Galloway National Park consultation: respectful discussion and informed debate

Updated 10th January 2025

The South of Scotland Destination Alliance (SSDA) is the destination management and marketing organisation for the South of Scotland.  We represent around 750 businesses, communities, social enterprises and other groups involved in the visitor economy across the region.

The SSDA has not been an active part in the development of the Galloway National Park bid and we are not a direct beneficiary from it but we do support the opportunity this presents for the region because we believe, if established with the appropriate locally-owned governance structures and a model that people can support, it can help bring community and economic prosperity, while protecting what is so special about Galloway. 

We recognise the range of different views on this topic and we welcome the next stage in the process: a full, open, transparent consultation, run by NatureScot, in which everyone can share their own view, and respectfully listen to others’.

The consultation runs from November 2024 to February 2025. 

We strongly encourage all SSDA members to take part in the survey before the 14^th February deadline.

Have your voice heard…

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CONSULTATION AND COMPLETE THE SURVEY HERE

You can read the full detailed paper, with all information about the proposed Galloway National Park here.

VIEWS OF VISITOR ECONOMY BUSINESSES:

Between 21^st October and 4^th November 2024, 103 tourism businesses in Dumfries and Galloway, South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire completed a short online survey sharing their initial views on the proposed Galloway National Park. This was before full information was published by Nature Scot about the proposition, so should be viewed in this light.

Read the Results of the Survey HERE

• Roughly two thirds of respondents (66%) supported the idea of a national park and under one third (30%) opposed the proposition.  There was a high degree of polarisation, with over 80% of respondents having a “strong” view on this subject: 53% were “strongly supportive” of a national park, with 27% “strongly opposed”.
• Those in favour of a national park typically cited: the economic benefits of attracting more visitors, the importance of protecting nature and bio-diversity, creating more jobs to retain more young people, supporting businesses to stay open all year, increasing investment in amenities.
• Those against typically cited: concerns about over-tourism, litter and parking; the impact on infrastructure; increased bureaucracy; loss of affordable housing; loss of peace and tranquillity; the impact on farming; issues with planning; and the lack of obvious benefits.
• 78% of respondents said they felt a national park would have a positive impact on their business (52% “strongly positive”, 25% “slightly positive”).  Just under 11% said it would have a “strongly negative” impact, with under 4% “slightly negative” and 8% “no effect” or “don’t know”.
• With regards the administration of a possible national park, there was a strong consensus that it should be governed by a locally-led board and officers should live and work in the area; it should keep administration and bureaucracy to a minimum with a focus on delivery and clear accountability.  Clearly many respondents had real concerns it could be an unwieldy bureaucracy.

The results of this initial survey suggest most visitor economy businesses in the area support the idea of a Galloway National Park; however, there is a significant minority that passionately oppose it and clearly have strong concerns.  This has become a polarised and in places angry debate, with at times the same arguments used by both sides in diametrically opposed ways.  There is a need -on both sides- for more clear information, sober analysis, respectful dialogue and myth-busting.

The one area where there seemed to be broad consensus was that, if a national park is created, it should be locally and efficiently run, without significant bureaucracy and administration.

It should be emphasised that this survey only considered the views of local visitor economy businesses, not the wider public or other industries.

THE CAIRNGORMS EXPERIENCE:

The SSDA and VisitScotland are hosting a special webinar taking place on Wednesday 22nd January 2025, 1.30 - 2.30pm, in which the CEOs of the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Cairngorms Business Partnership / Visit Cairngorms will offer a unique and candid insight into the lived experience of the Cairngorms since establishing a national park.

 Learn more and book your place here

We have organised this webinar because a number of businesses have requested more information about the experience of Scotland’s existing national parks, as part of the Galloway National Park consultations.

It will be fascinating to learn more about the Cairngorms experience in this webinar but we are keen to emphasise that what is being proposed for Galloway is not an exact replica of the Cairngorms National Park, the Loch Lomond National Park, or any existing UK national park.  Rather, local communities and businesses in Galloway are being asked whether they would like a national park and, if so, what sort of national park would be most appropriate for Galloway.  Each national park is uniquely designed around what local communities want and need: there is not a one size fits all approach.  When filling in the consultation survey you can have your say about the size, powers, and decision-making around a possible national park.

POINTS OF CLARIFICATION:

It seems that soon after the announcement in July 2024 that Galloway was the lead region under consideration for the development of a new National Park, there was a strong outcry from a section of the community that is strongly opposed to the idea.  There has been significant misinformation about what a national park is.

Reading all that has been said online, it is perhaps worth clarifying a few key points in this discussion which risk being lost in the heat of the debate.

1) What is a National Park?  A National Park is a globally-recognised way of protecting what makes an area special: it’s landscape, culture and people, and securing funding for an area to help protect these things.  There is a high degree of flexibility as to how this is done, with lots of very different governance models across the existing National Parks.  

It is, at its core, for the people of Galloway to decide what flavour of National Park would work best here, so part of the consultation is not just about a binary, whether to have a national park or not, but what sort of national park to have – including what the boundaries should be and how should it be governed.  Key to this is asking ourselves what do we value and want to protect, how do we want to protect this, and who should make decisions. It is not one size fits all.

Crucially, any form of national park would:

• have strong local ownership, local control and local decision-making;
• give powers and funding to support responsible visitor management in locally appropriate ways (e.g. addressing litter and problem camping, funding for rangers, giving powers for local by-laws – for example on motorhome parking, encouraging people to visit during the quieter months, etc);
• work in close and collaborative partnership with all local communities and all industries, including land-owners and farmers.

2) What is the value of tourism?  Tourism is an absolutely essential part of the Dumfries and Galloway economy.  According to the latest STEAM figures, in 2023 tourism brought over £582m to Dumfries and Galloway, supporting 9,472 jobs – this is over 14.4% of the entire economically active population of Dumfries and Galloway.  Tourism is not a dirty word: it is an essential part of our community and economic prosperity in the south-west of Scotland.

 3) What is Responsible Tourism: The South of Scotland had a huge consultation through 2023 in which hundreds of businesses and communities fed into the development of a Responsible Tourism strategy for our region, with thousands of submissions directly feeding into the drafting.  Of those who fed in:

• 84% felt there has been an inclusive, transparent and fair consultation
• 93% felt the views they shared in the consultation are represented in the strategy
• 95% saw themselves being involved in the delivery of the strategy
• 97% saw themselves benefitting from the strategy

The strategy has Responsible Tourism at its heart. 

We all agree that the South of Scotland does not want or need destructive mass tourism: we are not a ‘sell ‘em cheap, stack ‘em high’ destination.  We are looking for responsible visitors, who engage communities with respect, and help contribute to economic prosperity for all. 

The strategy states: “Responsible tourism is all about a collaborative approach for growing the collective value of tourism and contributing to the wellbeing economy. It does so in a way that makes better places for people to visit and live in. It maximises the positive benefits of tourism for everyone, including host communities and the environment… Responsible Tourism is the golden thread that runs through this strategy and should influence every action.”

The Strategy sets out how, by working together with communities, we can support a further 6,000 jobs without jeopardising what makes our region so special.

We believe that establishing an appropriately governed, light-touch national park to protect and promote what makes our region so special would not precipitate a sudden or inexorable slide to over-tourism.  We believe, managed carefully as part of an all-agency Responsible Tourism Strategy, it can be used to attract responsible, high-spending visitors to support communities and businesses, in a sustainable way.  Key to this is not unthinkingly attracting more visitors at the already busy times of the year but rather working together to extend the season: helping our local businesses that are really struggling at the quieter times of the year, so they can keep staff employed, year-round, in quality jobs.

4) Who is driving this bid?  While the idea to have another National Park in Scotland was a government proposal, every aspect of the Galloway bid has been locally-run and locally-driven.  It is not being imposed from on high.   It is local residents volunteering their time, energy and passion because they believe that Galloway has something special that’s worth protecting; they believe that too often we talk ourselves down in the south-west of Scotland and too often funding, jobs and opportunities go to other parts of the UK.

Many people clearly back the idea to create a Galloway National Park and many people clearly oppose it.  In this context, it seems a sensible next step to have an open, transparent and fair consultation to better gauge where the balance lies.  This is what is proposed and what will happen next, managed by NatureScot.  It is hugely important that this consultation is conducted in an inclusive and tolerant way – not shouting at each other or intimidating others who have different views. 

The decision should not be made on the merits of who shouts the loudest, or by demonising those with different views.

It is an absolutely valid position to object to a Galloway National Park.  It is equally valid to support the idea.  Let’s have a discussion that looks to respect, and listen to, others’ viewpoints even if different to our own, so no one is afraid to share their honest opinion.

We all want the best for the South of Scotland, our communities, our economy and our natural capital.

Learn more about the existing Scottish National Parks, and the impact they have, on the NatureScot website and in the video below: