MSPs debate amendments on National Park legislation

Today (27 Jan 2025) in the Scottish Parliament, the final stage of the Natural Environment Bill is being debated. This Bill has a section on National Parks and Nikki has been working on getting some improvements to National Park Policy into the Bill.

Here is a selection of the amendments tabled that we have been involved with drafting and Nikki has written a briefing for MSPs which lay out all the amendments on the National Parks section, including those we have worked with MSPs on.

Duty on pubic bodies relating to the National Park Plan

There is an amendment to further tighten up the duty on public bodies and office holders relating to National Park Plans – so that it becomes “to actively implement” the Park Plans rather than “to facilitate implementation of” which we very much hope will pass.

Process of Designation of National Parks

Another amendment seeks to learn from the process prior to the abandonment of the proposed Galloway Park byrequiring Ministers to take expert advice before making formal proposals for new National Parks and amends section 2 to require Ministers to “have regard to” that advice. This will ensure that new National Park proposals are considered in a measured timescale with expert advice being made available to the Scottish Government and published prior to a formal proposal being made. Importantly, this would help ensure there is a well-conceived proposal with clear Scottish Government support at the point of a proposal being made.

Appointment of a Reporter

Another amendment says Ministers may appoint a person or body appearing to them to have expertise relevant to the National Park aims (the “reporter”) to consider and report on a National Park proposal. The effect of this is to add flexibility to the appointment of Reporter(s) so that it can be any “Body” or person that Ministers consider has the relevant experience. Currently Scottish Ministers can only appoint Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) or another body. In practice this is a tricky balance to get right but this amendment could help to address some concerns over the recent experience of a National Park reporting process.

Read the Briefing