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Past News	Ancient woods	The Woodland Trust Scotland has lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for greater protection of ancient woodland. Ancient woodland is one of our richest, most important sites for a vast range of insects, birds, animals, flowers and trees and are home to more threatened species than any other UK habitat. Sign the petition - more info: www.woodsunderthreat.info.
	Stop Dunmaglass	Write in by 18th April 2005 to object to the proposed 36-turbine Dunmaglass Wind Farm - straddling 4 sq miles (10 sq km) of fragile, wildlife habitat on the Monadhliath Mountain plateau. More info: www.stopdunmaglass.com including online objection.
	Wild Land Conference	A major wild land conference is being organised by the John Muir Trust between 20-23 October 2004 in the Pitlochry Festival Theatre. For more information look at the JMT website - www.jmt.org
	SNH Seminar	Proceedings of SNH Wild Land Seminar: Wildness In Scotland's Countryside: A Seminar To Explore The Way Forward held on 31 March 2004 in Inverness.
	Shieldaig	16 March 2004: Shieldaig Hydro Scheme refused - Wild Land News article. BBC report: "It is the first time since devolution that the Scottish Executive has turned down a large green energy project. Ministers said the landscape targeted for development was of national and international significance."
	Harris Superquarry	9 January 2004: The Court of Session has rejected an appeal by French aggregates giant Lafarge, who wanted to establish a massive 600 hectare superquarry within a National Scenic Area on Harris. However a separate planning application has yet to be decided. The decision Background to the case: 2003...2002...2002.
	Harris	Congratulations to the North Harris community on their recent purchase of the 55,000 acre North Harris Estate - a wild and beautiful area of the Western Isles of Scotland. The North Harris Trust has launched a £100,000 appeal to help with the purchase.
	Shieldaig	16 March 2004: Shieldaig Hydro Scheme refused - Wild Land News article. BBC report: "It is the first time since devolution that the Scottish Executive has turned down a large green energy project. Ministers said the landscape targeted for development was of national and international significance." Scottish Executive Decision Letter DOC 1MB History: The final decision on a proposed hydro scheme at Shieldaig rested with the Scottish Executive On 11/9/03 Highland Council voted not to reject the Shieldaig hydro scheme application, against the recommendation of the Council's own Director of Planning (Director's report, DOC 200KB). 837 objections received... Highland Light and Power have submitted their plans for a hydro scheme at Shieldaig, near Gairloch. Letters of objection must be made by the 6th June 2003 to the Scottish Executive. Low Impact has full details: "The power that will be produced...could be achieved with just two more wind turbines. This amount of energy is not worth the sacrifice of one of Scotland's most renowned landscapes." MCofS information.  Also see the Spring 2001 Wild Land News article on the proposal Part of HLP's non-technical summary of their Environmental statement, DOC 567KB.
	Glendoe	On May 6 2003, Scottish and Southern Energy lodged a planning application for the first major hydro-electric scheme in decades for Glendoe at the south end of Loch Ness, with a new 1km dam at the head of Glen Tarff (Map); the reservoir would collect water from a 75 sq km catchment. Our letter of objection DOC 22k Representations on this application should be sent by 12 June to Lesley Thomson on lesley.thomson@scotland.gsi.gov.uk or to Consents and Emergency Planning Unit, 2nd Floor, Meridian Court, 5 Cadogan Street, Glasgow G2 6AT
	Access	The draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code is out for consultation until 30th June 2003. The code will provide guidance on responsible behaviour for recreational users and land managers under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
New Campaign on the Environment SWLG has joined a campaign organised by Scottish Environment LINK prior to the May elections, involving 25 organisations representing 500,000 people. The purpose is to send a clear message to all parliamentary candidates, demanding their recognition of the importance of the environment. One of the six key demands is for protection of wild places. For full information visit the web-site on www.everyonecan.org.

Scottish Natural Heritage:  Wildness In Scotland's Countryside: Policy Statement and maps

The National Trust for Scotland:  Wild Land overview and Wild Land Policy (PDF).

11 Feb 02: Rural Dev Committee report
11 Jan 02: Justice 2 Committee reports
24 Dec 01: Draft Outdoor Access code in Word format at Outdoor Access Smartgroups.
14 Dec 01: Please submit evidence to the Scottish Parliament Justice 2 Committee by 21st December; email justice.committee@scottish.parliament.uk
28 Nov 01: Scottish Parliament has published the Land Reform Bill as a PDF.

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Read our response to the earlier draft bill. Please write to your MSP or the Executive, at the address below.

The Scottish Parliament has two web sites of interest:  the consultation process and the Land Reform web site where you can comment directly.

Or contribute to a discussion forum on the Land Reform Bill set up by Visit Scotland.

Please write in now to the Scottish Executive - address below - to improve the Access Legislation in the Land Reform Bill. The executive are redrafting the bill now, so individual letters will help them show where public opinion lies. At the SWLG AGM 2001, someone suggested that the current bill will put access in Scotland back 150 years! The consultation has been extended to June 30 2001, so also write to your MSP to ensure that they know your views. The Ramblers Association Scotland are highlighting these problems: New landowner exclusion powers New police expulsion powers New ranger enforcement role Here is the Scottish Executive address to write to: Andrew Taylor Scottish Executive Rural Affairs Department Land Reform Branch Room 106 Pentland House 47 Robb's Loan EDINBURGH EH14 1TY Alternatively email Andrew Taylor on andrew.taylor@scotland.gsi.gov.uk.

The Land Reform Bill	Read online	PDF Download (850k)
The Access Code Document	Read online	PDF Download (270k)

• (Taken from the MCofS web site)

  On 22nd February the Scottish Executive published "A Draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code" and the "Draft Land Reform (Scotland) Bill - Consultation Paper".

  There will now be a three month consultation period, which is due to end on May 18th. The Bill will be debated in the Scottish Parliament in September after MSP's return from their summer recess.

• Here's what the Ramblers' Assocation, Scotland, have to say.

• Scottish Environment LINK