John Ross: Europe's biggest national park needs to expand, some believe. Others say it may then be too big for one body to manage

Published on Thursday 31 July 2008 22:16

FROM Grantown-on-Spey to the heads of the Angus Glens, from Ballater to Dalwhinnie and the Drumochter Pass, the Cairngorms National Park is already the largest in Europe. But as it approaches its fifth birthday it is ready to start stretching.

Today sees the launch of a consultation on plans to widen the boundary of Scotland's second national park and on how it is run.

Led by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the process is likely to return to the agency's original recommendation about the area covered seven years ago. This was later overturned.

The Cairngorms became a national park in September 2003, covering some 1,466 square miles. If present plans go ahead another 300 square miles will be added in Highland Perthshire to include the communities of Blair Atholl, Calvine and Spittal of Glenshee, but excluding Struan and Killiecrankie.

The proposal would bring an additional seven Munros, many historic rights of way, and more internationally important Alpine habitats inside the boundary line.

It would also end a long-running campaign by those in Perthshire who feel they were wrongly omitted from the park when it was set up.

Douglas Baxter, chairman of Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms (Parc), said: "From the outset the boundary was put in the wrong place."

Originally SNH recommended that the park would cover 1,775 square miles spread over five local authority areas – Highland, Moray, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Perth and Kinross.

The then Scottish Executive later halved the size to 950 sq miles within Highland, Aberdeenshire and Moray, then widened it again to include parts of Angus and Laggan, but left out Perthshire.

In 2006 John Swinney, the Tayside SNP MSP, raised a private member's bill to enlarge the park. He proposed it should include the Forest of Atholl and Blair Atholl, the Beinn Udlamain mountain group to the west of the A9 and an area around the A93 including Glas Tulaichean and the Spittal of Glenshee (excluding Kirkmichael).

He was supported by community, business, tourism, environmental and climbing groups around Blair Atholl which, they argued, is a natural geographical and historical gateway to the Cairngorms. They said the existing boundary excludes part of the mountain range, dissects important nature conservation sites and severs historic routes through some of the most remote parts of the UK.

A survey by Mr Swinney showed 80 per cent of people interviewed thought the boundary was political and not based on the best interests of the park. It restricted the coherent identity of the area and did not protect the distinct wild and natural character of the southern Cairngorms.

In all 94 per cent of respondents said by extending the boundary, environmental, economic and social benefits would be achieved.

In March 2007 Holyrood's environment and rural development committee narrowly rejected the proposal.

Sarah Boyack, the then deputy environment minister, said it would cost an extra 150,000 a year. She insisted the original boundary decision was not taken lightly and that an extension would raise concerns over the size of the park and its ability to be managed by a single authority.

But this year Michael Russell, the environment minister, said it was proposed to extend the boundary along the lines suggested by Mr Swinney.

Douglas Baxter said: "SNH originally made a suggestion on the boundary but the previous government paid no attention to it. What is now being discussed goes back to the original recommendation and suggests putting the boundary where it should have been in the first place.

"There are five entrances to the Cairngorms in this area. Dalwhinnie is a one-horse town with nothing in it."

Bill Wright, a past chairman of Parc, also backed Blair Atholl as the gateway: "I would not stray too much from the recommendation which SNH made all those years back. As you turn the corner at Killiecrankie and look up to Carn Liath on the right you start to think you are in the big hills really and it's an obvious place."

Sandy Park, convener of Highland Council and a member of the park board, said: "I have no problem with the extension but I don't think it could go any further than Blair Atholl. Any bigger and you would wonder where it would all end."

The 12-week consultation, ending on 24 October, will consider exactly where the new boundary should be and the number of representatives from each local authority who will sit on the extended park board.

A report will go to ministers in November or December and a revised park designation order is expected to go before the Parliament next year.

The authority present has 25 members – five directly-elected and 20 appointed. Ten appointments are made by Scottish ministers and ten are nominated by local authorities.

At the same time the Scottish Government is carrying out a five-year review of Cairngorm and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs national parks.

Sarah Boyack said the boundary issues should be part of the five-year review. "The extension to the south of the park is being looked at separately and then later on, in the quinquennial review, any other potential boundary changes will be looked at.

"They have obviously given the green light to an extension to the south into Highland Perthshire. But they will review the boundaries again during the quinquennial review.

"It would make more sense to look at these altogether. An opportunity has been missed by separating these two consultations."

A series of meetings will be held to consult on the plans.

Susan Davies, SNH's north operations director, added: "Everyone now has a chance to have their say on the future boundaries.

"The proposals are wide-ranging and will mean changes to the structure of the park authority board as well as physical changes to the park itself.

"Therefore it is highly important that people get involved in the consultation to allow all involved to effectively build a new national park for Scotland."

Economic development a key aim

SCOTLAND's two national parks in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms were established by the National Parks Act 2000.

The act requires that people must be consulted on any formal proposal by ministers to modify the parks.

Scottish national parks differ from many others in that they specifically include a social and economic development aim.

Their four aims are to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage, promote sustainable use of natural resources, promote understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of the area and promote sustainable economic and social development of the area's communities.

The Scottish Government is presently carrying out a strategic review of the parks, focusing on the organisational arrangements of the park authorities and whether there is a need for any other boundary changes.

The review is being done in two stages. The first, which began in May, is examining key questions on the organisation of the bodies that run the parks.

The second will begin in the late autumn and will deal with more detailed operational matters, boundary changes, and possible criteria for designating any future national parks.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, which opened in 2002, covers 720 square miles and is home to 15,600 people. It includes 20 Munros and 22 large lochs.

The Cairngorms park, which opened in 2003, is 1,466 square miles and has 16,000 people living in the area.

It contains four of Scotland's five highest mountains and the land above 600 metres is the largest area of arctic mountain landscape in the British Isles.

It also contains 25 per cent of Britain's threatened birds, animals, and plants.

Each park board has 25 members. Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, which has a staff of 149, has a budget of about 7.4 million, while Cairngorms, which has 55 staff, receives about 5 million.

One main difference of extending the Cairngorms park to cover parts of Perth and Kinross would be that responsibility for carrying out some existing regulatory functions such as planning will pass from the local authority to the national park authority.