On Thursday the Scottish Government is expected to announce their decision on the proposed Galloway and Ayrshire National Park. This comes after NatureScot, who carried out the consultation on the new National Park, passed their report to Ministers on 5th May. APRS and other campaigners call for the Park to be designated without delay.
Today local and national campaigners for a new National Park for Scotland called for the designation process to move forward without delay, citing the benefits it would bring to the people, landscapes and nature of the “forgotten corner of Scotland”.
The decision on a National Park is being taken under a backdrop of intense lobbying. The NFUS logged 29 meetings with MSPs or Ministers to lobby against a new National Park between January 2024 and February 2025 [1]. This is a proposal which has been opposed by larger landowning interests [2] and those intent on industrialisation of Galloway’s landscapes including major windfarm developers [3].
The next stage in the process, should a National Park be announced on Thursday, will be the Designation Order which will lay out all the details of the new National Park and will be voted on in the Scottish Parliament. This Designation order will itself be consulted on during a 12 week period.
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.
“This is the forgotten corner of Scotland. 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.”
Kat Jones, Director of APRS said:
“Galloway and southern Ayrshire need this Park. Along with their beautiful landscapes and special nature, they have been long overlooked for investment and have the fastest declining population on mainland Scotland. This is a chance to make a change for the better now. Any delay would likely leave the designation to be completed in the next Parliament, bringing unacceptable uncertainty.
“We are in the midst of a nature and climate crisis which cannot wait. A report by Oxford University Researchers [4] found that nature degradation could cause a 12 percent loss to UK GDP, and that agriculture would be one of the hardest hit sectors. We need a model of how nature, communities, farming, forestry and energy can all work together for a resilient and sustainable future and the most effective way of doing this is through a National Park.
“National Parks are a recognition of the best of our Nation’s landscapes. Scotland, with some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, has only two of the UK’s 15 National Parks. Ministers need to make a decision that will retain Scotland’s standing as a country that values and protects its nature and heritage. Any delay in recognising a National Park would be a setback for Scotland’s reputation for nature and landscape protection, and for the people of Galloway and southern Ayrshire, who are set to benefit most from the new National Park.”
John Thomson, Chair of the Scottish Campaign for National Parks said:
“Scottish National Parks are at the forefront globally in the way that they seek to strike an enduring balance between nature protection and enhancement, truly sustainable land use and development, and community vitality and wellbeing. As such, they can lead in mapping the way forward for rural areas right across Scotland’s wealth of fine landscapes, bringing huge benefits to both local residents and to all who value the treasures they have to offer.
“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”.
References
[1] Scottish Parliament Lobbying Register
[2] https://theferret.scot/landowner-backing-national-park-campaign/
[3] https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25138677.new-national-park-galloway-cost-500m-2035-report-warns/
The SR report in the article above cites 470 additional jobs by 2035 if wind power doubles as projected. However a study by APRS and SCNP estimated that a National Park in Galloway would support or create 700 to 1400 jobs
[4] https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2024-04-29-nature-degradation-could-cause-12-loss-uk-gdp
Notes:
The first two National Parks in Scotland were designated in 2002 (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs) and 2003 (Cairngorms), more than fifty years after the first National Parks in England and Wales.
The Scottish Government committed to designating at least one new National Park for Scotland in the Bute House agreement in 2021. The Government reaffirmed the commitment after the Greens left the Bute House agreement by continuing the selection process for a new National Park when John Swinney became First Minister.
APRS and SCNP have been campaigning together for a new National Park from Scotland for more than a decade, and the local campaign, which became Galloway National Park Association, for Galloway to be considered as the location for a new National Park started seven years ago.
Action to Protect Rural Scotland (APRS) is Scotland’s Countryside Charity. They campaign to protect, enhance and promote Scotland’s countryside and rural landscapes for everyone’s benefit
The Scottish Campaign for National Parks (SCNP) is the national charity that campaigns to protect and promote the cause of and case for National Parks in Scotland.
Galloway National Park Association (GNPA) is a community-based group with trustees from across the region. We started work in 2017 and have over 1100 members, young supporters and business champions. You can read our objects on our website.