AS director of the Central Scotland Countryside Trust, Donald Young's concern was to get land out of agriculture into forestry and fulfil the Government's desire of establishing a forest amid the degraded land between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
''It was very difficult,'' he recalled. ''Farmers really had to have a hole in their heads to want to plant large areas of woodland - there were so many big agricultural grants available to them.
''In Scottish terms, the land is poor; heavy wet clays, badly drained and exposed,'' he said. ''In landscape terms, this gives the appearance of bleakness and dereliction to surrounding settlements and mining areas. Where there are trees the outlook is transformed.
''One of the main problems is the very large amounts of money involved when land turns from agriculture into development. I believe that a way should be found for a proportion of that money to go, first, to improve the environment and, second, to enable farmers to retire and allow them to get retirement relief.''
He added: ''We talked to West Lothian District Council about this and they were very interested in the prospect of up-market housing for incoming business executives. Eventually, they came up with a new planning policy called Lowland Crofting. This allows development in the countryside which provides substantial environmental benefits in return for croft houses, including a few big 'croft' houses.
''I was still with the trust at this time but no-one seemed to be responding. It was then I decided to become a 'green developer,' and I set up my own company, New Lives New Landscapes, based in Falkirk. The whole philosophy is the mixing of economic development and environmental improvement.''
Four crofting developments have now been undertaken, involving more than 1000 acres of land and 50 crofts, with 320 acres afforested. ''One thing a crofting development does,'' said Mr Young, ''is to put a Section 50 over a big area and as a result the planners are happy that there will be no more development in that area.''
The procedure for lowland crofting begins with New Lives New Landscapes seeking farmers are interested in selling their land. They offer the farmer agricultural value for the land, plus a share of the development profit when the scheme comes on stream. When this is agreed the planners are approached.
''For example, for a 200-acre project,'' said Mr Young, ''we will offer to afforest 30% of the area, with commercial plantings, amenity and community woodland and a network of footpaths. In return we would like 15 crofts.
''There is, of course, much discussion and argument.''
The size of a croft varies from two-and-a-half acres - most are of this size - to a few at 10 acres. Part of the deal with the planners is that New Lives New Landscapes prepares a design brief which details the type of houses which can be built - with size, shape and proportions - to fit comfortably into the environment.
It takes between two and three years work before a crofting development is brought on to the market, and then six months to a year before the client moves in. It is not insisted that a business has to be involved but this is encouraged, and 2000 sq ft of outbuildings are permitted. About half the crofts are businesses. These must be compatible with the environment, and have no more than six employees.
When New Lives New Landscapes buys a farm the crofts are sold off. This will involve about a quarter of the whole area. They continue to own and manage the remainder. The two-and-a-half acre crofts are usually divided into one acre of garden and one-and-a-half acres of woodland.
Mr Young, qualified in ecology with honours in forestry, said: ''We have full benefit of all the woodland grant schemes, and the farm woodland premium scheme, for taking land out of agriculture.
''One of the difficulties in terms of making the books balance is than any land we are putting into forestry drops from #1000 an acre to #300 or #400 an acre. This is partly offset through the premium scheme.
''For our commercial plantings we are using a high proportion of red alder. It is ideal for our soils, and has a fast-growth rate. It roots down into the clays, unlike spruce which blow down.''
The Crofters Commission in Inverness has shown little interest, but as Donald Young said: ''That is almost a natural reaction if you are a real crofter. At first sight our crofting is not crofting in the traditional way, but in some ways it is, because if you think of crofting as people living on the land, getting some money from the land, but with outer income as well, then that is what we are doing here.''
Finally the costs. For a fully-serviced two-and-a-half acre croft site - water, sewage, electricity, telephone and roads - #42,500. For a 10-acre site - #50,000.
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