Galloway National Park: SNP ministers told to ignore 'land-owning lobbyists' as new park looks set to be axed

The Scottish Government is being told not to be swayed by land-owning lobbyists as the proposed Galloway National Park looks set to be ditched.

Creating a third national park in Galloway was a key commitment of the Bute House Agreement, the power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens that ended a year ago.

However, Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon is expected to delay the plans until after next year’s election when she makes a speech to Parliament later this week.

​Mairi Gougeon MSP.

The Scottish Greens have argued there can be no delay to creating a third national park, saying that caving into lobbyists would see the area miss out on key environmental protections.

Greens MSP Mark Ruskell said: “Any decision to scrap or delay the Galloway National Park would be a disaster for local nature and communities. Scotland’s two current national parks, the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, have shown just how valuable the status can be.

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“From effectively managing tourism and forestry to levering investment into transport and housing, national parks are benefiting the communities they serve.

“National park status opens doors for areas that desperately need opportunities, with the potential to create high-quality jobs, boost local food production and secure landscape scale investment in nature.

Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell

“I hope the SNP ignores a small number of voices who want to stop any kind of change, anywhere.

“A Galloway national park would have a positive impact for nature and communities and would be managed and controlled by local people themselves.

“Scottish communities were competing against each other last year to secure a new national park. It would be an embarrassment if SNP ministers now blocked every community in Scotland from hosting a new park.”

Less than a month ago a report predicted the new national park would cost the area more than £500 million by 2035.

The report from BiGGAR Economics said the park would “almost certainly reduce deployment of onshore farms in south-west Scotland by making it more difficult for developers to secure planning permission for developments near the park”.

This comes after reports that several MSPs want ministers to take forward a “park-lite” plan instead, which would allow extra investment to encourage tourism, but without the environmental and planning restrictions of a full national park.

They also argue Galloway is an unsuitable location due to its extensive farming and forestry industries.

There are plenty of lovely walks in the enormous Galloway Forest Park but one of the nicest during winter starts at Clatteringshaws Visitor Centre. The two hour trail takes in Clatteringshaws Loch, Bruce's Stone (commemorating Robert the Bruce's victory at the Battle of Glen Trool in 1307), winter woodland and the 'Loch View hike' offering spectacular vistas of the surrounding countryside.

Farmers in the Galloway area have previously raised concerns the proposals would prioritise tourism and visitor access over their farming needs and add extra red tape. NFU Scotland said 93 per cent of its members in Galloway oppose the plans.

Rebel SNP backbencher Fergus Ewing told The Scotsman: “The opposition is overwhelming and what we are seeing from that part of Scotland is fairly substantial opposition from the farming community.

“Very early on the Government realised it was not as popular as originally thought. The last thing any farming community in Scotland needs is the bureaucracy of a national park.”

One source told The Scotsman the Government was likely to push the proposals back until after the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.

The source said this would end up in the “pro-park side campaigning against the SNP” and make the creation of a new national park an election issue.

It is understood a consultation into the proposals will show 52 per cent are against the idea, and that a “significant” number of the 48 per cent who are in favour do not live in the Galloway area.

Ms Gougeon is scheduled to make a ministerial statement on the “Galloway and Ayrshire National Park proposal” on Thursday afternoon at Holyrood.

Speaking ahead of the statement, she said: “I would like to thank all those who took part in the consultation on whether there should be a new national park in Galloway and south and east Ayrshire.

“Now that we have received NatureScot’s report of the consultation findings and advice on the proposal, we have carefully considered these and will update Parliament on Thursday on the next steps.”