Valuing land

Published on 12/12/2012 00:00

Fergus Ewing (Platform, 11 December) refers, in the context of energy, to Scotland’s “precious” resources. One resource of inestimable value with which the Scottish Government is alarmingly careless is the tourism industry. Last month, the John Muir Trust released the results of a YouGov poll which revealed that 43 per cent of people in Britain who visit scenic areas in the UK for their natural heritage and beauty would be “less likely to visit a scenic area with a large concentration of wind farms”.

The major contribution of tourism to the Scottish economy is under serious threat from the Scottish Government’s enthusiastic support for the relentless industrialisation of our wild land.

Visits I made this year to rural areas left me with the strong impression that our neighbours place a higher value on their landscapes than we do on ours.

John Milne

Ardgowan Drive

Uddingston