Tail docking in Scotland
The procedure must be undertaken by a veterinary surgeon on pups aged five days or less.
Get information on the legal shooting season for mammals and birds in the UK.
Learn about our current conservation projects and how you can get involved.
Comprehensive information and advice from our specialist firearms team.
Everything you need to know about shotgun, rifle and airgun ammunition.
Find our up-to-date information, advice and links to government resources.
Everything you need to know on firearms law and licensing.
All the latest news and advice on general licences and how they affect you.
Scotland Sporting rates in Scotland
Business rates were reintroduced for sporting rights in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016. Last summer the assessors circulated questionnaires to gather evidence of current rents for sporting rights and this information was used as a basis for the first phase of some 10,700 valuations issued in October. There are two further phases to come and it is thought that the total number of assessments could exceed 50,000 if all landholdings are included. The resultant valuations contain many apparent anomalies, some of which are potentially devastating for those businesses concerned, and the high values attributed to forestry land, much of which is not capable of being used for deer stalking, are a particular issue. In short, the reintroduction of sporting rates appears to be in serious disarray and a more refined approach which takes account of actual circumstances is clearly required.
Our advice to members who feel their valuation is incorrect is to appeal within the six-month time limit. Payment of current valuations is required by law but can eventually be recovered in whole or in part in the event of a successful appeal.
Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) has been at the forefront of lobbying on sporting rates. Most recently, Scottish Government has issued local authorities with non-statutory guidance on the application of non-domestic rates reliefs and in particular applying Unoccupied Property Relief to sporting rates. This will benefit many who do not qualify for relief through the Small Business Bonus. The wording in the guidance is as follows:
A shooting right is entered on the roll but no commercial shooting/stalking takes place and the occupier applies for relief.
SLE has also issued a briefing note to local authorities to provide background and justification for applying the relief as widely as possible.
The procedure must be undertaken by a veterinary surgeon on pups aged five days or less.
To own a low-powered airgun in Scotland you now have to be licensed, much the same as if you wanted to own a shotgun or a firearm.
Vicarious liability occurs where a person can be held liable for the actions of another person.
Sign up to our weekly newsletter and get all the latest updates straight to your inbox.
© 2023 British Association for Shooting and Conservation. Registered Office: Marford Mill, Rossett, Wrexham, LL12 0HL – Registered Society No: 28488R. BASC is a trading name of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation Limited which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) under firm reference number 311937.
If you have any questions or complaints about your BASC membership insurance cover, please email us. More information about resolving complaints can be found on the FCA website or on the EU ODR platform.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
More information about our Cookie Policy