APRS recently held the first meeting of our new committee focused on National Parks and protected landscapes. It is called the Mayhew Committee, in memory of the late John Mayhew, previous Director of APRS and former Chair of Scottish Campaign for National Parks, who retired in 2022.
The committee incorporates expertise from APRS members/supporters and from the Scottish Campaign for National Parks, (SCNP) our partners in the Scottish National Parks strategy project for many years.
SCNP was initially conceived as a subcommittee of the APRS and has had various incarnations since, including as a separate charity from the 1980s until early 2026. Following discussions about the pros and cons of supporting and managing two small organisations with overlapping aims, SCNP trustees and members recently agreed to wind up the organisation and gift remaining assets to APRS secure in the knowledge that APRS’s new constitution as a SCIO commits it to promoting National Parks and protected landscapes. Information on the initial make up of the Mayhew committee is on the “About Us “ page of the website.
The second meeting of the Mayhew Committee will take place later in June 2026.
In the meantime the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 can now be viewed online here and the changes it makes to the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 are now indicated on the Legislation.gov.uk website although have not yet been applied (see “view outstanding changes”). An article covering APRS and SCNP’s work on the National Parks section of the Act is on our website.
The Mayhew Committee is named in memory of John Mayhew, former Director of APRS, and former Chair of Scottish Campaign for National Parks. John is a much missed advocate for National Parks and Scotland’s Landscapes, he authored many reports including ‘Unfinished Business’
Mayhew Committee Members
The Mayhew Committee is made up of expert members from both APRS’s membership/supporters and from members of SCNP. SCNP was initially conceived as an APRS subcommittee and has had various incarnations since, existing as a separate organisation from the 1980s until 2026.
The focus of the Mayhew Committee will include the continued promotion of existing National Parks in Scotland, and ensuring new National Parks stays on the Scottish Government agenda, as well as the protection and development of other protected landscapes.
John Thomson (Mayhew Committee Chairman)
MA MSc FRSA
John studied history at Cambridge and economics at Bristol University. His long-standing interest in the environment and rural life took him from an early career in HM Treasury to senior posts in the Planning Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment and the Countryside Commission (England & Wales). After a spell as Head of the Town & Country Planning Policy Division in the then Scottish Office, he spent almost twenty years as a Director in Scottish Natural Heritage, leading its work in the fields of landscape, land and freshwater use, and planning and development. For much of this time he also led on recreation and access issues and oversaw SNH’s operations in the west of Scotland. He was for several years chair of the UK Countryside Recreation Network and the UK environmental agencies’ Land Use Policy Group. He also served as a Council member of Europarc, the Europe-wide network of National and Nature Parks. John served as Chairman of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks. He and his wife also run a small farm near Kirkcudbright, breeding and rearing black Galloway cattle. John is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Rebecca Hughes
BSc MPhil CMLI FLI
Rebecca is a Chartered Landscape Architect who has worked as a landscape and environmental consultant and botanist across the UK and abroad. She spent 14 years as Head of Landscape and Restoration at Scottish Natural Heritage, leading its national landscape team and landscape character assessment programme. She acted as landscape expert witness for various public inquiries, including the proposed Harris superquarry. Rebecca graduated from Durham University in Botany and Geography and from Newcastle University in Landscape Design. She worked for The National Trust in Northumberland, the Lake District National Park and the Nature Conservancy Council, then set up a landscape consultancy, forestry and furniture making business in the Borders. She spent five years as Senior Lecturer in Environmental Design at Newcastle University. Rebecca has developed landscape and visual impact assessment methodology for various developments including the renewable energy industry, and has recently worked on biodiversity management planning and landscape restoration both in the UK and New Zealand.
Beryl Leatherland
BSc MSc
Beryl’s first degree was in Zoology with Botany, and her subsequent MSc was in Marine Biology. She spent most of her professional career in Scotland in the delivery and development of biological education, and then administration in a variety of secondary schools assisting with the Duke of Edinburgh Award. For many years she was very active in her climbing club and served as Secretary and then President on two separate occasions. After retirement, she was a volunteer on the Council for the MCofS [Mountaineering Council of Scotland, now Mountaineering Scotland] and was vice-president for two terms, and chaired the Access and Conservation Committee. During that time she represented the MCofS on several bodies including the NTS Council and Scottish Environment LINK. She also responded to many consultations and development proposals at a time when wind farms were proliferating extensively across the landscape of Scotland. She has always been an advocate for landscape, wildlife and responsible access, and is a long standing member of the Fife Local Access Forum. Beryl was the Convenor of the Scottish Wild Land Group for many years and represented them at LINK where she was a Trustee for 3 terms, and also co-convenes the Hilltracks campaign.
Eric Baird
Eric has recently retired as Head Ranger on Glen Tanar, in the Cairngorms National Park. From its inception, Eric, as a Ministerial Appointee, served as Vice Convenor of the Cairngorms National Park Board for its first 7 years. He subsequently became Chair of the Macaualy Development Trust for several years. Eric was awarded a Churchill Fellowship for his study of the Access/Conservation interface in protected areas of Northern Europe, and has undertaken conflict resolution work, at the invitation of the Portuguese Minister for Environment, in the Tejo protected area. Eric was, for several years, a co-opted member of the Council of the European Federation of National Parks and Protected Areas, giving him valuable international experience. Eric is co-author of the original ‘Cairngorms Forest and Woodland Framework’, and was a member of the editorial board for ‘A Sense of Place’.
Charles Strang
Charles Strang, Community Council Secretary, is a retired architect and town
planner. Conservation management, planning and policy have been his
specialisms, particularly in local government planning and as Director of
Buildings & Gardens at NTS. He continues to take what some think is an
unhealthy interest in planning policy.
Previously Charles has served on St Boswells Village Committee, Earlston
Schools Council, and St Boswells Tennis Club. He wrote Borders & Berwick: An
Illustrated Architectural Guide in the popular RIAS series.
Charles has been a Director of the Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, the Southern
Uplands Partnership, Director and Vice-President of APRS, and Vice-President of
the Edinburgh Architectural Association (where he is Honorary Librarian). As
Secretary of the Sir Patrick Geddes Memorial Trust, he is proud that Geddes was
the originator of Think Global, Act Local, watchwords which are essential for our
present and future.
Rob Lucas
Rob has spent almost all his career in environmental understanding, including running a national charity which operated in nine of the UK’s national parks, so gaining experience of the many benefits a National Park brings.
He chaired the Forest Education Network for 9 years and has recently stood down from being Vice-President for Expeditions and Fieldwork at the Royal Geographical Society. Having first visited Galloway on holiday over 50 years ago, Rob now lives there and was Chair of the Galloway National Park Association. Over recent years during the campaign for a new National Park in Galloway, Rob worked with the inspiring young people of the area who felt having a National Park in their area would be important for their futures.