Sheriff Michael Fletcher has ruled in favour of landowner Mrs Anne Gloag in the first court decision under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. Mrs Gloag brought the case under section 28 of the 2003 Act claiming exclusion from access rights of all the land within security fences surrounding her property at Kinfauns Castle. The case was defended by Perth & Kinross Council and the Ramblers\’ Association who said that woodland areas on the perimeter should be within access rights.

Sheriff Fletcher made his decision (12th June 2007) on the basis of his interpretation of the amount of land to be excluded from access rights under section 6 of the 2003 Act for the privacy and enjoyment of people living in the house. He said that the large size of the house and its prominence would point to a larger rather than smaller area of ground being required to be sufficient for the purposes of section 6 of the Act.

A full summary of the decision will be placed on the web site shortly.