Wild Land News no 67, Autumn 2006

COMMENT Article

The next eight months are a crucial time for wild land issues…. as in May 2007 there are elections for the Scottish Parliament and local Councils. MSPs have already seen the importance of renewable energy / landscape issues in constituencies such as the Western Isles, where large wind farms on Lewis are controversial projects.

The Wild Land Group has maintained its resolute position of not accepting large onshore windfarms north of the Highland boundary fault. We also defend rivers and lochs against intrusive hydro schemes. We urge all Scottish members to ask their prospective MSPs and Councillors about protection for wild land, the conservation of high quality landscapes and locational guidance for renewable energy schemes.

Perthshire and the Ochils in particular have seen some intense lobbying over the issues of wind farms as well as the impact of the possible enlargement of the Beauly - Denny power line.

We thought we were making progress on the issue of landscape, with a Landscape Forum being convened by the Scottish Executive. Unfortunately not all organisations and civil servants seem to be treating the matter seriously, with poor responses so far from business, tourist and landowning interests.

We must ensure that current and future politicians can join up the dots between quality Scottish landscapes, strong tourist draws, good wild areas of escape and high recreational spend. Lobbying politicians in a sustained and co-ordinated way helped produce the Land Reform (Scotland) Act which included good access provisions. Let's do the same for landscape, wild land and the location of renewable energy projects.