The Scottish Government yesterday pledged a review of right-to-roam legislation as concerns grow over whether it is working for walkers.
The Scottish Government yesterday pledged a review of right-to-roam legislation as concerns grow over whether it is working for walkers.
The promise from Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, came as a sheriff said he planned to "draw a line on a map" to settle a dispute between ramblers and a millionaire businessman about access to his land in west Stirlingshire.
Mr Lochhead met Ramblers' Association Scotland director Dave Morris and president, former Labour MP and independent MSP Dennis Canavan, at Loch Leven Larder in Fife, described as a good example of how a farm shop and cafe can be set up along path networks allowing integration of farmers and countryside users.
Mr Canavan said: "We hope to get the message across to the minister about the importance of access to the countryside.
"I firmly believe that the Land Reform Scotland Act of 2003 was one of the most radical and progressive pieces of legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament. It is now being challenged by some landowners so I think it is very important the Scottish Government takes appropriate action and if necessary closes any loopholes which may appear in the legislation (from) court decisions."
He said changes could be made to the law without the lengthy process of setting up another separate law.
"In the legislation it states that ministers may modify or clarify the legislation by means of statutory instrument without having to go through the whole legislative process of having to introduce another bill to parliament," Mr Canavan added.
His call came as waste disposal magnate Euan Snowie and his wife, Claire, who turned to the law in May in a bid to get 40 acres of their luxury Boquhan Estate exempted from the act, was in court again yesterday.
Stirling Council and the Ramblers' Association want any exclusion zone restricted to the immediate garden grounds of the Snowies' house.
After visiting the estate in person and hearing four days of evidence, Sheriff Andrew Cubie adjourned the case for legal submissions. But he said he was not bound by a decision by Perth sheriff Michael Fletcher.
He ruled in June in favour of bus tycoon Ann Gloag granting her the right to keep the public out of 10 acres of her grounds at Kinfauns Castle near Perth.
Mr Morris said yesterday: "We may need some slight adjustment to the legislation, but fundamentally the legislation is working very well.
"The real challenge to the new Scottish Government is to put in place the path networks we need and we also need to see local authorities being given increased powers to do this."
Mr Lochhead said: "We recognise that it is three years since the Land Reform legislation went through parliament.
"A review will be undertaken by the Scottish Government in 2008, however, it will not be based on one court case but on the general thrust of its success or otherwise since 2003."
