Call for review into Access Code

Irresponsible dog owners who allow their dogs to worry sheep have caused one of the farmers who helped frame the original Access Code legislation to call for it to be reviewed.

In a letter sent jointly to Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham and Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Fergus Ewing, George Lawrie, Milnathort referred to the ”worrying increase” in sheep being mauled by dogs not under their owners’ control.

As one of the farmers who was involved in drawing up the Scottish Outdoor Access Code which is part of the Land Reform Act, Lawrie recalled that the farming representatives were not happy with much of the content of the Code but were given the assurance that a review would be conducted 18 months after the launch to re-address any problem that are affecting the farming industry. “Twelve years down the line and there has been no such review. It is time, this code was looked at,” he states.

Lawrie stresses in his letter to the politicians that he is still a firm believer in improving access to the countryside but he points out the wording in the Code refers to “responsible” access.

“Responsible access in the countryside gives us an ideal opportunity to present our shop window and allow the public to get a better understanding of how their food is produced and where it comes from.

“This (livestock worrying) issue has come to a head over the last 12 month with a significant increase in the number of livestock worrying cases that have been reported. The last thing a sheep or cattle farmer needs is to find his livelihood has been decimated by the action of a few irresponsible dog owners.”