A HIGHLAND MSP has called for a change in planning laws so that young local couples wanting to live in the region ‘might be more important than slow worms, badgers and trees’.
Highlighting a recent study which estimated the Highlands lacked 18,000 young people in the 15-30-year-old bracket, Kate Forbes MSP said the lack of reform to draconian policies could result in a generation being lost and further depopulation.
Kate Forbes MSP said: ‘Some view the Highlands and Islands as a place where artefacts take precedence over people. We have a moral, economic and social prerogative to protect our ˚ ora and fauna, but there’s one endangered species that is greatly at risk - people.’