Outcomes

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

Overview of Proposals

A Vision for Scotland’s National Parks

2.1 Throughout the world, there are many types of National Park and other protected areas ranging from wild, remote and uninhabited areas through to more cultural landscapes of special significance because of their long-standing human populations and patterns of land-use. This internationally recognised family of protected areas is promoted by IUCN (the World Conservation Union), and its existing application to Scotland is described more fully in Annex 2.

2.2 In developing these proposals, SNH listened carefully to the views of many individuals and organisations, both locally and nationally, and learned from international experience. On many issues there is considerable consensus. There is also a clear recognition of the opportunities and challenges to find a better way as a nation to care for some of our most special areas in order to sustain and enhance their value, rather than degrade it. Based on the process of dialogue which has been initiated through this review, a common vision for National Parks for Scotland appears to be emerging, which brings together a range of social, economic and environmental objectives which should be delivered through an integrated approach. SNH considers that such a vision should include the following elements:

• National Parks should provide a greater clarity of national purpose for some of Scotland's most special areas. The establishment of National Parks by a Scottish Parliament will signal clearly the national importance of each area for its natural and cultural heritage, and the commitment to its long-term care and enrichment on behalf of the people of Scotland.
• National Parks should secure higher standards of environmental stewardship. They should be places where there is a shared responsibility for overcoming environmental degradation and increasing the value of the natural and cultural heritage, extending from Government through to organisations and individuals whose activities affect the National Park.
• National Parks should engender trust between national and local interests in the delivery of conservation and community objectives. They should be places within which local communities share in decision-making and day-to-day management across the range of social, economic and environmental issues for which the National Park will have a remit.
• National Parks should be pioneers of techniques for achieving sustainable development. Scotland's National Parks should actively seek to develop new approaches to community development and sustainable land management, and to trial innovative approaches to the protection and restoration of biodiversity and landscape character.

Key Elements of Approach Proposed

2.3 Against this background, the key elements of SNH's proposals 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 to reduce the conflict between them, but with the balance of interests favouring the long-term protection of the natural resources for which the National Park was established;
• to have selection criteria for National Parks enshrined in legislation and 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, and 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 for each area to draw up and help implement the 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 Park area, but with other interests also represented to provide an essential l 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 these marine areas.

2.4 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. For the former, this contract provides an effective means of achieving nationally agreed objectives. For the latter, it provides greater control over the achievement of these objectives. It is also a means to secure additional investment in their area. All the elements of this contract must be in place if National Parks are to be successful in Scotland. Such an approach is, however, more easily envisaged in the context of the Scottish Parliament.

Process for Establishing National Parks

2.5 The general process which SNH proposes for establishing National Parks in Scotland includes the following elements:

• the establishment of an open and transparent mechanism for identifying potential areas;
• for each selected area, a thorough process of dialogue and consultation between local and national interests to agree the objectives and the powers required to achieve them;
• for each selected area, specific legislation to establish the powers, structures and area of a National Park;
• the production and national endorsement of a National Park Plan and adjustments to the relevant plans of other public bodies to take into account the National Park plan;
• implementation and periodic review of the National Park Plan.

2.6 It is essential to the acceptability and eventual credibility of a National Park that throughout this process there is consultation and involvement from the key interests at both national and local levels. Such an approach has been used to good effect over a number of years in both Loch Lomond & the Trossachs, and the Cairngorms. As a result, there is a general agreement among many interests on the issues faced by these two areas, and considerable consensus on the principles for their management, which could form the basis for legislation. It is against this background that we have been able to make more specific proposals for the powers, structures and area for National Parks in Loch Lomond & the Trossachs, and the Cairngorms.

Legislative Requirements

2.7 To create a general framework for National Parks in Scotland within which tailor-made proposals to meet the specific needs of each area can be developed, a two-step approach to legislation is proposed:

• primary legislation which details the general purposes, criteria for selection and operation of National Parks; and
• secondary legislation for each National Park which details the specific powers and structure of a Park Body and the area of its jurisdiction.

2.8 Taken together, our proposals for National Parks - the vision, the key elements and the process for establishment - will result in a National Park system for Scotland, designed to meet Scotland’s particular needs and circumstances. In short, National Parks must have a clear role, a strong sense of shared ownership and responsibility, and the capacity to make a difference.