Dear Mr Wilson,
I am writing on behalf of the North East Mountain Trust to draw your attention to our serious concerns about the Draft Designation Order for the proposed Cairngorms National Park. As we have already argued in our response to the consultation on the Draft Order, NEMT believes the Executive is wrong both in relation to the proposed boundaries and planning arrangements for the Park.
We fully endorse the recommendation of the Rural Development Committee that the Park boundaries should be those proposed by Scottish Natural Heritage with the addition of the Parish of Laggan.
NEMT's views are in common with the significant majority of other agencies and individuals who responded to the consultation. We believe the refusal to give the Cairngorms Park Authority the same level of planning control as has been granted to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park will impact severely on the Authority's ability to deliver on its objectives. It will furthermore effectively remove the possibility of World Heritage status for the Cairngorms.
We note that the Rural Development Committee cited local concerns that transferring planning powers to the Park Authority could act as a disincentive to development. We would point out that the prime objective of national parks as defined by the National Parks Act is conservation. International experience of national parks has demonstrated clearly that sustainable development is best achieved when that prime objective is served.
NEMT does acknowledge, however, that the Rural Development Committee clearly recognised the strength of feeling on this issue and attempted to produce a viable compromise. The Committee's recommendations on planning represent the ABSOLUTE MINIMUM for a National Park with any degree of credibility. We would however strongly argue that seven years is too long to wait for a review the planning arrangements and that three years would be a more reasonable period.
We are in no doubt that the Executive's proposals on boundaries and planning as laid out in the Draft Designation Order would create a Park so ecologically compromised and a Park Authority so powerless that we would be better with no Park at all.
The Cairngorms are internationally recognised as an area of outstanding natural heritage value, albeit one which has been adversely affected by insensitive and badly planned human impacts. The creation of a viable National Park offers a unique opportunity to preserve and restore this outstanding area to the benefit of local, national and international communities. It would be a travesty if the Executive lost this exciting prospect for Scotland.
Yours sincerely
Will Campbell
North East Mountain Trust General Council
PO BOX 40
ABERDEEN
AB14 0TW
The North East Mountain Trust is a recognised charity whose main aim is to conserve the environment of the hills of North East Scotland for the benefit of the public wishing to take recreation there, both now and in the future. We have been active on relevant issues since the Trust was set up in 1980. Our membership consists of North East mountaineering and hill-walking clubs and of individual members, mainly from the Grampian area but also from other parts of Scotland and the rest of the UK.
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