Scotland's wild land: 'not a commodity'
A conservation charity is urging Scottish parliamentarians not to bow to commercial pressure on a wild land map as they debate the subject at Holyrood.
The John Muir Trust said lobbying by big business threatens the map’s implementation.
Scottish Natural Heritage has developed the map over a decade and the map will form part of MSPs’ debate on Tuesday on the new national planning framework.
The trust said a commitment to strong protection for the wildest landscapes in the original draft has been removed from the latest version.
“Since that new version was published, independent experts have analysed the results of a public consultation on the map which show that 410 submissions were received – twice as many as for the consultations on the drink-driving limit and corroboration combined,” a JMT spokesperson said.
“Of these submissions, 73 per cent were in favour of the wild land, including a decisive majority of individuals, third-sector organisations and local authorities.”
Following the findings, the John Muir Trust has written to every MSP in advance of Tuesday’s parliamentary debate asking them to support the reinstatement of the wild land map into the national planning framework.
Helen McDade, head of policy for the John Muir Trust said: “We are urging MSPs from across all parties to stand up for Scotland’s wild land against powerful financial interests who see it as commodity to be exploited for money rather than a national treasure to be protected.
“Over the past year, the Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage have come under pressure from energy companies and some private landowners to scrap or diminish the core areas of wild land map
“They demanded that the wild land map be put out to public consultation.
“That consultation has now been completed and the results underline the fact that the energy companies are in a small minority in their opposition to a wild land map of Scotland.
“In the light of these findings, the planning minister should now restate the commitment to strong protection for wild land that was in the original draft.”
