CAMPAIGNERS are urging a last minute rethink on plans to scrap the Forestry Commission in Scotland.
New legislation will see forestry become a government department if it gets the go-ahead tomorrow.
But critics have raised concerns about being “pulled too close into the Scottish Government” – as well as key expertise being lost.
Iain Laidlaw, from the Forestry Commission Trade Unions, said the industry feared being “dragged from pillar to post depending on the latest whim of the latest minister”.
He told the BBC: "Ministers last maybe a couple of years if they are lucky. Forestry is a much longer-term business than that."
The Forestry Commission currently operates as a non-ministerial government department responsible for forestry in England and Scotland.
Efforts to merge it into the Scottish Government have been criticised by MSPs, while civil servants have been accused of handling the changes “very badly indeed”.
Responding to suggestions of bullying, Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said: "I have met with all the people that wish to meet with me and we have had discussions.
“There has been none of that and that would be completely inappropriate."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here