National Parks

Speech by Alison McInnes delivered to The Scottish Parliament on Thu 13th Mar 2008

I am fortunate enough to have part of the Cairngorms national park in my region. As well as being a world-class area of outstanding natural environment, the park is home to around 17,000 people in a wide range of diverse communities.

I was a member of the east areas board of Scottish Natural Heritage while the national parks were being set up, and I thoroughly enjoyed being involved in the discussions about their remit, their geographical range and the governance issues involved. I welcome the minister's announcement on the southern boundaries.

From its early days, I have watched with interest the development of the Cairngorms national park, and I take the opportunity to commend the park authority for its work. The park has developed a strong identity in quite a short time. Many interesting initiatives are being progressed, from tackling affordable housing issues-which is central to ensuring that the park remains sustainable-to setting up a community investment fund and developing new sustainable transport options, such as the heather hopper.

From the outset, the park authority demonstrated a determination to connect with local communities and to take a consensual approach, as far as possible, to the determination of aims and objectives. The board carried out a comprehensive consultation on its park plan and I was particularly pleased at the efforts that it made to engage with young people. Local empowerment is an important principle for Liberal Democrats. We knew that if parks were to be truly effective, the rights of local people to be involved in the decisions that affect them must be enshrined in legislation. In many other national parks, in England for example, tensions between the park and the community regularly arise.

I do not agree with John Scott that a board's size should be directly related to the size of its annual budget. Although SEPA, HIE and even SNH are important agencies, none has the scope that park authorities have to impact on people's lives in many ways. The reach of park authorities goes far beyond their direct expenditure.

We might regard national park authorities as more akin to local authorities than to other quango boards, given the scope of their work.

Scotland came somewhat late to the setting up of national parks, so we had an opportunity to learn from and improve on earlier models. I single out our success in two areas. First, national parks in Scotland differ from many parks around the world in that they have a social and economic development aim alongside the aims of conservation, understanding and enjoyment of the countryside. There is an explicit recognition of the importance of the people who live and work in the park.

Secondly, the diversity of board members, which has produced a synthesis of local knowledge, national interests and specialisms, has been successful. Boards are tasked with reaching decisions in a collective and co-ordinated manner and have carried out that responsibility well. The involvement of directly elected members and local councillors, as well as other interests, means that boards can speak confidently on behalf of the park's interests and negotiate successfully with the myriad agencies that help to deliver the park's aims.

In the short time that the Cairngorms National Park Authority has been in place, it has built a reputation for openness and accountability. I acknowledge the need to review operations after the first five years, but I would be extremely unhappy if the diversity of the board or the principles of local decision making were threatened in any way.