CONCERN is growing that a body created by parliament to manage one of Scotland's great natural waterways has no overseeing watchdog to scrutinise its' decisions.

Now there are calls for MSPs to be given powers that will allow them to hold the Cromarty Firth Port Authority to account.

The move comes after two groups of the 'stakeholders' it is supposed to benefit revealed that they had little or nowhere to turn if they disagreed with a decision made by the port.

They only options available are an appeal to the board of the port authority itself, or spending money raising a legal action.

Neither the Scottish Government nor the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) can intervene, it has emerged.

Local communities have been outraged by port authority's plan to transfer nine million tonnes of crude oil a year between tankers at sea in a leading European dolphin site and close to other designated nature sites. They fear an oil spill will herald environmental catastrophe and sabotage the local economy.

The port authority was created by an act of parliament in 1973, but was devolved along with other such Trust Ports in Scotland. Since 2003 it has appointed its own board members without ministerial scrutiny.

The firth is busy from oil rigs to cruise liners, and all the authority's profits have to be reinvested in the port.

In 2012 the Scottish Government's agency Transport Scotland produced guidance for the good management of trust ports.

It said: "Trust ports are independent statutory bodies, governed by their own local legislation and, run by independent boards who manage the assets of the trust for the benefit of stakeholders."

It lists these stakeholders, including "Local and regional businesses" and "The local community."

Campaigners say 21 community councils around the Cromarty, Moray and Dornoch firths now oppose the authority's application to conduct oil transfer plans. Two in Nairn have just called on ministers to intervene.

The port authority says it is very conscious of its environmental responsibilities.

Transport Scotland says the port authority has done nothing wrong.

A spokesman said: "The Scottish Government does not have a role in regulating commercial decisions or activities of a Trust Port, which must act in accordance with its local legislation. We would advise any stakeholder who has concerns to take these to the port board in the first instance but, ultimately, it will be for the courts to determine if a trust has acted outwith its powers."

The SPSO confirmed it has no powers to intervene.

A spokesman for Cromarty Rising, the campaigners against the oil transfers who have already instructed lawyers to prepare a legal challenge, said: "It will shock many that a self-appointed board which has been entrusted by parliament to manage one of Scotland's great natural assets, the Cromarty Firth, is not publicly accountable unless you are in a position to take legal action. That simply can't be right. It should be answerable to the Scottish Parliament."

Highlands and Islands Scottish Green Party MSP John Finnie is already pursuing ministers on this apparent absence of any mechanism for public scrutiny of the port authority.

He said: "It is important local communities have confidence in this body and shouldn't have to go to court to raise concerns. Some democratic oversight is required. "