Launching our 2026 Manifesto

May 2026 will see the Scottish General Election and we have been bringing together our own Manifesto for the election. Our key asks are in the area of planning, outdoor access, land-use planning, rural housing and circular economy.

Now our Manifestos document is complete we will be working to try and see parts of it incorporated into political party manifestos. We expect Manifestos to be at an advanced stage by the Party Conferences of the Autumn. You can read our full manifesto below. There is also a pdf version on our Resources page if you would like to print it.

APRS Manifesto

APRS campaign to protect, enhance and promote Scotland’s countryside and rural landscapes for everyone’s benefit, and we support others to do the same. These are our Manifesto asks for the 2026 Scottish General Election.

Land use planning

Give communities more of a voice in how land is used, deliver public interest benefits and create more sustainable patterns of land use by introducing a planned and integrated approach to land use and development at the national, regional and local levels.

Background:  

Scotland’s rural land faces growing pressure from competing demands—agriculture, energy, climate action, nature recovery, recreation, and housing. While policy recognises the need for land to deliver multiple benefits, there is little progress in aligning these on the ground. A strategic, spatial approach is urgently needed to guide land use decisions, reflect local strengths, and balance public and private interests.

The Land Use Strategy (now in its 3rd iteration) has helped outline a vision for multifunctional landscapes, but it lacks influence on policy and practical tools to deliver change regionally and locally. What’s now needed is a distinct land use planning system — it should be closely integrated with, but also radically different from, the current town and country planning system. 

This new system should provide guidance and a spatial plan, with community input and backed up by provision of support and advice, to achieve the desired outcomes. A stronger, clearer framework integrating the Land Use Strategy across all relevant policies is vital in tackling climate risks, supporting rural communities, and ensuring a sustainable future for Scotland’s land.

Scotland’s Planning System

A planning system that continues to strongly protect landscapes, natural heritage and deliver public interest outcomes.

• Deliver a planning system that better serves the public interest by giving communities an Equal Right of Appeal, ensuring fairness, transparency, and meaningful public involvement in decision-making.
• Set a clear national policy on battery storage, including under what circumstances they are suitable for Green Belts, and taking into account cumulative impact, and evidence of need.
• Provide sufficient resources to ensure that Local Development Plans are delivered with effective public engagement and that important new facets of the planning system like Local Place Plans and nature networks are delivered equitably and effectively across the country, and brownfield sites are used in preference for new development.

Background

Equal Right of Appeal

Scotland remains in breach of Article 9 of the Aarhus Convention, which requires fair, accessible, and affordable legal routes for the public to challenge environmental decisions. The lack of an Equal Right of Appeal in the planning system leaves communities unable to meaningfully contest harmful developments, with Judicial Review the only route for communities and environmental groups to challenge planning decisions. This is prohibitively expensive and high-risk, making it inaccessible to most and, as a result, it is difficult for the public to hold authorities to account, even in cases where environmental harm or legal breaches are clear.

Green Belts and Battery Storage:

Scotland may already be oversupplied with battery storage, with 23.9GW in the planning system as of April 2025 — four times more than projected needs by 2030 [1]. Many sites are on greenfield or Green Belt land, effectively giving permanent land use change. Clustering near substations is causing cumulative harm to rural communities. We call for changes to NPF4 to reflect these impacts and protect green spaces, biodiversity and prime agricultural land.

Local Development Plans and Better Planning:

Having up-to-date Local Development Plans (LDPs) with effective local community input should help to create better places, speed up planning decisions and introduce positive steps towards climate resilience, nature recovery and community wealth building. Progress is slow due to under-resourced planning departments. Local Place Plans (LPPs), and nature networks all need better support and integration into LDPs. National policy and funding must ensure LDPs, LPPs and Nature Networks deliver for people and nature across Scotland.   

[1] According to NESO (the National Energy System Operator), modelling, 5.9 to 6.4GW of battery storage could be required in Scotland by 2030, and between 6.4 and 7.6GW by 2045. Source: Future Energy Scenarios (2024)

Circular Economy

Ensure that Scotland’s shift to a circular economy brings swift benefits in reduction of waste and litter, and the associated costs for clean-up, danger to people and wildlife, and wasted resources.

• Deliver Scotland’s deposit return scheme on schedule by October 2027
• Deliver the disposable coffee cup charge and a roll out of a universal returnable cup scheme, which could be a demonstration for future reusable packaging mandates
• A proportion of the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) fees on producers to be litter payments to support education and to fund local authority, community group and NGO-led disposal of litter.
• Develop a comprehensive EPR Scheme. We believe that in the long term this could apply to all products, but some key items to start with would be textiles, toys, and some other of the most commonly dumped and hard to recycle products. 

Background

Ensuring Scotland’s economy works on circularity principles: eliminating waste and pollution, circulating products and materials (waste becomes a resource), and regenerating nature, will bring efficiencies for business, drive innovation and increase the long-term sustainability of Scotland’s economy. Some of the most immediate wins from the circular economy can be had in terms of reducing the impact of waste and litter in our communities.  

Deposit Return Scheme

Scotland is on track to deliver the deposit return scheme in October 2027, at the same time as it will be delivered in England. It is vital that this is not derailed again.

Extended Producer Responsibility

(EPR) is a proven approach to ensure companies take responsibility for the end-of-life impacts of their products, shifting costs to polluters and encouraging product redesign and more efficient collection procedures. At present there is an EPR on packaging but we believe that this should be extended to other products.  We are calling for some of the most commonly used items that are currently hard to recycle to be included, particularly toys and textiles. 

Litter payments

This is a commitment for a proportion of the money raised from the EPR on packaging to deal with the impacts of litter – the payments would go to local authority, community and NGO efforts on dealing with litter and education.

Some useful information is in this DEFRA document and in this report on litter and the packaging EPR from Keep Scotland Beautiful

Disposable coffee cup charge:

A charge on disposable hot drinks cups has been consulted on but not yet brought forward for legislation. Hot beverage cups are one of the most commonly littered items and a charge would encourage the use of reusable cups. However the most effective policy would be to mandate standard returnable cups that can be returned in any outlet for the deposit – this is already working in Bristol in a scheme that has been extended to Bath, and a pilot in Highland along the route of the North Coast 500, and in several other locations highlighted in this report.

Protected Areas and National Parks

Develop a new approach for the designation and operation of National Parks and landscapes of national, regional and local importance, helping realise the benefits of our landscapes for Scotland’s people, biodiversity and climate resilience.

Background:

Scotland’s landscapes are central to national identity and pride, with surveys showing that the majority of people feel they make the country special and foster a strong sense of belonging. They are also a key driver of tourism — 74% of visitors cite scenery and landscape as their main reason for coming, highlighting the need to protect and celebrate our natural environment.

Scotland’s areas of importance for landscape include National Parks, National Scenic Areas (NSAs), Regional Parks, Local Landscape Areas and Country Parks. These areas offer accessibility to Scotland’s landscapes and countryside and span highly valued local landscapes to those of international value and recognition.

There is much opportunity for Scotland and its people to benefit more from our landscapes. There can be a focus, both on improving access to quality landscapes for people for recreation and wellbeing – wherever they live, and in investing in our most spectacular and iconic landscapes, while managing our protected landscapes more effectively to deliver protection and nature recovery at scale. 

Access to the Scottish Countryside

Ensure local access to the countryside through accurate, joined-up and easily accessible maps of the core path network, with local authorities providing up to date and accurate data, presented on one map for ease of use, with the data openly available and easily accessible for all.

Background

It has been 20 years since the Land Reform Act created a duty on local authorities to create a network of core paths. Since then 21,000 kilometers of core paths have been designated after extensive consultation with communities and agreements with land managers and owners. The core paths are, at present, poorly marked on maps, or not marked at all and very poorly promoted. The failure of Ordnance Survey to include them on their maps, despite early commitments, has left Scotland uniquely disadvantaged compared to other parts of the UK. 

In an era where people increasingly rely on digital mapping and mobile apps for navigation, there is a simple solution to give clear, accessible information to the public to enable them to make use of the core path network. We propose a national initiative to standardise and centralise core paths data, ensuring every Local Authority submits up-to-date, high-quality information in a consistent format. This data should be hosted in a single public platform and made freely available to mapping and navigation apps widely used by walkers, cyclists, and outdoor enthusiasts. By improving visibility and access to these routes, we can unlock the full potential of Scotland’s core path network — encouraging greater outdoor activity, promoting local tourism, and supporting public health and wellbeing across the country.

Affordable Housing and the Rural Economy

Turn around depopulation in rural areas and facilitate the provision of more affordable housing in rural areas by improving the way land is delivered for housing, taking a public interest approach

• supporting community-led initiatives and promoting a public-interest approach to development.  
• creating new opportunities for woodland crofts and homes with workspaces on the national forest estate.
• taking opportunities for land reform to free up land for rural housing

Background 

Scotland’s housing crisis is particularly acute in rural areas, where the current speculative, private-sector-led development model typically fails to deliver. The Scottish Land Commission’s 2021 Land for Housing report called for a public-sector-led, public interest approach to land development to meet housing needs more effectively across the country. In another report this year, they recommend creating a long-term pipeline of land by using public bodies’ powers to buy, hold, and release land for development. They also call for a review of public landholdings to identify sites suitable for housing and for better guidance to ensure land is made available at viable prices.

Community-led housing and housing associations are vital to rural delivery. Public landowners like Forestry and Land Scotland would also play a major role. Proposals by Reforesting Scotland to create 3,000 woodland crofts on the national forest estate show how land reform and housing policy can work together to regenerate rural areas  and reverse depopulation in line with wider social and environmental goals.