Concerns over the planning powers to be given to the authorities of the forthcoming Cairngorms National Park has prompted The Cairngorms Campaign and the Scottish Council for National Parks to raise a petition which has been received in Parliament.

At the meeting of the Public Petitions Committee on 23rd April, Bill Wright, representing the Cairngorms Campaign, supported by Bill McDermott and Robert Maund, made a presentation to MSPs and answered questions, describing their concerns about inadequate planning powers which have been proposed for the Cairngorms park. These differ, apparently without explanation, to those which are expected to be granted to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.

The presentation was well received by the committee, who undertook to write to the Scottish Executive seeking clarification of the issues raised before any further progress follows.

A full transcript of the presentation and debate can be read on the Scottish Parliament website.

History of the planning question
The petition has been raised because MSPs will have limited opportunity to debate what is a potentially contentious and divisive issue. At the moment, the final Designation Order creating the Cairngorms National Park will be drawn up by the Scottish Executive and will then be either, agreed by a Parliamentary Committee (rather than during a full sitting of Parliament), or rejected. The Committee cannot amend the Order submitted to them, only pass or reject it.

Prior to the launch of the formal consultation process in December 2000, conducted by Scottish Natural Heritage on behalf of the Scottish Executive, the Cairngorms Campaign circulated a brochure to all MSPs and others entitled 'The Cairngorms National Park, A New Opportunity'. It recommended that planning powers should be the responsibility of the National Park Board. It also warned that a potential conflict of interest could arise, due to SNH as government advisors on natural heritage, also being the Scottish Executive's appointed reporter for the consultation process.

After the public consultation, SNH in its recommendations to the Executive arrived at a highly complicated and confusing alternative. It largely follows the Executive's already chosen preference of planning powers remaining with local authorities. This was particularly exceptional since IUCN (the World Conservation Union) recommends that National Park Authorities should be the major focus of decision-making in all land use issues, as is the established practice across the rest Europe.

During a recent Members debate raised by Elaine Thomson MSP on designation of the Cairngorms as a World Heritage Site, it was repeatedly acknowledged by Members taking part in the debate that integrated planning would be necessary if the Cairngorms are to meet the criteria for World Heritage Site designation.

In both the case of Loch Lomond & Trossachs and Cairngorms National Park Authority it was recommended and widely accepted that five of the Board members will be directly elected. Despite this, development control and local planning powers were only recommended in the case of the former, potentially leaving those directly elected in the Cairngorms with significantly less opportunity to shape the areas future.

The petition reads as follows:

JOINT PETITION TO THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT.
INADEQUATE PLANNING POWERS FOR THE PROPOSED
CAIRNGORMS NATIONAL PARK.

We the undersigned declare that the recommended planning powers for the proposed Cairngorms National Park Authority are inadequate to ensure the effective protection and sustainable development of an area which has suffered from some of Scotland's most bitter planning controversies.

The petitioners therefore request that the Parliament, before agreeing the Designation Order for the Cairngorms National Park,

• examines why the Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Authority is recommended to be a planning authority which makes its own Local Plans and has Development Control powers, whereas the Cairngorms National Park Authority is recommended without due reason to lack these powers, then
• urges the Scottish Executive to ensure that powers for the Cairngorms National Park Authority are at least as comprehensive as those for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.

We, the petitioners, have already approached the Scottish Executive and Scottish Natural Heritage for assistance in resolving the issues contained in our petition.

Ian Lawson Convenor The Cairngorms Campaign website

Prof. Brian Parnell Bsc ACGI FRTPI Honorary Secretary & Vice Chairman Scottish Council for National Parks

Signatories to the petition include the MCofS President John Donohoe, past President Nick Kempe, and Vice-president John Mackenzie.

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