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Wild land policy and guidance

Government policy

The Scottish Government's National Planning Framework for Scotland 2 external site recognises the importance of wild land.  Paragraph 99 states:

"Some of Scotland's remoter mountain and coastal areas possess an elemental quality from which many people derive psychological and spiritual benefits. Such areas are very sensitive to any form of development or intrusive human activity and great care should be taken to safeguard their wild land character."

Additionally, Scottish Planning Policy external site  (paragraph 128) states:

"The most sensitive landscapes may have little or no capacity to accept new development. Areas of wild land character in some of Scotland's remoter upland, mountain and coastal areas are very sensitive to any form of development or intrusive human activity and planning authorities should safeguard the character of these areas in the development plan."

Scottish Natural Heritage policy

Scottish Natural Heritage's policy statement Wildness in Scotland's Countryside  PDF document   describes the main pressures leading to loss of wildness, and considers how to identify and care for wild land in Scotland.  Annex 1 of this statement gives a map Search Areas for Wild Land  PDF document    showing where the main areas of wild land in Scotland are likely to be found.  This aims to help local authorities identify wild land, which they can then include in their development plans.

More recent work to map wildness across the whole of Scotland, that will eventually replace these search areas, can be viewed on our Mapping Scotland's wildness web page. 

Other wild land links

Assessing the impacts on wildland: interim guidance note  PDF document  sets out general principles for assessing the potential adverse and beneficial impacts on areas where wildness is best expressed (wild land), including an assessment methodology.  This is an evolving area of work and this is therefore interim guidance to be reviewed in April 2010.

A review of the benefits and opportunities attributed to Scotland's landscapes of wild character  PDF document .

Remote Areas in Scotland - distance from public roads  PDF document   (From Wildness in Scotland's Countryside policy above, dated 2002; 665kb)

Remote Areas in Scotland - distance from public and private roads  PDF document    (From Wildness in Scotland's Countryside policy above, dated 2002; 511kb)