SCOTTISH tourism and jobs are being put at risk by the latest SNP money- making wheeze. The Scottish Government is consulting on plans to lease out vast tracts of our nationally-owned commercial forests.
The plans have been buried deep in the Scottish Government's Climate Change Bill, currently being scrutinised by MSPs in the Scottish Parliament. Ministers propose to offer leases to any private company for up to 75 years. The SNP, with the active ba
cking of the Tories, is essentially looking to privatise large swathes of Scotland.
Leading environmental group Friends of the Earth, has raised concerns that this proposal blithely assumes that private companies can make Scotland's forests more profitable than the Forestry Commission. There is also a concern that any potential lessees may not be bound UK Woodland Assurance Standards.
It is also being suggested that these companies would be eligible for Scottish Rural Development Programme grants, currently not available to the Forestry Commission. This would reduce the already limited money available for environmental land management elsewhere, and would amount to direct state subsidy for private profit.
Scotland's forests are important national assets. They are not just areas of natural beauty, but hubs for rural and tourist enterprise. The Forestry Commission will have timber supply contracts with many local industries based around the woodland. There would be no guarantee that a private investor would continue these contracts.
The Environment Minister claims that this proposal is part of the Scottish Government's package of measures to tackle climate change. Yet, privatising the forests could jeopardise the timber contract for one of Scotland's largest biomass centres, the E.ON generator in Lockerbie. SNP claims about their support for alternative green energy are fundamentally undermined by this attempt to seriously disrupt the supply chain for biomass.
The forests also provide a base for many leisure and tourism attractions. Perhaps most notable has been the rise of Forestry Commission based and maintained mountain bike trails and centres.
The trail centres are used by walkers, visitors and bikers alike. Scotland has already hosted a series of world and national championships at forestry based mountain bike trails. The Dalbeattie 7stanestrack in the south of Scotland has been selected to host the World Mountain Biking Conference on sustainability in May next year.
This is the first time that this event has been held outside Canada. It is estimated that more than 400 delegates worldwide will attend, bringing more than £1.3 million to the local economy. What chance will this industry have to expand if the forests go into private hands?
The Government has been very cagey about who it will allow to lease our forests. We need real details about any potential bidders. Rumours are flying around about wealthy Russian oligarchs and conglomerations snapping up this offer. Given that these plans are set to have a real impact on communities and individuals across Scotland, we need to know who the Government is prepared to sell out to.
Tory support for the SNP proposal is not surprising given their far from illustrious track record in selling the family silver. However, as the Tories have found to everyone's cost, this strategy is not always in the long term interests of the country. SNP Ministers must learn from history and drop this plan before it's too late.
• Jim Hume MSP is the Liberal Democrats' environmental spokesman.
The full article contains 571 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
