CONSERVATION projects in Scotland could be put at risk by a planned overhaul of the use of a £1.6 billion pot of government cash, it has been warned.
A row has flared up between the farming lobby and conservationists about the way the Scottish Government distributes its funding for rural development.
Currently under the seven-year scheme, called the Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP),
about £70 million is set aside that must be applied for on a competitive basis.
Projects ranging from new forest planting to community wind farms and repairing village halls can be awarded money from this fund, known as Rural Development Contracts – Rural Priorities.
However, a review into the SRDP is being carried out, and NFU Scotland has called for more of this cash to be given to farmers, without them having to compete for the money. They say this could help struggling livestock farmers survive the economic downturn.
Mandy Gloyer, head of land use policy at RSPB Scotland, said that money is crucial for funding conservation programmes in Scotland.
"If funding is taken away (from Rural Priorities] it will leave our objectives in serious trouble. I think it would be incredibly serious. If that competitive fund was starved of funds we would be incredibly worried about the effects on key species. It's already the worst funded programme (for conservation] per hectare in the whole of the EU."
Norman Macaskill, head of rural policy at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, said he would also be "very concerned" by any move to shift funding.
"We would very much say that shifting money away from community-based funding towards increasing agricultural support would be entirely against the philosophy of the SRDP."
However, Jim McLaren, president of NFUS, said: "We believe that moving more of the funds into a non-competitive… scheme will best serve rural Scotland and provide a much-needed economic boost."
A spokeswoman for NFUS added that supporting the farming sector must be a priority.
"Ultimately things like village halls won't be of any use if there's no rural community there to use them," she said. "All the evidence shows that farming really does provide the economic and social infrastructure of so many rural areas and we have to make sure this is kept in place."
The results of the review into the SRDP are expected to be made public in the next few weeks.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said he recognised the value of both direct funding for farmers, and the Rural Priorities money as being "vital funding pots for rural Scotland".
