Friends of the Ochils Newsletter 16: Summer 2000

The vision thing: where next for the Ochils?

Alistair Lawson, Friends of the Ochils chairman:

FotO members will recall the Ochils seminar at Alloa town hall on 18 November last year, staged in conjunction with our AGM. The committee was delighted with the turnout from a wide range of community groups, wildlife and recreational groups, national bodies and local bodies, small organisations and large.

Our guest speaker, Duncan Menteith of the Pentland Park Authority, set out the key considerations with a finely balanced presentation in which he told of what is being done in the Pentlands while guiding our thoughts to what might be done in the Ochils.

It was encouraging to hear all those who spoke from the floor declare themselves to be broadly supportive of what we are trying to create, namely a "pan-Ochils" body which will look after the interests of the hills in a more effective way than can a small, voluntary body such as FotO. There were some who sounded a note of caution and suggested that we needed to sharpen up our precise objectives - a point which we hear and note.

Since November, the committee has been considering how to translate this goodwill and support into further action, and our principle initiative has been to place our objectives before the East Area Board of Scottish Natural Heritage. As this newsletter was being prepared, an answer was received from Ian Jardine, Director of Strategy and Operations for SNH's east area. The following sections of what Jardine writes hold out great hope.

• He refers to our vision paper for the long term protection of the Ochils and comments that it: "...contains objectives that SNH fully supports and is working to achieve, particularly in relation to the protection of designated areas, the overall enhancement of biodiversity and better provision for access."
• He mentions other areas where: "...additional outputs have been achieved through the employment of a Project Officer." Further: "...in the longer term, resources willing, there could be an opportunity for SNH to contribute towards the employment of a Project Officer on a partnership basis."
• Alongside these positive comments, Jardine lays down a challenge: "The rationale ... would have to be developed to show the additional outputs that would accrue."

This implies that we need to continue to put our minds to arguing, in the most persuasive terms, what demonstrable benefits would follow the creation of an over-arching Ochils Council or Ochils Forum. This challenge represents the next task for your committee. Needless to say, we welcome visionary and incisive thinking from members - so write now!

Late news

FOLLOWING November's Ochils Seminar, further negotiations led to a 16 May meeting between FotO, SNH's director of strategy and operations for the east of Scotland, Ian Jardine, and his area officer for Clackmannanshire, Mike Shepherd. FotO was represented by Alistair Lawson and Patrick Stirling-Aird.

SNH expressed themselves broadly supportive of many of FotO's objectives, but were unable to promise commitment of staff time in the foreseeable future. However, a number of suggestions were discussed, primarily an approach to the Heritage Lottery Fund for support for a temporary project officer, whose task would be to identify and lay the groundwork for Ochils-related projects such that SNH could take them forward to implementation. It was suggested that the Southern Uplands Initiative would be a good model on which to base further development of our aspirations.

The onus is very much on FotO to identify projects, or areas of activity, which would have - in SNH's words - "additional outputs". This would mean moving away from our watchdog role and coming up with projects with more tangible and visible results. To keep the process moving, Mike Shepherd undertook to attend the next FotO committee meeting.

Newsletter 16 Index