Describing Scotland’s Wild Land Areas

Wild Land Areas across Scotland were identified in 2014 to support Scottish Planning Policy. They are the most extensive areas where high wildness can be found and include remote mountains and moorland, isolated sections of coast and uninhabited islands.

Based on extensive field study and illustrated with photographs and maps, the descriptions capture the special qualities of Scotland’s wilder landscapes in an easy-to-read format.

SNH is also inviting comments on draft guidance it has produced to help development interests and decision-makers when they are assessing potential impacts on Wild Land Areas.

Peter Hutchinson, SNH’s Planning & Renewables Manager, said: “Our Wild Land Areas have a distinct and special character. They are part of Scotland's identity and bring broad and significant benefits. For example, they attract many thousands of visitors each year and provide important havens for Scotland's wildlife.”

The proposed guidance will help enable consistent assessment of the potential effect of any new development on the qualities of Wild Land Areas. It is technical guidance which complements established approaches to assessing the landscape and visual impacts of development. The Wild Land Descriptions provide a helpful reference against which changes to the Areas’ qualities can be assessed.

Peter said: “Assessing potential impacts on Wild Land Areas is a key stage of the development process. We hope that the descriptions of the Wild Land Areas and the associated guidance will support the planning and consenting processes and help to achieve the right developments in the right places.”

For the Wild Land Area Descriptions and to take part in the consultation on draft guidance visit www.SNH.gov.uk The consultation runs until 7th April 2017.

Ends

Notes for Editors

1) The Scottish Government's third National Planning Framework recognises wild land as a nationally-important asset" requiring strong protection. It states “We also want to continue our strong protection for our wildest landscapes – wild land is a nationally important asset.”

2) Scottish Planning Policy sets out how this should be achieved, by identifying and safeguarding the character of Wild Land Areas in Development Plans and in Spatial Frameworks for onshore wind farms, and considering the effect of development on these areas.

Wild Land Areas are included in Group 2: Areas of significant protection of Spatial Frameworks. It states “Recognising the need for significant protection, in these areas wind farms may be appropriate in some circumstances. Further consideration will be required to demonstrate that any significant effects on the qualities of these areas can be substantially overcome by siting, design or other mitigation”.

3) The 42 Wild Land Areas extend from Shetland (Ronas Hill) in the north to Merrick (in Dumfries and Galloway) in the south. They cover 1.5 million hectares. The largest is the Cairngorms (157,000 hectares), the smallest is in Shetland.

4) The consultation on the guidance can be found on SNH’s website: Assessing impacts on Wild Land Areas – technical guidance. It has been prepared with input from a range of landscape and planning professionals. It replaces existing guidance ‘Assessing the impacts on wild land - interim guidance note’ published in 2007.

5) The descriptions were prepared by independent consultants for SNH - Caroline Stanton and Buchan Landscape Architecture. They provide a baseline against which change affecting the qualities of Wild Land Areas can be assessed.