The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill would give NatureScot increased powers to impose deer management plans, control agreements, and rarely-used control schemes, in circumstances where land is deemed to be failing to support nature restoration objectives.

However, Scottish Land & Estates has told Holyrood’s rural affairs and islands committee that the bill as it currently stands could create major uncertainty for rural land managers and businesses.

SLE says that there is no indication from ministers as to how impacts from other herbivores – such as feral goats or sheep – will be managed under the new framework, nor how the success of nature restoration projects, which often have multiple outcomes, will be meaningfully assessed.

Ross Ewing, director of moorland at Scottish Land & Estates, said: “We are fully supportive of responsible and sustainable deer management – it plays a vital role in the health of our natural environment.

“However, the Scottish government’s proposals introduce a completely new basis for regulatory intervention without providing any meaningful guidance or clarity on how it will be applied in practice.”

He continued: “The term ‘nature restoration’ is not defined with sufficient precision in the legislation. This makes it impossible for land managers to anticipate when or how they might become subject to invasive statutory measures.

“That is deeply problematic for both legal certainty and long-term planning in rural Scotland.”

Under current proposals, Scottish ministers intend to discharge much of the responsibility for defining the application of these new powers to NatureScot, who would set out circumstances in a code of practice.

SLE believes this approach is unfit for purpose and is calling for greater legal certainty over when and why such powers can be triggered.

Mr Ewing continued: “It is imperative that landowners and managers are able to foresee the circumstances in which they may be subject to these measures. That clarity should be included on the face of the bill – not left to post-legislative guidance or interpretation.

“The draft legislation allows NatureScot to merely ‘have regard to’ the code of practice, not actually comply with it. That’s not good enough when we are talking about powers that can have huge economic and operational consequences for land-based businesses.

“NatureScot must be required to comply with the code when exercising statutory powers, and the work on that code must begin now so that Parliament has a chance to scrutinise it before the bill reaches stage three.”

SLE has also questioned the accuracy of assumptions set out in the financial memorandum attached to the bill, which estimates a 300 per cent increase in the use of control agreements and up to two control schemes annually.

The rural business organisation said that any planned increase in the use of control schemes – which have only been used once so far – should include measures to de-escalate where land changes ownership.

SLE also added that it was vital that the business and regulatory impact assessment (BRIA) to accompany the bill was published soon.

Mr Ewing concluded: “The financial memorandum attached to the bill suggests a dramatic increase in enforcement activity - but without any clarity on how or when the powers will be used. How such estimates can be made in the absence of a defined ground for intervention is, frankly, baffling.

“At present, without the BRIA in place, neither MSPs nor stakeholders have a clear understanding of what government believes the impact of these proposals will be on rural businesses.

“That information is not optional – it is essential if we are to properly assess the principles of the bill and its real-world implications.”