COMMENT Summertime, and
membership to news of alleged illegal poisonings of three golden eagles in Sutherland.
Douglas McAdam Chief Executive
place down in Westminster. We wait to see how this will impact Scotland both in terms of non-devolved issues and also in terms of the timetable and detail of the implementation of the Calman Commission recommendations. Our Conference and AGM on 11 May at
J
Perth Racecourse enjoyed a large turnout of members to hear an excellent array of speakers on the future of the CAP, with Scottish, UK and European perspectives given on each area – if you missed it, you can find full details on page 7. This was followed by a splendid lunch with wines generously supplied by our new wine partner Irvine Roberston Wines (IRW) whom many of you will know. IRW will be providing the wines for all our Member Receptions at the shows over the summer and will be providing special offers and exclusive vintages to our members. For every purchase by members, IRW will share a percentage of the revenue with your Association – what an enjoyable way to support your Association. I urge you to see what they have to offer on page 8 and give them a try. The AGM then followed lunch, where our Chairman Luke Borwick outlined a vision and an opportunity for the future – one your Association is working towards. This was then followed by the formal business and a short report by myself on the priorities for the year ahead. Towards the end of May, there was an unprecedented reaction from within our
une is upon us and some warmer weather seems to be returning. There is a new coalition government now in
From local committee level outwards, e-mails went flying between landowners across Scotland and it was clear that an unambiguous and forthright statement was needed direct from individual landowners on the ground that illegal poisoning was not to be tolerated and had to be actively condemned and stamped out. A letter was sent to the Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, from more than 200 individual landowners stating clearly our collective position – many more wished to sign up and names are still coming in to be added to the list. More details of this initiative can be found on page 19.
Housing remains firmly on our agenda and members will find information on page 23 on the recently launched Scottish Government discussion paper on housing – “Fresh Thinking, New Ideas”. As members will be aware, the SRPBA has lobbied extensively to increase the opportunities for rural landowners to deliver affordable housing, and was delighted with the pilot Rural Homes for Rent grant. This is only a starting point and we would urge members to get involved in this discussion through comments on the website forum, attendance at events and responding to the consultation to ensure that the Scottish Government gets the message loud and clear that our sector can deliver cost-effective, quality affordable housing throughout rural Scotland.
In similar territory, many of our local authorities have published their main issues reports (Local Development Plans) and it is critical that members are engaged in this process as the policies will set the framework for rural development in each planning authority area.
It is also looking like a busy summer LANDBUSINESS ISSUE 36 JUNE-JULY 2010
the living is busy… A raft of legislation, lobbying, initiatives and shows over the coming weeks will ensure your Association is working hard to raise the profile of rural businesses
on the legislative front. The Crofting Bill is passing through Holyrood at the moment and much work is being done by your Crofting Group led by Dr Jean Balfour. On 9 June, the Wildlife & Natural Environment Bill will be introduced to Parliament and we will finally see the detail of the Bill.
A huge amount of work has gone into this Bill by the Association in an attempt to ensure that potential unintended consequences are mitigated as best they can be. We very much welcome the decision by Ministers not to bring forward in the Bill mandatory competence testing for deer stalkers at this time, instead looking to the sector to ensure increased uptake of voluntary competence. It is now up to us, in conjunction with our sector colleagues, to deliver on this. We greatly appreciate that our well-reasoned arguments have been heard. We are also pleased to see that pheasant and red leg partridges will be specifically exempted from the “No-Release” presumption for Non-Native Species. This, and the result on mandatory competence testing, were as a result of a great team effort by our sector and just shows how effective joint working is. But once the Bill is introduced, there will be a great deal of work to be done preparing evidence to Government during the passage of the Bill through its stages. More details on the Bill can be found on page 15.
As we enter summer, the season of shows around Scotland looms large and I am looking forward to meeting all our members in the various corners of Scotland. We will be at all the usual haunts and I urge you all to come and visit us.
Summer recess also looms for the
Scottish Parliament, but that does not mean a respite for your headquarters and regional staff – ongoing consultations and bills will keep us busy, not to mention the usual curved balls from left-field! LB
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