Filed for The Guardian, 17 February 1992
The government’s new nature conservation agency in Scotland should be given compulsory powers to purchase Highland estates to prevent damage to the natural environment, according to a coalition of voluntary organisations.
In reports published today (Friday 21 February), the Save the Cairngorms Campaign also recommends that the Scottish Natural Heritage agency should be “empowered to enter onto land to survey, monitor and, where necessary, carry out works to prevent damage to the environment and its quiet public enjoyment and to seek recompense from the landowner.”
The Campaign, which is backed by 15 environmental groups including
the World Wide Fund for Nature, Ramblers’ Association Scotland and Friends of the Earth Scotland, argues that the new agency should be given the first option to buy any land in the Cairngorms that comes up for sale. Scottish Natural Heritage, which starts up in April, would have to be given “adequate resources” to fund these new powers.
Such wide-ranging powers will not be welcomed by Scotland’s powerful landowners and are unlikely to win over the present administration at the Scottish Office. Nevertheless the Campaign’s chairman, Michael Scott, says he is cautiously optimistic about how some of the other ideas will be received by the Cairngorms Working Party, set up by the Scottish Office 15 months ago to find a way of managing the area.
In two reports submitted to the working party, the Campaign attempts for the first time to outline its whole approach to managing the Cairngorms, which it defines as an area covering 1,500 square miles of the central Highlands. The huge mountains and glens, home to rare animals like the dotterel and the wildcat as well as priceless remnants of ancient Caledonian pinewoods, are described as “the foremost conservation area in the British Isles.”
The reports recommend recreating an extensive natural forest, banning all-terrain vehicles and removing bulldozed tracks. They suggest new restrictions and responsibilities for downhill skiing companies which could force them out of business.
Instead of a national park, the Campaign advocates a Joint Partnership Authority with tough statutory powers to control development. Whenever landowners are given agricultural, forestry and other grants, they should be obliged to do something in return to enhance the environment (known as “cross-compliancing”).
The government’s working party has been severely criticised by leading conservationists for its pro-landowner bias and its extraordinary rules
on secrecy. Chaired by Mastermind presenter, Magnus Magnusson, it has produced a thin “Mission Statement” and is promising a consultation document in a few months