Cairngorms - UK's biggest national park - gets bigger

Published on Monday 4 October 2010 18:30

THE UK's biggest national park grew just a little bigger yesterday with an extra 282 square miles and hundreds more people now included within the boundaries.

• Blair Castle, near Blair Atholl, with the Beinn A' Ghlo range behind. The area, along with Glen Shee to the east, is now part of the Cairngorms National Park

The addition of Highland Perthshire and Glenshee means the Cairngorms National Park now covers 6 per cent of Scotland, making it twice the size of parks in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Lake District.

The official extension marked the end of a long-running battle by those in Perthshire who felt they were wrongly omitted from the park when it was set up in 2003.

Residents now hope the new status will bring environmental and economic benefits of the kind outlined in a new study published yesterday. This shows the Cairngorms National Park gained 855 residents in its first four years and now has 13 per cent more businesses.

The area's economy is worth 398 million per year, with tourism accounting for 115m.

Finance secretary John Swinney, the local MSP, who fought for the boundary extension, said: "Highland Perthshire is now where it belongs, and where it should have been all along - within the boundaries of the national park.

"The decision to exclude the area from the original boundaries is one which baffled experts and local people alike."

Ian Miller, leader of Perth and Kinross Council, welcomed the extension: "From our perspective it is hugely important for the social and economic future of this area of Perth and Kinross to become an active part of the Cairngorms National Park.

"I believe that the future economic, cultural and social wellbeing of the area will be well served by being part of the greater national park area."

The Cairngorms park already extended from Grantown-on-Spey to the heads of the Angus Glens, and from Ballater to Dalwhinnie and the Drumochter Pass.

Campaigners pressed for it to include the entire Cairngorms massif and to have a new gateway at Blair Atholl.

Douglas Baxter,who chaired the lobby group Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms (PARC), said: "It is obvious you are into the Cairngorms when you're coming up the A9 and you see Carn Liath as you reach the top of the viaduct at Killiecrankie. I think the boundary now is naturally as it should be."

John Mayhew, chairman of the national parks strategy project, said the new boundary has "righted a wrong" and follows a natural geographical line.

"There is a point where it has to stop.There is some fine landscape elsewhere, but there comes a point where its gets a bit ridiculous if you extend too far."

Mr Mayhew said benefits for Perthshire include being included in a strategic approach to areas like tourism and land management, as well as being part of a brand recognised worldwide.

Dave Morris, director of Ramblers Scotland, said: "From a tourist perspective national parks are the most well-known currency, the best-known protected area and they draw people into these areas."

The extension of the Cairngorms park to Blair Atholl now leaves a relatively short corridor to the boundary of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park at Killin. This has raised the question of joining the two park areas. Mr Mayhew has called for more parks to be created in Scotland, with Lochaber a strong candidate.

He said: "If you designate that area there would be a debate about whether there should be a gap between that and the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs one."

Dave Morris said joining the two parks was a medium-term goal, but the immediate priorities should be to seek World Heritage Site status for the Cairngorms, first proposed over 30 years ago, and to designate Harris as a national park.