|
SWLG Home
|
Wild Land News no 58, Autumn 2003
| Cairngorms National Park back in Scottish Parliament's sights | Article |
Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms (PARC) steps up efforts to bring in missing Perthshire wilds.
Report by Bill Wright.
The exceptional alliance of voluntary, business, local authority, community and land-owning organisations that is Perthshire Alliance for the Real Cairngorms (PARC) are intensifying their efforts to correct the controversial alignment of the boundaries of the Cairngorms National Park. The Scottish Wild Land Group are among PARC's founder members. Recently the further organisations joining the PARC campaign include Pitlochry Civic Trust, The Munro Society and Scottish Wildlife Trust.
PARC is campaigning for the boundaries to reflect the recommendations made by official reporter Scottish Natural Heritage to the Scottish Executive during the formal designation process. These recommendations included some 700 square kilometres of Highland Perthshire for inclusion within the Park boundaries. Unaccountably Highland Perthshire was omitted while other parts of the Cairngorms were included even though they scored lower in the reporters assessment of suitability.
PARC is a non-political body seeking support from all political parties. Immediately following the May 1st elections PARC got in touch with MSPs. Support was publicly expressed for boundary review by MSPs from, apart from Labour, across the party spectrum. The first motion to the new Parliament was raised by Keith Raffan MSP on the Cairngorms NP boundary.
It appears that a majority of the members of the Parliament's Environment and Rural Development Committee favour boundary re-alignment. The key test will be whether they decide to devote business time within a very heavy work programme to reviewing the contentious boundary.
During the summer PARC will be organising a series of events aimed at galvanising further public support for its aims which have the support of local and national voluntary bodies alike.
Meanwhile the new Cairngorms National Park Board has now met formally on three occasions and is due to take over its full legal duties on September 1st. The Board have been dogged by criticism of its composition particularly in relation to any recreational or international links. Even though it is a National, rather than Regional, Park, apart from Angus Councillor David Selfridge, none of the Board members are based South of the Highland fault line.
PARC member organisations are :-
- Perth & Kinross Council
- Perthshire Tourist Board
- Highland Perthshire Communities Partnership
- Perthshire Chamber of Commerce
- Atholl Mercantile Association
- Atholl Estate
- Pitlochry Civic Trust
- Cairngorms Campaign
- John Muir Trust
- Mountaineering Council of Scotland
- National Trust for Scotland
- North East Mountain Trust
- Plantlife Scotland
- Ramblers' Association Scotland
- RSPB Scotland
- Rural Scotland
- Scottish Council for National Parks
- Scottish Countryside Activities Council
- Scottish Native Woods
- Scottish Wildlife Trust
- Scottish Wild Land Group
- Woodland Trust Scotland
- WWF Scotland
- Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group
- Munro Society
Editor's footnote: The official opening of the Cairngorms National Park took place on 1st September on Cairngorm and involved the participants in a ride on the funicular railway. This seemed an unfortunate choice when the whole funicular project was so controversial in an area earmarked for National Park status.
To demonstrate the frustration at the omission of Highland Perthshire from the Park boundary, a simultaneous event was staged in Perthshire by a group representing various conservation and recreation interests. They climbed Carn Liath (975m) above Blair Atholl, and were joined by several prominent MSPs, including the SNP leader, John Swinney.