Wild Land News no 63, Spring 2005

Where wild land supporters live Article

Wild-landers would never be caught demanding a level playing field (do we prefer Argyll-type Bowling Greens?), but it is all too easy to tilt the political debating ground against us. One common accusation is that wild land supporters live far away in the cities, and don't know the first thing about the reality of living amongst it. A quick scan of our membership gives us some ammunition.

What stands out is that there is no strong geographical pattern. We live broadly in proportion to the population of Scotland, in cities, suburbs, and countryside. There is a distance-decay effect away from the Highlands, and the east side of the country is a little stronger than the west. We have a large minority of members 'furth of Scotland', again more in the north - notably a cluster in Cumbria. A little surprisingly we only have three abroad.

It is heartening and helpful to our cause that 20% of us live north of the Highland Boundary, some in Inverness and Aberdeen, but most scattered widely, even unto Shetland and Lewis. If we take Scottish members only, then 37% live outwith the Central Belt. It is certainly not a Glasburgh 'chattering classes' thing.

Highlands & Islands 70

Grampian & Highland Perth 28

Dundee, Fife, Lowland Perth, Stirling 63

Edinburgh & Lothians 70

Glasgow & Strathclyde 61

Borders, Dumfries & Galloway 20

SCOTLAND 312

N England 66

Midlands, SW, E Anglia 63

London & SE 32

Wales, N Ireland 6

Abroad 3

FURTH OF SCOTLAND 170

TOTAL 482