SLE warns vague powers in Nature Bill risk damaging deer management
The organisation issued the warning as the Rural Affairs and Islands (RAI) Committee prepares for a second day of scrutinising amendments.
SLE says proposed powers allowing ministers to intervene in deer management for the purposes of 'nature restoration' are too vague to be workable, reasonable or proportionate. Scotland’s private deer sector currently delivers around 80% of the annual cull.
In its Stage 1 report, the RAI Committee itself highlighted sector concerns about the lack of detail in the intervention powers and urged government not to erode the trust built up in recent years. SLE says that erosion will be 'inevitable' unless the Bill is improved.
Director of moorland and strategic projects at SLE, Ross Ewing, said collaborative, evidence-led deer management had made 'real progress', and warned that unclear, punitive powers risk destabilising arrangements that are functioning well.
“MSPs from across the parties have already expressed concern about the lack of detail in these proposals,” he said.
“If parliament gets this wrong, it will damage confidence, undermine trust and deter the very investment in deer management that Scotland needs if we are to promote woodland expansion, natural regeneration and nature restoration in a sustainable way."
SLE welcomed amendments from MSPs including Beatrice Wishart, Tim Eagle and Emma Harper aimed at tightening the intervention powers and improving regulatory clarity.
However, it raised serious safety concerns over a separate amendment that would significantly expand the rights of occupiers and grazing committees to shoot deer to prevent damage. As drafted, SLE says the measure could allow multiple people to legally shoot on the same ground at the same time, without knowing of each other’s presence.
The organisation instead backs an alternative proposal from Tim Eagle MSP, which would require NatureScot authorisation and prior notification by occupiers before any cull takes place.
“The amendment expanding the rights of occupiers and grazing committees to kill deer is a recipe for disaster,” Ewing warned.
“Allowing multiple people to exercise shooting rights over the same ground at the same time, without any obligation to notify others, is simply not safe.”
He said the alternative approach recognises that communication and coordination are essential to maintaining stalking safety.
SLE also welcomed several enabling amendments it believes would strengthen deer management, including:
A lowland deer management plan (Rhoda Grant MSP)
New local authority obligations on deer management (Rachael Hamilton MSP)
A training fund for essential deer management qualifications (Tim Eagle MSP)
Financial incentives for deer management (Tim Eagle MSP)
Ewing said parliament had a 'real opportunity' to shift from a punitive approach to one that empowers those carrying out the work on the ground.
“If the Scottish Government is serious about nature restoration, these are exactly the kind of enabling measures it should be getting behind,” he said.
“We urge MSPs on the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee to improve the Natural Environment Bill at Stage 2. That means rejecting unsafe and unworkable measures, tightening up vague intervention powers and backing constructive amendments which support the people who are out managing deer, day in and day out.”
