Countryside Jobs Service

Care for the Countryside has been developed after key, persistent difficulties were identified by those who live and work in rural areas. The awareness campaign around responsible dog ownership focuses on dog mess and livestock worrying, a trouble for farmers despite the efforts of agencies and Police Scotland to warn the public of the dangers that can occur. Flytipping has also been selected, with many farmers and landowners experiencing this blight on our landscape. With urban fringe areas particularly susceptible to unscrupulous acts of rubbish dumping, this is a problem Scottish Land & Estates members have faced more and more regularly and in serious cases, it can lead to a scenario where a rural business finds itself liable for a bill of thousands of pounds to clean up land that has been flytipped. Responsible mountain biking is the third area of the Care for the Countryside initiative. Mountain biking has enjoyed a boom in popularity but whilst the vast majority of riders who access rural land do so responsibly, there are increasing examples of where problems have occurred, with unauthorised trail building presenting a particular danger.