Regional Land Use Partnerships: phase 1 process evaluation - final report

Barriers

Relevant stakeholders not engaged because…

…they have not been reached by existing methods

…they feel their input will not have impact I have seen so many times that something comes out from government and, as far as the locals, crofters and people around that are the land users, on a local level think, ‘Oh, well, it’s all sewn up. It’s all been done.’ […] So, they don’t engage with it.

…they lack confidence to engage with government / decision makers People like that don’t have that platform usually. They are not regular public speakers so they don’t want to stand up in front of Major Scott or, Scottish Woodland Trust or whoever, because they don’t have the scientific backing, but they actually have the experience of living and working every day.

…they feel they have input already (stakeholder fatigue) Our landowners are spread quite thinly in the various meetings that we have because we want them to be so involved. And, of course, we are a planning authority, so we have many consultations from that front as well.

…they are sceptical of impact, lack of funding… It's very difficult to get people to come along to meetings when there might not be any financial gain. And I'm not talking about just physically attending the meetings but it's the dreaded, “What's in it for me?”

…or government conviction There will come a point that they will question it if the political will, ergo the investment that is needed to match our ambition, is seen as a weakening or a weaker point

Enablers

Key pilot innovations and experience

Tenacity is key, renewed engagement There are more hard-to-reach groups that we’ve got to try and bring to the table. […] It’s not just the one approach and, “Well they didn’t respond and therefore they’re not coming,” we’ve got to keep going at it

Treat all stakeholders equitably, even if some have more interest or influence Everybody is, is given the information at the same time […] From day one, the biggest landowner and the smallest landowner, are all treated equitably […] that’s been really important throughout, that everybody has the same say and the same sort of weight.

Communications, control the message It’s about just making sure we’ve got the message right because […] any negativity, it just washes through you, it really does. And it can delay things […] if you’re trying to actually do something and you’ve got this sort of barrage of abuse or nay-sayers coming at you from a perspective of not actually having the full information

Create safe spaces to channel local ideas and needs up the chain to national representatives If somebody has less experience they might be matched up with somebody who perhaps does have a bit more experience. So, all the time, we’re doing that capacity building and trying to make sure we are equipping and supporting people to have that voice and to feel confident in that position and know that their value is absolutely intrinsic to this going forward.

Do engagement in-person Use people. As simple as that. You get much better engagement […] by actually employing local people, young, local people to go out and talk, in the middle of a pandemic to their community, was just gold.

SG / MSPs to provide clarity (see Pilot Process) Our biggest challenge is a degree of cynicism from the elected members in terms of where this is going, particularly the resources entailed er to deliver it in reality on the ground.

There needs to be a solidity or a weight behind the RLUPs to enable us to have the credibility and the conversations we wish to have with the partners at a strategic level.