Concern at outdoor activities cuts

At a time when the value of the great outdoors to physical and mental health is being more widely appreciated, there are fears that council budget cuts will impact on the nation’s health – and its NHS costs.

In recent weeks The Highland Council Ranger Service has been told to prepare for staffing cuts. And in a letter to Mountaineering Scotland this week, Highland Council has indicated that cuts in access staff are possible.

At the other end of the country, campaigners are fighting to save Falkirk Outdoors, a community trust which has learned it is likely to be closed following Falkirk Council’s budget meeting this month.

Both the ranger service and Falkirk Outdoors work with thousands of children and adults, and access officers provide an already overstretched service in trying to protect the access rights which give people in Scotland the much cherished right to roam.

David Gibson, Chief Executive Officer with Mountaineering Scotland, said: “These are just three examples where extremely valuable services are at risk because of budget cuts.

“We appreciate councils have to operate within financial constraints, and that difficult choices must be made, but we wonder how many more council-provided or funded services are at risk right now, being dismantled with no overview of what we are losing. These services have introduced thousands of children to the outdoors over the years – that fine tradition and its infrastructure is under serious threat.

“These services encourage and enable people to experience positive, life-changing opportunities. We’re constantly told of the importance of getting off the sofa, and the benefits to physical and mental health which come from outdoor pursuits are well-attested. A forward-looking, joined-up policy should be looking to expand such services rather than reduce them.

“The cost of cuts to these services will result in additional pressure on the National Health Service and other social services from an increasingly unhealthy population.

“We appeal to both councils and the Scottish Government to take a long hard look at this issue, to avoid cuts in the short-term and develop a coherent and forward-looking policy which protects and promotes such essential services as these.”