YOUR MONEY
‘Broadband and wi-fi dissolve the barriers of geography, enabling people to work wherever they want’
over 2011. These include the Cononish gold mine by Tyndrum and the Ben Arthur resort by Arrochar, with jobs for 300. The resort comprises a £70 million five-star hotel complex, to be run by the Wyndham Group. Other applications in progress include the former Highland Way Hotel site at Balmaha for a restaurant and hotel, and further restaurant development by Tom Lewis at Mhor 84 near Strathyre. Thousands of small businesses are also
making a contribution in the park, from the Sula soft furnishings firm built up by Catriona MacGeoch next door to Mhor 84, to the bijou Riverside Garden Centre at Tullybannocher near Comrie, run by Jonathan MacDonald. A further reason for hope is the evidence of
a surge in business start-ups. The total number of businesses in Scotland hit a record 343,000 in the year to end March. Of this total, 341,000 or 99 per cent comprise small and medium- sized businesses (SMEs). These now employ 1.1 million people in Scotland. The biggest element of growth – 73 per cent of the increase in the year to March – was in the ranks of sole traders and unregistered businesses. It is the longer-term potential of this trend
that may spring the biggest surprise for rural Scotland. Conventional measures of GDP are failing to capture the changing nature and composition of our business base. The dynamic of the economy emerging from recession is different to that which entered it. Between 2008 and 2011 e-commerce busi-
ness grew by 44 per cent. The weekly average spent online is now more than £570 million. Almost 11 per cent of all UK retail sales are made over the internet. Online-supported
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trade in the hotel and food services sectors, while starting from a low base relative to other sectors, has more than doubled since 2008 with online-supported turnover now estimated at £6 billion. This reflects the way in which dramatic
advances in electronic communications and information technology has opened the doors of opportunity for young entrepreneurs. E- commerce shrinks geography. It is now possible for a micro business such as Rothesay-based Bonnie Bling to build a nascent export-driven business serving the Scottish diaspora overseas over the internet. A 2012 survey of e-commerce in Scotland
by business research firm SQW for Scottish Enterprise estimated that 200,000 direct jobs and £9.7 billion of gross value added are associated with Scotland’s £31 billion a year of e-commerce sales (of which about £8 billion are over websites). The relevance for rural Scotland is that
broadband and wi-fi dissolve the barriers of location and geography. They enable people to work wherever they want, in beautiful surroundings and with the minimum of environmental damage and intrusion. Instead of cities as the place to work and rural
Scotland as the place for leisure, the countryside may actually emerge as the preferred location for work, and cities as the destination points for leisure. But for that to happen we need to see urgent and extensive improvement to mobile and broadband connectivity, cluster premises for micro businesses – and a sharp improvement in the culture of tourist service to build visitor volume.
Q: Are landowners automatically liable for the unlawful killing of birds on their land?
A: The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 introduces the concept of vicarious liability for certain offences, including the killing of wild birds. The Act is not specifically directed at landowners but applies to anyone who has a ‘legal right to kill or take a wild bird on land or any person who manages or controls the exercise of that right’. Landowners will generally fall into one of those categories. The effect of the legislation is such that where an employee or agent of a landowner
is found guilty of an offence under the Act, the landowner or manager is also potentially guilty of that offence and liable to criminal prosecution. It is therefore important to ensure that contracts with employees and agents outline the responsibilities of the parties and give clear warnings not to breach the terms of the Act. Ongoing monitoring and training procedures for employees and agents also reduce the prospect of falling foul of the legislation. While the Act predominantly affects landowners, sporting and agricultural tenants,
Lynn Richmond, Senior Solicitor, Turcan Connell
www.turcanconnell.com YOURSF
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factors and agents may also be affected if they manage or control the operation or activity of killing or taking wild birds; the habitat of such birds; the presence on or over that land of predators of such birds; or the release of birds from captivity for the purpose of being killed. However, it is a defence to any prosecution to show that the landowner did not know that the offence was being committed and that all reasonable steps were taken and all due diligence exercised to prevent the offence being committed.
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