Wild Land – A Historic Breakthrough

THIS recognition of Scotland’s wild land as a nationally important asset that needs to be safeguarded marks a historic breakthrough. Scotland’s landscapes are spectacular, contributing to our quality of life, our national identity and the visitor economy. The John Muir Trust has fought long and hard over many years with the support of many thousands of people to achieve official recognition for wild land and we welcome this commitment.

I would endorse these sentiments, made by Stuart Brooks of the John Muir Trust in response to the Scottish Government’s recent announcement of further protection for Scotland’s wild land. Other NGO’s have also praised the new Planning Policy.

Helen Todd, Campaigns and Policy Manager at Ramblers Scotland said: “We are very pleased that the Scottish Government has finally recognised in planning policy the importance of wild land for Scotland. Wild land is a key tourism asset and a magnificent setting for outdoor recreation, but it is also part of our natural heritage, even our fundamental sense of identity as a nation.”

And the Mountaineering Council of Scotland broadly welcomed the new measures: “We welcome this confirmation that wind farms are incompatible with National Parks and National Scenic Areas. We also welcome the recognition of the importance of wild land, which includes most of Scotland’s mountain areas.

Following various meetings with politicians and government officials over the past couple of years I wrote a column last year that suggested the Scottish Government could be the first European government to put an outright ban on wind turbines in particular areas that are seen as nationally important in terms of landscape quality.

I also suggested the Government could significantly increase protection for much of Scotland’s wild land.

At the time, perhaps not surprisingly, I got a lot of flack for being naïve in believing the promises of politicians. My comments were considered by many as the party-line pipedream of an SNP supporter.

Well, perhaps I am naïve at times but in this case the Scottish Government has been true to its word. There has been very little change from the draft proposals of a year ago, only some small changes to the map as drawn up by SNH which defines wild land in Scotland.

Perhaps the biggest difference is the amount of land covered by the map used by the planning system before the new policy came into force. While last year’s draft map showed slightly more wild land, the 2002 Search Areas of Wild Land map defined 12.7% of Scotland as wild land – the latest SNH map shows 19.5%.

Taken with the outright ban for turbines in National Parks and National Scenic Areas that means that some 30% of Scottish landscape will now see significantly improved protection from inappropriate development.

I’m aware that some will see that as a jug two-thirds empty, as opposed to one-third full, and I’m also aware that these improvements to wild land protection will come too late to protect areas like Stronelairg and others, but I think this is a significant step forward in wild land protection, and I believe the Scottish Government should be congratulated in resisting enormous pressure from corporate energy companies to slash the size of the protected areas.

And that pressure didn’t only come from the energy companies. Some local authorities didn’t much like the idea of wild land protection either, including the Western Isles Council and the Highland Council, but in terms of the public consultation on the SNH map 73% of respondents were supportive. There is most definitely wide public support for wild land protection.

Having said that, there is also a large public support for renewables, including on-shore wind.

I’ve always believed that pragmatism has to play a large part in any environmental campaigning and it’s clear that wind energy, with it’s public and strong cross-party support, will continue to be a major player in this country’s energy mix.

According to a recent YouGov poll 77% of SNP supporters, 71% of Liberal Democrat supporters, 64% of Labour supporters and 53% of Conservative supporters said they were in favour of wind energy.

An Ipsos-Mori poll in April 2012 for UK Renewables indicated that 67% of the UK population support wind power while a OnePoll survey in 2011 for VisitScotland showed that 80% of people would not be affected in their choice of UK holiday destination by the presence of a windfarm.

It’s clear that those of us who want to protect our wild places from the visual effect of wind turbines are in the minority, so it’s all the more surprising, and welcome, that the Scottish Government has announced new levels of protection for these treasured areas.

While no-one has ever realistically expected to see a windfarm pop up inside the boundary of one of our National Parks, what is new is the complete ban on turbines within Scotland’s National Scenic Areas, an area based on WH Murray’s Highland Survey commissioned by the National Trust for Scotland in the early sixties.

The list was originally meant to represent areas worthy of National Park status, glorious landscapes that will now receive total protection from windfarm development.

You can find a map of Scotland’s National Scenic Areas on the Scottish Natural Heritage website. It’s well worth looking at. (www.snh.gov.uk/docs/B691407.pdf).

What areas are we talking about? Some of the very best mountain areas in the country, as it happens – South Lewis, Harris and North Uist; the machairs of South Uist; Hoy and West Mainland Orkney; North-West Sutherland and the Kyle of Tongue; Assynt and Coigach; the Dornoch Firth; Wester Ross; Trotternish and the Cuillin of Skye; Glen Strathfarrar, Kintail, Glen Affric and Knoydart; the Cairngorms, Deeside and Lochnagar; The Loch na Keal area of Mull; the Small Isles, Morar, Moidart and Ardnamurchan; Loch Shiel, Loch Rannoch and Glen Lyon; Loch Tummel and the Rivers Tay and Earn; Scarba, Lunga and the Garvellachs; Knapdale, Jura, Kyles of Bute; Loch Lomond and the Trossachs; North Arran; Upper Tweedale, Eildon and Leaderfoot; the Nith Estuary, the East Stewartry Coast and the Fleet Valley.

There will also be increased protection for those areas of prime wild land as contained in the new map of wild land just published by SNH.

This new level of “significant protection” will hopefully safeguard the integrity of the whole of the north-west highlands, from Glen Coe and Ben Nevis and north to Knoydart, Kintail and Glen Affric; all of Wester Ross including Torridon, the wilds of Letterewe, An Teallach and the Fannichs; the glorious hills of Coigach and Assynt like Stac Pollaidh, Cul Beag and Cul Mor, Suilven and Quinag, and all of north-west Sutherland with the likes of Ben Stack, Arkle and Foinaven.

For me these are amongst the most glorious landscapes in the world, but add to that areas like the Ardnamurchan peninsula, Moidart, Morar and its cockleshell sands and the Small Isles of Rum, Eigg and Canna, the Cuillin of Skye and the Trotternish Ridge, and you’ll begin to understand why I welcome the increased protection.

But what is this “significant increase” in protection the minister refers to?

The Scottish Planning Policy document states: “Wild land character is displayed in some of Scotland’s remoter upland, mountain and coastal areas, which are very sensitive to any form of intrusive human activity and have little or no capacity to accept new development. Plans should identify and safeguard the character of areas of wild land as identified on the 2014 SNH map of wild land areas.”

The map itself identifies the most extensive areas of the highest wildness in Scotland that are considered nationally important, and that recognition is vital. For the first time, the Scottish Government has officially recognised these areas as a nationally important asset, and that in itself is an important tool against any proposed development.

At the launch of the Planning Policy I asked the minister, Derek Mackay MSP, if this meant there was a presumption against development in these areas, but he said that was not the case.

However, it will be considerably more difficult for developers to gain planning approval in these wild land areas than it was before, simply because of their new status as a nationally important asset.

Ian Jardine, the boss of Scottish Natural Heritage, said: “One of our roles is to work with planners and developers to help get the right development in the right place. We do this by providing advice on nature and landscape. This new map helps to do this by identifying which are the key areas of wild land. We warmly welcome the Government’s recognition of these areas in the new National Planning Framework and the Scottish Planning Policy.

“The planning documents launched today do much more than recognise the importance of the wild land resource. They also recognise the extensive role of nature and landscape in the wider sense, and people’s enjoyment of it, in achieving sustainable economic growth.”

As in most things to do with politics, the buzzwords are “balance” and “compromise,” words that don’t sit well with most conservationists. In this case that balance is between protecting the very best of our mountain and wild landscapes, while effectively harnessing Scotland’s natural resources so we can be self-sufficient in green energy and to help continue the fight against climate change.

I’m very aware of the temptation to be wary of what politicians promise us, but I’ve no doubt the worth of this “significant protection” will be proven one way or another very soon. We await the announcement of the Government’s decision on the Allt Duine proposals, a scheme that lies slap bang in one of the SNH wild land areas, and even as I write, I’ve just received information of another Monadhliath windfarm proposal, this time at Aberchalder, just east of Loch Oich.

One thing is certain. The hugely generous subsidies paid out by the Westminster Government to potential wind developers will ensure a steady stream of applications. The only way to halt those applications is to cut the subsidy off at source. And that source lies with George Osbourne in London.