Wild Land News no 56, Winter 2002/2003

Parliamentary Duty in the Cairngorms Article

Dave Morris, Director of Ramblers' Association Scotland, reports on progress establishing a Cairngorms National Park.

In the next few weeks we will discover if the proposed Cairngorms National Park is a source of pride or embarrassment. Two committees of the Scottish Parliament, transport and environment followed by rural development, have to decide whether to approve the Designation Order which formally brings the park into being. For Labour politicians in particular it marks the end of a long campaign.

John Smith, the former Labour leader, active hillwalker and vice president of the Ramblers' Association, would have been well aware of the benefits that a long overdue national parks system would bring to Scotland and to the Cairngorms in particular. Sadly, Smith is no longer with us to pull on his boots and tramp these hills. Unfortunately he might be trembling in those boots if he knew what sort of national park was in prospect.

Somewhat surprisingly, the Scottish Executive seem quite content to create a national park which commands only limited public support and is likely to be embroiled in controversy from day one. Their apparent willingness to ignore the results of public consultation is depressing. No matter that well over 80% of respondents said that the national park authority should be responsible for development control, no matter that Scottish Natural Heritage (acting on behalf of the government) indicated that it was "essential" for the mountain slopes of Highland Perthshire to be in the park in order to meet the legislative criteria laid down by Parliament, no matter that Perth and Kinross Council and local communities from Blair Atholl northwards agreed. Disregarding all this the Executive reversed its previous support (in September 2000) for the boundary proposed by SNH and preceded to lop around 500 sq kilometres off the recommended park area. This 25% reduction in size has produced a boundary which runs right through the core area of remote land in the heart of the Cairngorms. Walkers, climbers, ski tourers and other visitors approaching from the south will already be inside this tract of remote land, the largest in the UK, before they encounter the park boundary. In terms of visitor management, interpretation and education such an arrangement is plain stupid. Furthermore, key mountains and unspoilt river systems that drain the southern slopes of the Cairngorms will lie outwith the boundary. The chances of such an area being recognised as part of the international family of national parks and perhaps gaining the status of World Heritage Site are negligible.

The Executive have struggled to explain their apparent indifference to public opinion, especially when SNH gained widespread commendation for the thoroughness of the public consultation exercise, its inclusivity and the resulting well argued recommendations. The impression has been given that the boundary has been adjusted to meet particular interests within the Highland Council area rather than the Cairngorms as a whole.

Speculation is also increasing on the role of land owning interests on this process. The present boundary neatly excludes areas of land which are known to experience difficulties from excessive numbers of red deer or the low breeding success of predatory birds. Such estates do not readily welcome the presence of the general public or officials acting on behalf of public bodies. Nevertheless, it is astonishing to discover that the designation order for the Cairngorms makes no provision for the national park to have its own ranger service. I can think of no national park anywhere else in the world, which suffers from such a deficiency. Provision for a ranger service was made in the Draft Designation Order but was quietly removed by the Executive before the order was laid before Parliament. This will ensure that no national park rangers will be crossing land where activities or situations embarrassing to certain estates might be discovered.

We have been here before. When the Draft Land Reform (Scotland) Bill was published in 2001 it was obvious that powerful land-managing interests had been very active behind the scenes in persuading the Executive to abandon much of the agreed consensus that had emerged from the public consultation process. The result was seriously flawed proposals for access legislation, which have only been corrected through vigorous campaigning by environmental and recreation bodies followed by intense scrutiny and amendment by the Parliament's Justice 2 Committee. Indeed those MSPs who now have to decide the fate of the Cairngorms National Park would do well to follow the example set by Labour MSP Pauline McNeill. As Convenor of Justice 2 she has ensured, with the strong support of Committee members of all parties, that the Executive has begun to act more on behalf of the public as a whole rather then a handful of excessively influential land owners. The Cairngorms deserve an equally fair treatment.

For Labour and Liberal Democrat members of the Scottish Parliament any delay in establishing the Cairngorms National Park is a bit of a worry. The coalition partners made a commitment to have the park up and running before the end of this Parliament. But a delay of a few months now would be sensible. It would allow corrections to be made, notably to the boundary and to the arrangements for a park ranger service. Then we might get a national park that commands widespread support from the foothills of the Cairngorms to the hearts of our cities. It is the least we can do for the memory of John Smith.

Ramblers' Association Scotland, Kingfisher House, Auld Mart Business Park, Milnathort, Kinross. KY13 9DA. Tel 01577 861222, Fax 01577 861333.
Email: enquires@scotland.ramblers.org.uk. Web: www.ramblers.org.uk

Footnote: On 12th December 2002 the Scottish Parliament finally gave the go-ahead for the Cairngorms National Park, despite widespread and deep-seated misgivings amoung MSPs about the Designation Order.
Editor