3 days ago
Controversial Perthshire national park bid back in play as rival plan scrapped
Hopes have been revived for a new national park in Highland Perthshire.
Perth and Kinross Council's 'Tay Forest' project was mothballed last summer when Galloway was named the preferred location for Scotland's third national park.
But the Galloway bid was scrapped this week following 'significant opposition'.
And that's raised the prospect of the Perthshire national park proposal being resurrected.
The council told The Courier it is following events at Holyrood.
'We are awaiting further information from the Scottish Government,' said a spokesman.
Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon was asked about the chances for a Perthshire national park when she announced the Galloway scheme had hit the buffers on Thursday.
Mid Scotland and Fife Green MSP Mark Ruskell said communities in Perthshire had shown 'majority public support' for the bid, despite an 'aggressive misinformation campaign'.
And he asked: 'Will the government now re-engage with that bid for Scotland's third national park?
'Or has it simply given up on the idea altogether?'
Ms Gougeon insisted the government was still minded to establish more national parks, providing it gets the process right.
'We reached the stage of introducing the proposal to designate Galloway as a national park only because it met all the criteria that had been established and consulted on,' she added.
'We are not looking to do that at the moment, but we remain open to doing so in the future.'
The Perthshire national park bid was ruled out of the running by the Scottish Government last July.
It would have stretched across almost 3,000 square kilometres of Perthshire, taking in the towns of Aberfeldy, Comrie, Crieff, Dunkeld and Pitlochry.
The council held an eight-week consultation on the Tay Forest proposal and received around 350 responses to its survey.
More than half of respondents (56.8%) agreed or strongly agreed with the idea.
But critics said national park policies – such as beaver re-introduction – conflicted with the interests of local farmers and managers.
The Tayside and Central Scotland Moorland Group branded the consultation response 'woeful' and mounted an angry protest outside the council's headquarters.
Aberfeldy Community Council was supportive of the national park bid.
Its chairman Victor Clements says the group will watch the next steps with interest.
But he suggests there are other ways to invest in nature conservation without adding more layers of management.
'Instead of funding the administrative structures of a new national park, give the equivalent budget to Perth and Kinross Council, and let them fund nature conservation initiatives and a ranger service directly,' said Mr Clements.
'The council could also support farmers and landowners in doing the things they do want to do, as they have shown they can do in the past with the Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme and other grant programmes.'
The SNP signed up to a new national park as part of the power-sharing Bute House agreement with the Scottish Greens.
It has since been scrapped too.
