Getting the best from our land, consultation on a draft Land Use Strategy for Scotland 2016 - 2021

Craig An Turic House
Balquhidder
Lochearnhead
Perthshire
Scotland

The objectives and principles remain fit for purpose.

The vision should however emphasise 'the value and importance our land resources' for all, not just the chosen few, a vision that should be echoed within the land reform proposals.

The Landscape Institute Scotland would appreciate a greater emphasis and importance being placed on...

'e) Landscape change should be managed positively and sympathetically,
considering the implications of change at a scale appropriate to the landscape in
question, given that all Scotland's landscapes are important to our sense of identity and to our individual and social well being.'

...as this principle underpins many, if not all, of the other principles outlined within the Land Use Strategy.

An ecosystems approach should allow for a harmonious balance of benefits to the existing ecosystems and biodiversity of Scotland's landscapes, while delivering economic prosperity and security for future generations.

This long-term management approach to Scotland's landscapes could see greater diversity in our flora and fauna and a landscape scale rewilding of some of our most iconic, valuable and treasured landscapes, resulting in potentially substantial economic benefits.

A national level strategic approach to the delivery of policy commitments set out in the National Planning Framework to ensure compatibility with the vision, objectives and principles of the Land Use Strategy.

The Scottish Government commitment to ambitious renewable energy generation targets (equivalent of 100% of electricity generation capacity needs by 2020) is an example of one such potential conflict with its land use strategy. Given the continuing pressure for a proportion of this capacity to come from further onshore wind development, it is suggested that policy pressures for developments which require substantial areas of land for their deployment, and therefore may conflict with the vision,objectives and principles of the land use strategy, should be subject to a more strategic planned approach, to ensure a harmonious balance in maintained between site specific land use pressures and national policy objectives.

Relevance, compatibility and consistency of the land use strategy with planning policy, and decision making is crucial. Development planning could benefit substantially from a more landscape scale and holistic strategy driven by land use, and utlilisation of natural resources for the greater good of all.

More detailed consideration of historical and cultural influences on landscapes, land use, and consequentially landscape change and could deliver added benefits in parallel with an ecosystems approach, especially in addressing substantial and important challenges like climate change adaptation and flood alleviation.

The 2006 Scottish Forestry Strategy was broadly fit for purpose at the time of publication, however we now face different challenges, or more importantly in some instances, similar challenges but on a bigger scale or with greater frequency (i.e. extreme weather events with often catastrophic local and regional consequences).

The role of woodland, forestry and trees in sustainable flood management measures is mentioned within the existing forestry strategy, however the Landscape Institute Scotland feel this should be given far greater importance and priority within any new Forestry Strategy for Scotland. The recent flooding events across Scotland in late 2015/early 2016, were in part due to the poor management of land (the same poor management practices were also true of areas in northern England), and one contributing factor to this was the insistence of land owners to maintain many of our upland areas as tree less environments.

An overarching policy statement that deals with ownership, use and management of land, could add weight and help deliver the vision, objectives and principles of the land use strategy if the two are aligned sufficiently to be compatible and ensure fairness for land owners, land users and the wider public who stand to benefit from better management of Scotland's land and natural resources.

Ecosystem services often involve complex relationships between landscapes, the natural environment, biodiversity and people, and therefore access to accurate and up to date data about how these interactions may affect policy, development planning, land use and land management is very important.

A Geographic Information System (GIS), if developed and maintained appropriately, could become an integral part of recording, monitoring and assessing land use and management change, at a time when these changes are occurring at an ever increasing pace and rate.

This should be sufficiently flexible to respond to new, returning and changing ecosystems services which may apply to Scotland's broad range of landscapes.

The mapping tool should be accurate and up to date, accessible, functional and easy to use in order to be useful.

Land use partnerships should be led by regional or local scale stakeholder partnership groups consisting of organisations and communities who have a local; interest, understanding, commitment, responsibility and reliance on the land within which the land use strategy is to be developed. They should however also be informed by national bodies such as SNH, SEPA etc. in order to advise on the development of a land use strategy which is consistent with the overall national vision, objectives and principles of the land use strategy.

Nothing in addition to the previous answer.

The policy should draw on the existing work of landscape partnerships in different areas of Scotland and the UK, as a means of delivery some of the objectives and principles of the land use strategy at a local and regional level/scale.

A forward thinking and open mind to new land management techniques and land uses to achieve ever more important functions in response to challenges like flood management, control of plant disease and improving biodiversity.

The land use strategy framework should be developed as a long-term vision which is reviewed and monitored throughout and beyond the same timescale for the delivery of local development plans and national planning policy.

Facilitating and maintaining dialogue between interested parties is crucial, and many of the principles and objectives of the land use strategy will be unattainable without constructive negotiations and ongoing communications.

The need for mediation in some cases, albeit a somewhat undesirable situation if it were to occur, may well be necessary in situations where logger heads are reached and an outside third party may be best placed to seek and agree an appropriate and satisfactory outcome in the interests of all parties.

A reduction in the extent of intensive grazing practices with sheep and deer and to a lesser extent cattle will allow the vegetation in our upland environments to reestablish and in turn increase its ability to capture and store carbon dioxide.

A shift from high intensity, high density, mass production farming methods, to more sustainable, local scale production methods may have a substantial impact on the current negative contribution of farming and agriculture to climate change.

Landscapes across Scotland are subject to very different land use and land management pressures, and the implementation of any agri-environment scheme should be subject to locally focused ecosystems assessments.

A targeted approach would allow the highest priority ecosystems to receive the focus of restoration and enhancement efforts when they are most needed, and before, as it may be in some cases, it is too late to be effective or successful.

With an increasing swell of support and interest in permaculture and local produce there is an increasing demand for people to have access to land in an urban context to support simple life supporting functions such as food production (e.g. allotments, rearing hens etc.), therefore an urban land use pilot would be welcomed.

This may also offer an excellent opportunity to highlight potential future use for derelict brownfield land, of all scales, to support ecosystem services in an urban context.

A strategic vision for the uplands of Scotland should be a key objective of the land use strategy, and one which, as is acknowledged, will present incredibly difficult to deliver in agreement with all stakeholders who are concerned with the areas.

Nevertheless, the vision should seek to be ambitious in its objectives as the uplands present probably the biggest opportunity to make an important response to the effects of climate change. There is a fairly widespread consensus that current land use and land management practices in the uplands are unsustainable and cannot continue, and therefore there has never been a better time to have the debate about land use in the uplands, and a strategic vision for the future which benefits all.

Monitoring of regional and/or local land use strategy partnerships should continue to influence and improve the land use strategy throughout its implementation (2016 - 2021) and beyond.

Understanding how landscape change has occurred to shape the existing landscapes of Scotland, and how we can learn from past landscape change must first be clearly understood (including the historical and cultural influences) in order to ensure land use and land management of the future delivers positive landscape change in response to some of the challenges we now face (i.e. climate change, flood management, pressures on food production).

'e) Landscape change should be managed positively and sympathetically,
considering the implications of change at a scale appropriate to the landscape in
question, given that all Scotland's landscapes are important to our sense of identity
and to our individual and social well being.'

A greater emphasis on the importance of landscape throughout the land use strategy, as an important resource for everyone in Scotland.

Landscapes are an important part of our past, and play an important part in our lives today, and future generations.

We note there is no reference throughout the land use strategy to Wild Land, Wildness or Re-Wilding.

The omission of reference to Wild Land is somewhat surprising given the current policy pressures and uncertainty in respect of the recently defined 42 Wild Land Areas across Scotland, and the Landscape Institute Scotland would welcome further information and clarity on how the land use strategy will be delivered within the existing policy framework which controls development planning.

Nothing to add.

The increasing pressure for further deployment of renewable energy generation technologies, specifically onshore wind farms, in order to meet the Scottish Governments ambitious GHG emissions targets is only briefly highlighted in the Environmental Report baseline (4.2.11). The Landscape Institute Scotland would like to highlight there support for a review as to how a strategic approach may be advantageous when considering further new onshore wind deployment (wind farms located on new sites), or the inevitable second phase of onshore wind farm deployment through a process of decommissioning and re-powering, which will require consideration of different issues, especially in relation to landscape and visual effects associated with likely much larger proposed wind turbines.

It is noted that no mention is made of onshore wind farm re-powering, which is likely to occur within the timescale of the new land use strategy (2016-2021) and is indeed starting to occur in some areas of Scotland, where onshore wind farms were first deployed (i.e. Tangy Wind Farm, the Kintyre Peninsula in Argyll). SPP 2014 provides a clear steer on the continued use of existing wind farm sites 'in perpetuity' and it is felt that the likely continuation of large areas of Scotland for renewable energy generation should be highlighted within the Environmental Report and Land Use Strategy as a key land use and land management consideration (i.e. its compatibility alongside an updated Scottish Forestry Strategy will be a key consideration), which will stretch well beyond 2021.

The Landscape Institute Scotland generally agrees with the assessment of environmental effects set out in Appendix 3 of the environmental report, however it is noted that there is potential for conflict between the land use strategy and the ambitious GHG emissions targets set out in Scottish Government policy in terms of how the two may align while ensure positive enhancement of Scotland's landscapes.

It is noted that reference is made to the National Scenic Areas (limited reference to National Parks in a similar context) in Appendix 3 - Group 1 in terms of their legislative protection as designated features, however we would highlight the European Landscape Convention (ELC), the Council of Europe initiative which highlights the importance of 'all landscapes' and encourages more attention to their care and planning. The UK signed up to the convention in 2006, and it now provides a framework for many organisations work to protect and enhance Scotland's landscapes. It is likely that in some instances, there may be potential for negative or adverse environmental effects in terms of landscape and visual amenity through the delivery of the land use strategy objectives and the wider planning policy objectives (as set out by NPF3 and SPP).

The Landscape Institute Scotland welcome the implementation of mitigation and enhancement which can bring about added consequential benefits for landscape and visual amenity, benefits which could be further enhanced by a more holistic strategy for land use and land management which an ecosystems approach advocates and which forms a key principle of the emerging land use strategy.

Nothing to add.