Scotland's wild land: 'world famous'
An overwhelming majority of respondents were in favour of a map of Scotland’s wild areas.
The results of a consultation by Scottish Natural Heritage showed 80 per cent were in favour of the core wild land map.
Conservation charity the John Muir Trust called on politicians to use the map as a step in protecting the nation’s landscape.
The trust said it had analysed the 410 responses and found 329 in favour of the map, including both individuals and organisations.
Only nine individuals responded against the wild land map, but 40 businesses and 10 not-for-profit groups opposed it. Among businesses against the map were 27 energy corporations, 11 property developers, landowners and representative bodies such as Scottish Land and Estates and the Scottish Property Federation.
Among those in favour of the mapped areas were 55 not-for-profit organisations, including more than 20 environmental and outdoors charities; five national government agencies, including sportscotland, Historic Scotland and Forestry Commission Scotland; six local authorities; and an assortment of community councils, campaign groups, park authorities and academic institutions.
Ten businesses, mainly small businesses in the environment and tourist sector; plus the Speyside Business Alliance, a consortium mainly of distillers; and four estates also backed the map.
John Hutchison, chair of the John Muir Trust, said the map is about protecting wild land from energy corporations and landowners intent on exploiting it for profit.
He said: “As one of the main driving forces campaigning for the map, the John Muir Trust would emphasise that this is not about preventing small-scale development of renewables or other infrastructure by communities and local people.
“This is about stopping the mass industrialisation of our wildest landscapes under tangles of turbines, pylons, road and power sub-stations.
“These developments might generate lavish profits for landowners and distant shareholders, but they create few if any jobs for local people.”
The trust’s chief executive Stuart Brooks said: “The scale of support for the map and the eloquence of the responses underline how passionately people value Scotland’s wild land.
“We would now urge politicians of all parties to come together to support the map as the next step towards protecting Scotland’s world famous wild land from unsightly and ecologically damaging development.
“In particular we would ask the Scottish Government to include a reference to the wild land map in the draft national planning framework, which is now being scrutinised by parliamentary committees.”
A full list of the responses can be seen on the SNH website.
