Campaign to save Coul Links calls on everyone to defend this special place for wildlife and help ensure it remains protected from damaging development

Campaign to save Coul Links calls on everyone to defend this special place for wildlife and help ensure it remains protected from damaging development - Buglife

The future of Coul Links, which includes nationally and internationally important sites for nature, is set to be decided by Ministers following a public inquiry into the planning application that would see the area irreparably damaged to make way for a golf course.
A coalition of conservation organisations is encouraging people to contact politicians at Holyrood to support the call for the refusal of the golf course development.
Coul Links is an amazing, beautiful coastal landscape, home to a complex and diverse mix of plants and animals, some of which are very rare. The protection of Coul Links is vital to Scotland’s efforts to protect nature and the important habitats that species need to thrive.

A coastal landscape featuring a sand dune. — Credit: Coul Links © Buglife

With the future of Coul Links set to be decided by Scottish Ministers, a coalition of conservation organisations is calling on the public to come together and urge politicians to ensure protected sites in Scotland remain protected from damaging developments.

Coul Links is a unique and beautiful, windswept place on the East Sutherland coast. The amazing natural landscape of rolling sand dunes is home to many plants and animals, some of which are very rare. The site is also home to a globally endangered insect, the Fonseca’s Seed Fly (Botanophila fonsecai), and is part of three legally protected nature sites: a nationally important Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), an internationally important Special Protection Area (SPA) for birds, and a Ramsar site which is an internationally important wetland.

Despite the area being designated as important for wildlife and nature, a controversial plan to transform the area into a golf course is again before Scottish Government Ministers. Having refused a very similar proposal in 2020, Ministers at Holyrood are considering the recommendations made by Government officials after a public inquiry. They will now make the decision that will determine the fate of the area.