents. Motorsport UK has published the fourth edition of “Stage Rally Safety Requirements”. The requirements have evolved into a comprehensive safety document, which covers all aspects of stage rallying.
The Scottish Government formed a motor sport on public roads advisory group, which was made up of key stakeholders, including Police Scotland, the Society of Chief Officers of Transportation in Scotland, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, the Jim Clark rally organisers, the Isle of Mull rally organisers, motor sports governing bodies, Scottish Borders Council and active Scotland. All of those bodies were involved in designing both the public consultation and the draft regulations.
We received an impressive 3,788 responses to the recent public consultation on our proposals for the regulations, with 98 per cent of respondents backing the draft regulations’ proposed two-stage application process. That process for motor sport events on public roads will put the governing bodies and local authorities at the centre, and will bring together the people who have greatest experience of running such events with those who have the best interests of their communities at heart, in order to ensure that such events are delivered as safely as possible. In developing the regulations, we examined what happens in other parts of the UK and we have, as a result, refined our regulations.
In the first steps of the application process, the event organiser will be required to approach the relevant motor sport’s governing body for an event permit. The proposed route and public safety arrangements, and the question whether appropriate insurance cover is in place will be considered, and there will be close consultation between the motor sport’s governing body, the roads authority and Police Scotland.
Once a permit has been issued by the relevant motor sport body, the second step of the process will require the event organiser to seek the approval of the roads authority to hold the event. That will be in the form of a motor sport order. The roads authority, which for roads other than trunk roads will be the relevant local authority, must consider factors including the likely impact on and benefit for the local community, and it must consider the local community’s views. The authority must be satisfied with the proposed public safety and traffic management measures before it grants a motor sport order for an event. We are talking about public roads, so it is anticipated that local authorities will close the roads on which the event will be run using existing powers over special events that they have under road traffic legislation, which was amended to allow them to use the powers for motor sport events.
In conclusion, we believe that the regulations set out a robust and proportionate framework for authorisation of motor sport events on public roads in Scotland. I hope that my remarks prove to be useful to the committee’s consideration.