D-day dawns for national park

IT’S decision day for the Galloway National Park today with the Scottish Government due to reveal if it will go ahead or not.

Hopes are still high among supporters of the scheme, who are calling for it to now move forward ‘without delay’.

However, even at this stage, the area remains divided on the matter with Galloway and West Dumfries MSP Finlay Carson insisting it cannot be given the green light in its current guise.

The pro-campaigners this week re-iterated the benefits a national park would bring to the people, landscapes and nature of the “forgotten corner of Scotland”, while criticising the ‘intense lobbying’ that has taken place from some sectors.

They are hoping to see a designation order granted, which will lay out all the details of the new park. After a 12-week consultation period, it would be voted on in the Scottish Parliament.

Commenting, Rob Lucas, chair of the Galloway National Parks Association, said: “Galloway desperately needs a National Park to give it the long term certainty and commitment that has been missing for so long.

“Our area has a fragile economy and remains among the poorest rural areas in the UK, despite two decades of intensive forestry, farm aggregation and large-scale renewables. We need a different approach that works with nature to build a resilient and sustainable future for local people.

“We need a National Park to put Galloway on the map to attract people to live, work and visit, and help prevent it becoming the dumping ground for inappropriate windfarms and insensitive afforestation.”

John Thomson, chair of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, added: “Over a century since a Scot gifted the world the concept of the National Park, Scotland urgently needs more of them. Galloway in particular has waited far too long for its natural and cultural heritage assets to be recognised in this way.”

Meanwhile, Finlay Carson says SNP rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon cannot plough ahead regardless with the plans as to do so would “ride roughshod” over the concerns of local people.

He believes the consultation process run by NatureScot was “deeply flawed” and lacked enough transparency, as well as causing deep division locally.

The MSP has urged Ms Gougeon to back his calls for an independent review into the performance of current national parks before designating any new ones.

He said: “This statement must confirm that the SNP’s current plans for a national park in Galloway and Ayrshire simply won’t go ahead.

“Mairi Gougeon must accept that this is the end of the road for these proposals. She cannot stand up in Holyrood and ride roughshod over the widespread concerns of my constituents.

“The SNP must also recognise that this whole saga has created deep divisions within communities in my constituency and that bitterness won’t be healed overnight.

“People in Galloway and Ayrshire are keenly awaiting this statement to see whether they have finally been listened to or if their huge concerns will be ignored by arrogant SNP ministers who think they know best. It simply must be the former.”