New call to ‘Care for the Countryside’

While many of the thousands of people taking to the countryside are well versed in their rights, fewer are as aware of their responsibilities, it was claimed at the Highland Show yesterday – and a major campaign has been launched to redress the balance.

Focusing on what has been identified as some of the major issues of public access to farms, landowners and other rural businesses, the Care for the Countryside initiative is supported by a range of organisations including Scottish Natural Heritage, Police Scotland, Zero Waste Scotland, Developing Mountain Biking in Scotland and the Scottish Government.

The campaign will initially concentrate on responsible dog ownership, tackling flytipping and responsible mountain-biking, and a collection of publicity materials giving details on problems such as sheep worrying by dogs which has been a growing problem in rural areas in recent years.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, who launched the campaign, said it was designed to increase the public’s awareness of the persistent issues – many of which were often the result of thoughtlessness rather than malice,

“We hope by promoting respectful access to our countryside that visitors and residents can help us to reduce the number of problems we see in these areas each year,” he said.

“We want to encourage more people to not only visit our rural land and water but also to value it and recognise where problems can occur if we fail to cherish it.”

Giving her backing to the campaign, Scottish environment secretary, Roseanna Cunningham, said: “Our countryside regions are wonderful areas and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code sets out our rights and responsibilities when we visit.

“This new campaign complements the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, and we hope it will further encourage everyone to play their part in caring for Scotland’s land and water.”