Victorious campaigners vow to continue with challenge to new National Parks

Media House International has been vigorously representing campaign group ‘Lochaber National Park NO More’ in its fight against the Scottish Government introducing a new national park in Scotland.

The campaign group won their battle after the Scottish Government this week chose Galloway instead of Lochaber.

Lochaber was one of five areas under consideration for the special designation, and the Lochaber National Park NO More campaign has been at the forefront of calls for proper scrutiny of the costs and performance of both the Cairngorm (CNP) and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs (LLTNP) national parks before any more were created.

A petition calling for such a probe, led by the Lochaber campaigners, is currently before the Scottish Parliament and a hearing is due to take place in the autumn.

Campaign founder and Lochaber crofter Debbie Carmichael, said: “We are obviously delighted to have successfully persuaded the Scottish Government not to choose Lochaber, but the issues we raised during our campaign have not gone away.

“But it would be totally irresponsible for the Scottish Government to press ahead with a new national park anywhere without examining the operation of the two existing parks, which has never happened in the 21 years since they were founded.

“For that reason, we will be continuing to press our petition, and if anyone in Galloway thinks a new national park will bring nothing but benefits, we would urge them to take a closer look.”

CNP’s annual running cost is £16.2 million, of which staff and board costs account for 41% of the operational plan. In 2023-24 LLTNP will cost £13.9m, with salaries accounting for £7.2million.

Lochaber campaigners argued that rather than spending well over £10m a year on a national park, better roads and a replacement hospital were much more pressing needs, and that towns like Fort William were already unable to cope with tourism without trying to encourage more.

Fergus Ewing, the SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn who has supported the campaign against national park expansion and spoke in favour of the Lochaber petition at the Scottish Parliament’s petitions committee on June 12, said: “I remain firmly of the view that before any new national parks are created there must be an independent review of the existing bodies. It’s just common sense to examine their performance given there has never been a proper appraisal at any point in their existence.

“There was widespread opposition to Lochaber becoming a national park and I am delighted my government has recognised it would have been entirely wrong under such circumstances to proceed.

Mr Ewing added: “It would be absolute folly to foist national park status on Galloway without a full appraisal and that must surely be part of the consultation process, otherwise it won’t be worth the paper on which its written.  So far, we have had no proper answers to the questions the petitioners have raised, and until such times as they are provided, then it must be a case of this far and no further.”

Angus MacDonald, the newly elected Liberal Democrat MP for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, who is also the councillor for Fort William and Ardnamurchan, said: “While obviously relieved that Lochaber has not been nominated for national park status, all the concerns we have raised since this plan was first floated remain.

“We have been pleading for infrastructure funding from the Scottish Government for 20 years. Our hospital in Fort William should have been replaced decades ago, we have half the care beds we need, the A82 must be one of the worst roads in Scotland and we desperately need a bridge over the Corran Narrows. These still need addressing.

“We are told by ministers ‘there is no money’ but they are still planning to spend millions on setting up and running a park in Galloway when they still have no real understanding about how the two existing parks are performing. “

Widespread media coverage has been achieved throughout this campaign including the likes of, The Press & Journal, West Coast Today, Strathspey Herald, MailOnline, Scottish Daily Express and The Herald.

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