Transforming a quarry where two teenagers died into a water sports and diver training centre has been suggested as a way of enhancing safety at the site.

Divers who use Prestonhill Quarry in Fife say that establishing the first centre of its kind in Scotland there would allow access to the water to be controlled and leisure use to continue.

Since John McKay, 18, drowned last month, there have been calls for the flooded Inverkeithing quarry to be drained and filled in.

Gillian Barclay, whose son Cameron Lancaster, also 18, lost his life there just 10 months earlier, is among those who want to see a community takeover of the site to allow it to be filled.

However, divers have initiated talks they hope could result in the quarry being retained with authorised access only.

Qualified BSAC instructor Andrew Murray said: “The dive community is absolutely shocked and saddened by the loss of life at the quarry.

“Many of those in our group are parents and we share the feelings of the community.”

But he added: “We feel that draining the quarry and filling it in will just move the problem elsewhere.”

He and fellow divers hope to meet councillors and representatives of the community and emergency services soon to put forward proposals which he said could go towards making the quarry a “safe and sustainable” place.

The quarry is regularly used by dive clubs from around Fife, Lothian and further afield.

Mr Murray said: “There are a number of flooded quarries in England that are safe and sustainable inland water sports centres but Scotland has nothing like this.

“Perhaps now is the time for Prestonhill Quarry to become a legitimate centre with a range of safety and security measures.”

Such an initiative, he reckoned, would cost thousands of pounds, compared with the hundreds of thousands of pounds that buying and filling in the quarry would.

He said: “If it was agreed that a water sports and activity centre was the way forward, then with some very straightforward measures around safety and security access could be controlled.”

Effective perimeter fencing could be installed to restrict access to authorised users, he said, and life-saving equipment and security cameras monitored by police installed.

He continued: “One of the reasons that people are going to the quarry is that it is seen by them as an illegitimate destination.

“We feel we have something to offer the local community by way of education, training and providing facilities for people to do something positive rather than go there for other purposes.

“We are aware there is an initiative to buy the quarry. We don’t want to appear insensitive to that but at this stage we feel that all options should be on the table for making it safer.”

Mr Murray said the proposal would have been made eventually had the tragedies not occurred but that they underlined the need to do something.

Source: www.thecourier.co.uk

Photo: Olaf Pe