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Back to Scottish Outdoor Access
Code HOMEPAGE
SLF appoints new access officer with no training
or experience in farming/agriculture
Editorial
Filed 04 October 03
©www.land-care.org.uk
The Scottish Landowners Federation (SLF) announced
to the public in a recent issue of its journal, Landowning in Scotland,
that they had appointed a new access officer with partial funding
from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). Assurances were given that
the new access officer would operate independently from SNH. On
inquiry assurances were also given that the appointment was made
independent of SNH.
Yet the Chairman of the SLF access and tourism
committee and also of its Land Reform Task committee is an East
Board member of SNH (1). Furthermore Land-Care
was informed that the the same person was a member of the three
person committee that appointed the new access officer. So there
was no requirement to have further SNH representation either on
the appointments committee, or indeed supervising how SNH funds
were being used (allegedly independent of SNH) in order to facilitate
the implementation of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.That CODE
is still in draft form (2) and must surely be subject
to change - that is if the 1386 responses to the consultation mean
anything (3).
The write-up in Landowning in Scotland
made no mention of the training or experience of the successful
candidate. It transpires the new SLF access officer, although holding
a degree in Environment Management from the University of Dundee,
has no training or experience in farming/agriculture but has previous
work experience in nursing.
Reference to the University of Dundee website
informed that Environmental Management came under the Department
of Arts and Social Sciences. Reference to the content of the course
revealed no mention of either farming or agriculture, but a passing
reference to forestry in terms of community woods next urban areas.
Further pursuit of the University of Dundee's excellent website
provided the reader with a contact telephone number of a person
who was able to answer enquiries specially relating to the Environmental
Management course. To the best of her knowledge this well informed
person was not aware that any of the teaching staff participating
in the course had any significant qualification in farming/agriculture.
Both the helpful spokesperson and the Dundee University
website emphasised how successful graduates of the course were in
getting jobs with environment agencies such as SNH and the National
Trust, and with Councils in their town planning departments.
But Land-Care had hoped that the SLF would be
more concerned about getting the legitimate interest of farming
at least partially represented and explained in terms of this onslaught
of environmentalists. After all farming is involved in some 85%
of the land in Scotland, and central to the Draft Scottish Outdoor
Access Code is open access to farmland. How can all these environmentalists
be credible in this context when they have little or no training
or experience in how land is managed?
The SLF is represented on the Access Forum that
drafted - and now will be redrafting - the Access Code. What hat
is the SLF wearing? Why won't they agree to their full response
to the SNH consultation paper on the draft Access Code being published
on Land-Care (4)? Is it just because they do not
like the questions Land-Care raises?
© www.land-care.org.uk
References
1. Scottish Natural Heritage (2003).
Register of interest of regional board members.
www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/ab-bai.pdf
Extrated information also available on www.land-care.org.uk,
Click
here to view
2. Scottish Natural Heritage (2003).
Draft Scottish Outdoor Access Code
www.snh.org.uk
3. Editorial (2003). Draft Scottish
Outdoor Access Code: Lack of adequate public access to the responses
to consultation
See Scottish Outdoor Access HOMEPAGE, filed 03 Oct 03, www.land-care.org.uk,
Click here
to view
4. Editorial (2003). Draft Scottish
Outdoor Access Code: Land-Care's contribution to more openness over
the responses.
See Scottish Outdoor Access HOMEPAGE, filed 03 Oct 03, www.land-care.org.uk,
Click here
to view
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