ASSOCIATION FOR THE PRESERVATION OF RURAL SCOTLAND (A.P.R.S.) 

OFFICE-BEARERS 

Office: 44 QUEEN STREET, EDINBURGH 2 Telephone: 30317 

ANNUAL REPORT, 1944 

THE Council have pleasure in submitting the Annual Report of the Association, together with a Statement of Finances for the year ended 31st December 1943. 

Cordial thanks are again due to the Office-bearers of the Association for their personal services during the course of the past year. 

The Council record with deep regret the death of Mr Kenneth Spence, who had been an active member of the Association for many years before his election to the Council in 1942. 

The affiliation of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society is welcomed. 

The Council have met regularly each month (August and September excepted). By courtesy of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland the monthly meetings of the Council have been held as for some years past at 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh, and they desire to express again their cordial thanks to the Royal Incorporation for this facility. 

The Press has to be warmly thanked for its interest in the objects and work of the Association.

Owing to restrictions on the use of paper the Report this year is necessarily very brief. 

HYDRO-ELECTRIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE HIGHLANDS

The Government’s Hydro-Electric Development (Scotland) Bill was the main subject of consideration by the Council during the first seven months of 1943. The action taken by the Council with a view to securing amendments of the Bill was outlined in our last Annual Report up to the month of May, when the Bill had passed the Committee Stage in the House of Commons. In June a letter, embodying a resolution adopted by the Annual General Meeting of the Association on 26th May, was sent to the Scottish Representative Peers. The letter urged that the Amenity Committee and the Fisheries Committee to be set up under the Act should have all facilities for acting during the Development Scheme stage and that the Board should be bound to consult them at this stage; and that the Development Scheme should be submitted to Parliament. The letter further stressed the claims of small consumers. It also pressed that the Amenity Committee should have power to schedule areas of outstanding scenic beauty within which no chemical, metallurgical or other industries which would impair such scenic beauty should be established, and that no hydraulic or other works for the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity should be constructed except in connection with hydro-electric schemes not exceeding 200 kilowatts capacity in any one of these areas. 

The Council were closely in touch with Scottish and other Peers while the Bill was before the House of Lords, and they gratefully acknowledge the strong support which was given to the views which they had put forward. 

The Bill received the Royal Assent on 5th August. The outstanding amendments of the original Bill which the Act makes are that the Development Scheme is limited to showing, so far as practicable, the water-power resources which the Board propose to examine with a view to their possible use for the purpose of generating electricity; and that the Board must consult the Amenity Committee and the Fisheries Committee not only while preparing a Constructional Scheme but also before preparing such a scheme. 

The North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board and the Amenity Committee and the Fisheries Committee have now been constituted. The Board advertised its Development Scheme, which had been confirmed by the Secretary of State for Scotland, at the end of March 1944. The scheme includes 102 projects, and it is anticipated that the first Constructional Schemes will be announced at an early date. The Council will watch closely all developments under the Act, which makes provision for objections being made to the Secretary of State with regard to any Constructional Scheme and for inquiry to be held; and every order by the Secretary of State confirming a Constructional Scheme must be laid before Parliament and may be annulled if Parliament so resolves within forty days of this being done. 

It should be added that in November the Council sent letters to the Secretary of State for Scotland, the Chairman of the Board and the Chairman of the Amenity Committee, stating that they had been considering the Act especially with regard to areas which, because of their outstanding beauty or other considerations, should be safeguarded from large-scale operations under the Act, and that they were strongly of opinion that the following areas should be so safeguarded: (1) Glen Affric, (2) Glen Garry, (3) Loch Maree and Gruinard Bay area, (4) Leny area. The letter also urged that no power station of more than 500 kilowatts capacity should be erected in any one of these areas. 

NATIONAL PARKS

The Scottish Council for National Parks, which, it will be remembered, was formed on the initiative of the Council of the A.P.R.S., completed the second year of its activities in April 1944. The year was marked by several notable developments in the movement for the establishment of National Parks. Representatives of the Scottish Council were asked to meet the Secretary of State for Scotland on 13th December 1943, when it was announced that a survey, by a departmental officer, of sites suitable for National Parks was in contemplation and that it was proposed to set up a small advisory Committee to act in collaboration with that officer. Two members of the Council were asked by the Secretary of State, and agreed, to act on that Committee. The composition of this Committee was subsequently announced as being Sir Douglas Ramsay (Chairman), Mr Peter Thomsen, Mr D. G. Moir and Dr Fraser Darling. Towards the end of 1943 the Scottish Council published a leaflet setting out the aims and objects of the National Parks movement. The demand for copies of the leaflet (the price of which is 1d.) has been very considerable. The Scottish Council has now amended its constitution so as to allow the admission as associate members of individuals interested in furthering the aims of the Council on payment of an annual membership subscription of 5s. each. 

In November 1943 the appointment was announced of a Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir John Sutherland, to advise the Forestry Commissioners as to the steps which might be taken to form a National Forest Park on their Glentrool property. Lord Galloway and Lord Keith are members of the Committee. 

The Organising Secretary of the A.P.R.S. is Secretary of the Scottish Council for National Parks. 

HOUSING AND TOWN AND REGIONAL PLANNING

In January 1943 the Council submitted a Memorandum on Rural Housing to the Sub-Committee on Housing Design of the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee, appointed by the Secretary of State for Scotland. The Memorandum dealt with lay-out and design, the great desirability of the use of local materials, the importance of the preservation of the essential qualities of Scots rural architecture, and other matters. In June the Council submitted a Memorandum to the Sub-Committee on the Distribution of Houses of the Scottish Housing Advisory Committee on the distribution of houses to be erected in Scotland in the immediate post-war years. In December the Council appointed a Town and Regional Planning and Housing Committee composed of the architect members of the Council, with power to co-opt. 

GENERAL

The general activities of the Association have been continued whenever possible, and action has been taken in a number of cases concerning the preservation and improvement of amenities. The Council have urged upon the Secretary of State for Scotland that the Planning Bill which will shortly be submitted to Parliament should make provision for local authorities to have adequate powers to regulate outdoor advertisements. The Council have also protested against the proposal for the post-war construction of an electric railway to the summit of Ben Nevis which is under consideration by the Town Council of Fort William. 

BRANCHES

The Council tender their thanks to the Officers and members of the Branches, and would again urge them to do all that they can to maintain the organisation which has been built up. 

Statement of Accounts for the Year to 31st December 1943 

[see PDF document]

We have examined the above Balance Sheet with the Books and Accounts of the Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland, and have obtained all the information and explanations we have required. We report that, in our opinion, such Balance Sheet is properly drawn up so as to exhibit a true and correct view of the state of the Association’s affairs according to the best of our information and the explanations given to us and as shown by the Books of the Association. 

21 RUTLAND STREET, EDINBURGH. 

WHITSON & METHUEN, C.A., Honorary Auditors. 

10th May 1944. 

FINANCES

The ordinary income and the expenditure are much the same as in 1942, but, mainly because the grant from the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust was reduced from £100 to £50, the deficit for 1943 is £90 as compared with £38 for the previous year. The Association has striven to meet all the demands made upon its services during these difficult war years, but the Statement of Accounts shows clearly that further financial support is urgently necessary. The Council would therefore urge all members to make the work and the needs of the Association more widely known and to do all that they can to recruit new members. The experience and the services of the Association will be demanded more than ever in the immediate post-war years. It is therefore essential that the Association should be put on a sound financial basis so that its organisation may not only be maintained but be made increasingly strong and effective. 

The Council record their deep appreciation of the generous assistance given by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust. 

Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland 

ANNUAL MEETING, 1944 

Your presence will be welcome at the Annual Meeting of the Association to be held in the Royal Arch Hall, 75 Queen Street, Edinburgh, on Tuesday, 6th June, at 3 p.m. 

The Annual Report of the Association, including a statement of finances, is printed overleaf. 

The Right Hon. The Earl of Galloway will preside. 

Mr H. A. Rendel Govan, A.R.I.B.A., A.M.T.P.I., will speak on “Planning for Rural Scotland”. 

F. C. MEARS 

Hon. Secretary 

If undelivered return to The Association for the Preservation of Rural Scotland, 44 Queen Street, Edinburgh.