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25 April 2003
Drastic change in land management
Ian Mitchell
The Herald, Letters, 25 April 2003
(Filed 25 April 2003)
www.land-care.org.uk
IT APPEARS to have gone unnoticed in the run-up
to this election that the ruling Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition
published a potentially revolutionary Nature Conservation Bill four
weeks ago. If it is any guide to likely policy after an election
victory by Jack McConnell's team, anybody with any interest in rural
affairs ought to be seriously alarmed.
The basic thrust of the bill is to change the
method of land management in Scotland from one decided by those
who work the land to one controlled by bureaucrats from Scottish
Natural Heritage. On all designated land, SNH will be given the
power to direct land management through contracts which will in
effect be compulsory. These contracts will be "offered"
at SNH's discretion. The price for the contracted management regime
will be decided by SNH. If the land manager rejects the SNH offer,
the contract will be imposed anyway. The only recourse for an individual
will be to fight the government in the Land Court.
When economic liberty becomes dependent on individuals
being prepared to take the government on in court, that liberty
will be restricted to very rich people. Those who try to ignore
SNH will, under the terms of the bill, lay themselves open to criminal
prosecution for which the penalties envisaged include jail.
All this might not seem quite so disastrous if
it were not by now well established that SNH is an exceptionally
incompetent land manager. The hedgehog issue on the Uists comes
to mind, as do the Harris superquarry and the Cairngorm funicular
and national park. At ground level this incompetence is equally
conspicuous. SNH has permitted, due to its lack of precautionary
fire-break construction, the whole of the National Nature Reserve
here on Islay to be burnt to a crisp twice within two years, the
second occasion being 10 days ago. The blaze was so severe that,
despite the rain last weekend, the peat on the reserves is still
smouldering in places.
These fires have set the cause of biodiversity
back 20 years. Had a private individual permitted such destruction
on designated ground, he or she might very well, under the new bill,
be guilty of a criminal offence.
Anyone who trusts SNH's competence might permit
themselves to vote for the governing coalition; those who do not
should vote for anyone else, whether the SNP, Tory, Green, or Monster
Raving Hedgehog Parties.
Ian Mitchell
86 Lennox Street
Port Ellen
Isle of Islay
Further Reading Recommended by Land-Care
Scottish Executive Environment Group (2003). Legislating for the
Nature of Scotland. Proposals to conserve and enhance Scotland’s
natural heritage. Part 1: NATURE CONSERVATION (SCOTLAND) BILL. A
draft for consultation. March 2003. (Download
PDF).
Scottish Executive Environment Group (2003). Legislating for the
Nature of Scotland. Proposals to conserve and enhance Scotland’s
natural heritage. Part 2: DRAFT FINANCIAL GUIDELINES and REGULATORY
IMPACT ASSESSMENT. March 2003. (Download
PDF).
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