Written by David Lintott, Restore Nature Ltd
Contact: info@restorenature.co.uk
Crowdfunder: Save Todrig from Sitka spruce plantation
A living landscape under threat
It seems today that our environment is under threat from all sides, which is why what the ERCS is doing is so important. Nature cannot stand up for itself, we must stand up for it. These are not my words but those of James Findlay K.C. in our procedural hearing in the Court of Session. We were being heard to determine whether Restore Nature is permitted to amend its grounds of challenge to Scottish Forestry’s decision not to require an Environmental Impact Assessment for planting Sitka spruce over a vast area of land in Todrig, next to Selkirk and Hawick in the Scottish Borders.
Sometimes it is hard to decide what should be prioritised when everything seems so urgent. This case involves the potential devastation of hundreds of hectares of biodiversity-rich moorland. But should we not succeed, it will also be used as the precedent to cover more than 100 km2 of land in Sitka spruce within a so-called “pilot area” which Todrig is a part of. That’s right – the case could determine the fate of more than 100 km2 of biodiversity-rich land. For the natural world in Scotland few proposals are as far-reaching or potentially damaging.
Todrig lies within the Ettrick Forest – a place of lochans, moorlands, grasslands, and wetlands, teeming with wildlife. Once a royal hunting ground with oak and hazel woods, this ancient landscape still holds rare beauty and biodiversity, but is at risk of being smothered by Sitka spruce.
In 2021, Gresham House Forest Growth and Sustainability Fund LP acquired Todrig farm for £12.2 million. The land was valued at just under £2 million 3 years previously. Investors in this fund include the Scottish National Investment Bank, with £50 million of taxpayers’ money. Their plan is to have a 1,000-acre plantation at Todrig, with 85% of the area planted with commercial conifers, mainly of the ecologically disastrous Sitka spruce. Next door to Todrig is Whitslaid, with a proposal for another 1,700 acres of mostly Sitka spruce.
Together, these schemes would form an industrial monoculture forest of 11 km2, wiping out fragile moorlands and the wildlife that depends on them.
Why we are taking this to the Court of Session, Edinburgh
The government agency Scottish Forestry claims that communities can offer knowledge to inform woodland creation proposals.
But at Todrig, they had already ‘screened out’ the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment in secret, months before the public consultation with Lilliesleaf, Ashkirk and Midlem Community Council even began in March 2025. Furthermore, despite an obligation to do so, Scottish Forestry failed to publish this decision. It only came to light in the local press four months later, when they mentioned it as demonstrating that there was no potential for adverse environmental impacts.
We believe the Scottish Forestry’s decision to ‘screen out’ an Environmental Impact Assessment in December 2024 was unlawful. It dismissed the concerns of charities and brushed aside the voices of local people who live, work and care for this land, but are kept in the dark about key decisions for the benefit of absentee investors. We now know from Butterfly Conservation that the site is home to red-listed species such as the Northern Brown Argus. This was not known to Scottish Forestry at the time of their decision, because they failed to consult with Butterfly Conservation. Representations from NatureScot and the RSPB on the inadequacy of bird surveys were also left out of account.
We hope that if an Environmental Impact Assessment is required, Scottish Forestry will not approve the proposed woodland creation scheme.
A win could help set a new precedent
We lodged a Petition for Judicial Review on 25 April 2025 to challenge Scottish Forestry’s decision. We have been granted permission and a protected expenses order by the Court to fight this challenge.
This case is a good example of how hard it is to challenge such decisions, something emphasised by the ERCS at their 5th birthday celebrations on the 18th September – happy birthday ERCS from all of us at Restore Nature! The costs of this challenge, already high, have been increased by Scottish Forestry’s opposing Restore Nature’s efforts to amend its case in order to respond to new documentation disclosed by Scottish Forestry.
Please donate what you can to fight for proper environmental scrutiny, and share this appeal with others who care about the future of our wild places. Scotland’s nature is not for sale.
This challenge and others, such as the Stobo Hope campaign, could have implications far beyond Todrig and the Scottish Borders. Scottish Forestry routinely fail to require Environmental Impact Assessments (requiring only 4 across 729 applications in 2015-2023). This case is about holding government bodies accountable, and stopping the silent spread of industrial conifer plantations across Scotland’s wildest places.
This blog was written by an ERCS supporter and we welcome writers to share their thoughts and engage in debate on all aspects of environmental rights. The views expressed are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect ERCS’s position. ERCS is not responsible for the accuracy of any information supplied.
