Outcomes

National Parks for Scotland: Scottish Natural Heritage's Advice to Government

Summary

In developing our advice on National Parks, SNH recognised the need to learn from relevant experience from elsewhere, to build on what already exists in the potential National Park areas in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs and the Cairngorms, and to harness the commitment and skills of the many organisations and individuals across Scotland which have the ability to contribute to making National Parks a success. Participation, partnership and flexibility are the essential elements of our approach: participation by all with an interest, both local and national; partnership between the main participants in achieving agreed objectives; and flexibility in structures and powers to allow for different approaches appropriate to meet the needs of different areas. The key points of SNH's advice on National Parks for Scotland are:

to place a purpose of social and economic development alongside those concerning the protection and enhancement of the natural and cultural heritage, and the enjoyment, understanding and sustainable use of natural resources;
to pursue these purposes in ways which seek to be mutually supportive and thereby reduce the conflict between them, but with the balance of interests favouring the long-term protection of the natural resources;
to have the criteria for National Parks enshrined in legislation, with an opportunity for potential National Parks to be identified by local and national interests;
to promote local community involvement in the identification, governance and management of National Parks;
to reconcile different needs through a National Park Plan based on zonal policies, which, inter alia, brings together a tailored agri-environment scheme, forestry framework and deer management plans for the National Park area with relevant planning policies;
to establish a National Park Body to draw up and help implement each National Park Plan, with powers to complement the activities of existing bodies and to play an important role in conservation, recreation management, town and country planning and land management;
to draw the greatest proportion of the membership of the governing board of the National Park Body from local authority appointees and those who live and work in the National Park area, with other interests also represented to provide an essential national perspective as well as specialist skills and knowledge;
to develop a shared responsibility for the preparation and implementation of the National Park Plan by placing statutory duties on Government departments, public bodies and local authorities, and by placing a requirement on the owners and managers of land to prepare whole farm or estate plans on request; and
to develop a National Park system which can extend into Scotland's marine environment, recognising the distinctive approach which is needed for the management of such marine areas.

To deliver this approach, SNH believes that National Parks in Scotland can best operate if seen as a long-term ‘contract’ between national and local interests. This contract is formed by national agreement about priorities and control of funding in exchange for local control of implementation and process. All the elements of this contract must clearly be in place if National Parks are to be successful in Scotland. Such an approach requires a two-stage approach to legislation. At this stage, we propose:

the establishment of National Parks in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs, and in the Cairngorms, each with an independent National Park Body with a majority of local representation, but with powers and structures specifically constituted for each area; and
that the Government gives further consideration to the debate about other areas which might merit National Park status at some point in the future, in consultation with COSLA and SNH.

We consider that locally-developed initiatives may well provide the structure for this process to develop. In the light of experience of Loch Lomond & the Trossachs and the Cairngorms, the Government may also wish to consider a more formal mechanism for developing National Park proposals for one or two other areas, based on the establishment of working groups comprising local and national interests.