Collaborating around land use issues
22nd May 2026 was a big day for the NW2045 Regional Land Use Partnership team: after months of planning (and one postponement due to inclement weather) we finally held our first in-person RLUP Gathering.
The purpose of the Gathering was several-fold:
- Bringing together a wide range of perspectives about land issues in our area.
- Introducing the NW2045 RLUP work so far for those who are new to it.
- Sharing findings of recent ‘Land+ Snapshot’ research: exploring land-related issues across the whole NW2045 area.
- Identifying ways to overcome challenges and make the most of opportunities identified by the Land+ Snapshot work.
- Exploring how we can support collaboration across the area to achieve positive change for people and land.
Forty people gathered in the Elphin Tearooms for a day of animated discussion, creating new links, committing to taking action, and sharing cake.
We were delighted that such a diversity of participants, representing wide interests and perspectives, enthusiastically joined us from across the huge NW2045 area, and beyond:
- Members of the NW2045 collective, including the NW2045 Steering Group, local organisations, and landowners of all sorts: community, eNGO and private.
- Representatives of regional and national bodies with an interest in land issues, including public bodies (ScotGov, NatureScot, Highland Council and Crofting Commission*) and other membership organisations representing diverse views, including Community Land Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates.
Bringing together such a diversity of interests and voices is fundamental to the role of the RLUP: to better understand the issues in this area and to find common ground on which to move forward together.
Solution and action focused discussion
Group discussions centred around the five main themes that emerged from the Land+ Snapshot work, with a focus on finding solutions.
- Opportunities for young people
- Land management
- Crofting and access to land
- Housing
- Renewable energy and infrastructure
Cutting across all these themes is the fundamental question: How can the NW2045 communities be empowered to collaborate with each other and with external agencies to create change?
The afternoon concluded with every participant making a commitment – written on the ever-present post-it notes for extra gravitas! – to take forward a specific action, preferably in collaboration with someone else at the Gathering.
Commitment to collaborate
Examples include commitments from Woodland Trust / Assynt Foundation (South Assynt Project), NatureScot, Tanera and Coigach Community Development Company to explore shared venison larder facilities; from Reay Forest Estate, Tanera and South Assynt Project to support land-based sector training with Lochview Rural Training, and from the Crofting Commission and Scottish Land & Estates to find ways to collaborate more closely.
These commitments have given the RLUP Team a great starting point to maintain the enthusiasm and momentum that was evident throughout the day. Going forward, it is likely that informal, light-touch working groups on the specific themes will be useful to support these collaborations, as well as periodic online get-togethers and an annual in-person Gathering.
Our thanks to Helen and Virginie of the Elphin Tearooms for looking after us so well, and to all the participants for their time, roadmiles, and energy.
It was fantastic to take this important next step: to see our Land Use Partnership in action, and we are genuinely excited to see where we go from here.
(*Representatives from Scottish Land Commission were sadly unable to attend due to illness)
