Summer Holiday News from APRS

Summer News!

Dear <<First Name>>

Another packed APRS news for our members and supporters. In this newsletter we welcome Laura to the team and say a very sad goodbye to Nina after 13 years.

Following our disappointment after the cancellation of the National Park in Galloway we have an update on our ongoing campaigning on National Parks in the Scottish Parliament with the current Natural Environment Bill.

And we have good news on a couple of campaign wins!

We have a bonus extra webinar in our biodiversity and planning series with Planning Democracy. We hope you can join us!

There's also news on our manifesto for the Holyrood 2026 Elections, and our volunteer-led research project on energy, particularly battery storage. You can also read obituaries of valued members David Maisels and Margaret Hunter, and past APRS Chair Robin Salvesen.

If you enjoy our e-bulletin and find it useful please do consider joining APRS or making a donation - we have three part-time members of staff and so even small amounts of money make a big difference to us!

Join us or make a donation

Have a great summer and we will be in touch again in the Autumn.

From Kat, Laura and Nikki

Nina pictured with Barry Snedden who she would cycle into the office with, rain or shine.

Farewell to Nina .....
We were sad to say good bye to Nina Sobecka when she retired at the end of June. Nina had been with APRS for 13 years and will be missed by us in the office, as well as all the APRS members she has met, helped and chatted with on the phone in those long years. Nina is still helping us with the oral history project, interviewing some of our long-standing members and ex-staff and Board members so we haven't heard the last from Nina!

...and welcome to Laura and the new Trustees
We are delighted to welcome Laura MacLeod who joins us to take over from Nina. She brings a wealth of experience from being Operations Manager of another small charity. She works Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. In addition we welcome Graeme Purves and Suzie Saunders as Trustees.

Find out More

Bonus Webinar

Join Planning Democracy and ourselves for a webinar exploring how Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) can do far more than manage rainwater and prevent flooding. Andrada Opris, from Edinburgh Napier University, will share findings from her study which could help shape housing developments near you.

Europark campaign win
North Lanarkshire Council has voted to refuse an application for nearly 1000 houses, business premises and associated infrastructure in the Green Belt between Calderbank and Coatbridge. This followed the planning department’s report which gave a resounding recommendation to refuse the application. APRS have been supporting local campaigners on the various iterations of this application for the past 9 years.

Still working hard on National Parks

Since the cancellation of the process to designate a new National Park in Galloway we have been busy taking the opportunity of the Natural Environment Bill to try to improve the process of designation, as well as to make existing National Parks more effective.

Energy project
We have started a project investigating energy policy and projects in planning in Battery Storage due to a huge increase in applications on Green Belts and other areas. This is being carried out by two volunteers, Katie Woodward, and Cameron Luck.

Read About the Project

https://aprs.scot/support-aprs/legacies/

The final count is in

We raised a grand total of £17,696 during the Big Give appeal. Thank you so so much to all who donated, we received £7974 in donations which was matched by The Big Give, plus gift aid of £1976.

We are also HUGELY grateful for legacies received recently from David Maisels and Margaret Hunter which enabled us to extend Nikki's contract and have the confidence to recruit to replace Nina

Read about David and Margaret

Phone Masts Campaign Win
APRS were part of a coalition led by Mountaineering Scotland and JMT to challenge applications for hundreds of phone masts in remote mountain areas which did not serve businesses or communities. The plans have been scaled back by 80% which is a major win for the group of NGOs and communities campaigning on this.

Robin Salvesen
We were saddened to hear of the death of Robin Salvesen who was Chair of APRS from 1994-2000 and whose life was defined by a love for Scotland’s countryside and a tireless commitment to public service.

Obituary

New Guidance-

ERCS has published new Guidance on Planning Enforcement intended to help members of the public challenge breaches of planning controls.

They also have a new Guide on how lobbying is regulated in Scotland

Latest Green Belts Alliance Newsletter
Nikki writes a very informative newsletter for those involved in Green Belt Campaigning. To read the latest one click below. You can sign up to receive Nikki's updates on the link in the newsletter

https://aprs.scot/resources/green-belt-alliance-newsletter/

New and updated Landscape Charter

APRS is a member of The Scottish Landscape Alliance and at the end of June, they published Scotland’s Landscape Charter, a document endorsed by the Scottish Government, to stand as a vision of how Scotland’s communities, land managers and public bodies can contribute to enhancing Scotland’s landscapes.

Read the Charter

Other News

Energy Transmission

On 1 July, Ofgem provisionally approved a £8.9bn investment in new transmission infrastructure with half of that in Scotland. We have responded to the consultation asking for under-grounding in areas of landscape value, community benefit and consideration of alternatives such as more local production of energy. Read our consultation response

Manifestos

We are starting the campaign to incorporate APRS priorities into the manifestos for the Holyrood Elections 2026. This includes Land Use Planning, guidance on permitting Battery Storage, measures to reduce litter and promote the circular economy, and an equal right of appeal for communities. More news in the next newsletter!

Consultation on Community Right to Buy

The Scottish Government is consulting on Community Rights to Buy to understand how these rights can best be improved to facilitate community ownership. You can take part here.

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