Public enthusiasm meets political apathy over Scotland’s wild land

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) has expressed its disappointment and concern at the negligible response it received to a request for political party leaders to set out their positions on protecting Scotland’s wild land in advance of the general election. This contrasts strikingly with the enthusiastic response to its public petition on the same subject which has already exceeded 10,000 signatures.

Campaigning to highlight the importance of Scotland’s mountains and remaining wild land for tourism, recreation and economic sustainability, the MCofS wrote to the leaders of all political parties at Holyrood and Westminster on 20 March 2015.

The organisation which represents Scottish mountain lovers, hillwalkers and climbers, asked them to set out where they stand on protecting wild landscapes from development in the form of industrial-scale wind farms and intrusive hill tracks and asked them to answer 5 questions based on Respecting Scotland’s Mountains, the MCofS’ recently-published vision.

Only two of the ten political leaders responded – Nicola Sturgeon and Ruth Davidson – and only Ruth Davidson actually answered the questions directly. This apparent apathy from our political leadership compares with an overwhelming response to the MCofS online petition calling for planning protection for Scotland’s remaining wild land to be strengthened, which exceeded 10,000 signatures during the same period.

MCofS Chief Officer David Gibson comments “To say we are disappointed about this clear disconnect between the voting public and our political representatives and leaders is an understatement. In the run up to the General Election we were keen to give our members and supporters a clear insight into how the different parties prioritise the protection of Scotland’s wild land as it has been notably absent from the debates, pamphlets and party broadcasts.”

He continues “With just a week to go, we would still like to know where Labour, the Green Party, UKIP and the Liberal Democrats stand on these issues and urge all the party leaders to respond. We are committed to publishing their responses right up to polling day.”

This indifference from our political leadership comes at a time when Scottish government agency figures show that wild land – the proportion of the country from which built development cannot be seen – has dropped by 40% in 11 years, to less than one third in 2013* – an immense change.

Several high profile proposals currently on the table would diminish this wild land further, including plans for industrial-scale wind farms at the heart of Rannoch Moor and on the edge of the Cairngorms National Park. These have met with major opposition from a range of sectors including local communities, tourism providers, charities like the John Muir Trust and the government’s own conservation body Scottish Natural Heritage.

David Gibson explains “These landscapes are not a luxury, local people’s jobs depend on them and we want to be sure our political leaders and future UK parliamentary representatives understand and prioritise these matters as essential to Scotland’s economic and social sustainability.”

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland recommend the public continue to challenge their own Westminster parliamentary candidates when they encounter them out and about on the streets with last minute canvasing over the coming week. Anyone who wishes to show how much they value Scottish mountain landscapes can still support an online petition to strengthen planning protection for wild land: you.38degrees.org.uk/p/wild-land