Response to Scottish Government’s NPF4 Position Statement

A case for retaining Wild Land Areas in NPF4 as part of a spatial expression of Scotland’s natural capital and rural community assets.

The Scottish Government is preparing Scotland’s fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4). This is a long-term plan that directs where development and infrastructure is needed to support sustainable and inclusive growth in Scotland. NPF4 will incorporate policies that will guide Planning Authorities in deciding whether to approve new development in their Planning Authority Area or not.

Our response focuses on how Wild Land Areas can contribute to National Planning Outcomes and be incorporated into NPF4 as national and community assets, areas of land that can support nature recovery and sequester carbon through upland restoration, and which can also form part of a spatial framework for determining and directing where new large-scale commercial development, particularly commercial renewable energy development, can be appropriately sited.

We structured our response by providing summary responses to two of the consultation questions that we considered most relevant to the future protection of wild places with a full response to the Position Statement as an Annex.

You can find our response below.