By John Donohoe

So one is up and running and the other has announced its Board. Impressed? Not yet. Lomond and the Trossachs got ambushed at the start on some of the outstanding planning issues the craven local authorities had left for them. The tabloid hysteria and the rash of misinformation meant that the children's hospice project near Balloch was an unwinnable situation; the passing of the wholly inappropriate, and locally opposed, development for Balmaha is less understandable. We can only hope that the Board can evolve a coherent process more consistent with the high aspirations of the supporters of the park system. Mind you, the rash of Lomond and Trossachs Park signs along the peripheral roads have an Alice in Wonderland character, especially when they point both ways at junctions. I particularly like the signs up the A9, which must be designed to point up the absurd decision to exclude Highland Perthshire from the Cairngorms Park.

Just when you think they cannot damage the credibility of the Cairngorms Park further, they do. Getting it wrong on planning powers, then on boundaries, and now on Board composition. There are some good people there and I'm sure Willie McKenna and others will rightly and vigorously defend local interests. But the board looks unbalanced, with no representative of informal outdoor recreation, particularly inappropriate for an area that includes the country's principal winter sports areas and the prestigious National Outdoor Centre at Glenmore Lodge. The Board is also shy of the kind of internationally recognised figure who could lead the campaign for World Heritage Site status. I presume that is still an aspiration? Having failed again to take the opportunity to build trust and working relationships among the stakeholders and affected interest groups the onus is on the Board to demonstrate that it takes its responsibilities for access, conservation, and restoration seriously. The Cairngorms Partnership had started to address this and the Board needs to pick up some of their confidence building measures. Otherwise the gerrymandering that has given Highland Council a disproportionate voice could lead to the exporting of the rancorous and confrontational approach of Strathspey into those other areas where more effective working relationships have been the norm.

There is obviously reluctance among politicians to talk of further parks until the first two have some track record. The inclusion in the Labour Party Manifesto of a Maritime Park is a start, but we need to prepare the ground for appropriate precursor bodies for the obvious candidate areas. Where local people, businesses, recreationalists, politicians, and environmentalists can learn to work together effectively there is a better chance that we can develop the kind of Park we can all relate to and be proud of.

Appointment of Board Members by Scottish Exec
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