Countryside agency ridiculed for taking a taxi to go green

The agency guarding Scotland’s countryside has been criticised for creating an eco-friendly conference centre that isn’t on public transport routes.

Instead, Scottish Natural Heritage will spend £12,000 a year ferrying delegates and guests to the rural complex by taxi.

Battleby Conference Centre is set in woodland and wildflower meadows in a sprawling country estate, four miles outside Perth.

The Scottish Conservatives said the shuttle service contract was “not in keeping with SNH’s supposed environmental credentials”.

Andy Llanwarne, co-ordinator of Friends of the Earth Tayside, said the conference facility was difficult to reach using public transport and suggested if SNH must use taxis they should be “electric or hybrid vehicles”. The conference centre is accessible by bike using National Route 77 from Perth and the SNH website boasts that the site has cycle parking.

SNH chief executive Francesca Osowska recently used her official social media account to promote a Cycling Scotland campaign aimed at encouraging people to get on their bikes.

Sustainable transport charity Sustrans, which oversees the National Cycle Network, said the four-mile route between Perth and Battleby was “pleasant and doable”.

But SNH has advertised for a taxi company which will “provide a prompt and efficient taxi service, mainly operating between Battleby and various locations within Perth”.

The firm that wins the five-year contract will be paid up to £60,000 to transport SNH staff and conference-goers to and from Perth.

The SNH website states: “Our green credentials will support your organisation’s greening targets and corporate social responsibilities.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives said: “A taxpayer-funded taxi contract worth tens of thousands doesn’t appear to be in keeping with these supposed environmental credentials.”

SNH said: “Many of our staff and visitors use the train service to get to Perth as well as cycle, walk or take the bus to the Battleby office.”