Galloway community 'divided' over plans to create Scotland’s newest national park

Locals in the region slated for Scotland’s newest national park feel like they are not being listened to, MSPs have heard.

Galloway has been chosen as the proposed site for the country’s third national park, after Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, and the Cairngorms.

On Wednesday, Holyrood’s Petitions Committee heard that the plans had been contentious in the region.

Mhairi Dawson, regional manager of Dumfries and Galloway for the National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS), said the issue has become “so divisive it’s horrible”.

She said there was a feeling among many locals, including across parts of Ayrshire, that the Scottish Government was not listening to them.

Ahead of a consultation on the new national park, she said local people were being asked what shape the project should take – rather than whether they want it to happen at all.

Ms Dawson said: “There is an issue with the overall process. The people in Dumfries and Galloway, and particularly in Ayrshire, do not feel their voices are being heard.

“There are no answers to many of the questions we have proposed. It’s ‘it might be this’, ‘it might be that’.

“Our members and our communities are being asked to make decisions on a lot of assumptions, not facts.”

She added: “It’s now awful in Galloway. It has become so divisive it’s horrible. It has really divided a community.”

Ms Dawson said local residents feel like the national park is already a “done deal”.

She said local businesses were worried about the effect the project could have on them.

“I have members who have been on the phone to me in tears because they are worried about the future for their children and their grandchildren,” she said.

“There are so many family agriculture businesses in Galloway and they are worried about their future because they do not know what this looks like.”

Denise Brownlee, of the No Galloway National Park campaign, said the Scottish Government had to fix the region’s infrastructure ahead of any national park.

“First of all, think of the people that live there,” she told the committee. “Improve our roads.

“If our road system was better – the A75 and A77 – that would be a safer and more comfortable road.

“If we are wanting to increase tourism, because everything so far looks like that’s what this national park is about, just getting tourists.

“But we need improvements for the people who live there, as well as tourism, so that would be our starter, the infrastructure of the region – get it sorted first.”

Rob Lucas, of the Galloway National Park Association, said the project was eight years in the making.

“The idea that nobody knows about this is disingenuous,” he said.

Mr Lucas said a forthcoming public consultation would give the regional community the chance to voice their opinion on how to shape any future Galloway National Park to suit its needs and to deliver for nature, the community and the economy.

He added that a Park would give a stronger voice and greater resources to the local community so it can do more to shape its own future.

Following the session, Mr Lucas said:”It’s about bringing people together to achieve a common vision. There has often been the feeling that Galloway is a place things are ‘done to’ and not “with’ – a National Park would be a chance to start to redress that balance in favour of an area that often feels neglected.”

The positive case for a Galloway National Park has also been presented in parliament in an exhibition for MSPs this week.

Exhibition sponsor South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said: “The request to the Parliament by the Galloway National Park Association for a stall came nearly two years ago and such is the waiting list it’s only now happened.

“But it is a timely opportunity to raise awareness of the public consultation on a possible National Park.

“I am very clear that if there was to be a proposal for a Park, it should be made in Galloway, for Galloway.

“Nothing has been decided and we have a blank sheet of paper. That’s why I would encourage everyone to take part in the consultation.

“Members of the GNPA have championed the case for many years because they care passionately about Galloway and believe a National Park will boost our local economy and protect our environment.

“Others will disagree and that’s why we need an informed debate, conducted with respect, where everyone has their say because we all want to see a decision that is right for Galloway.”