Rural Development Committee, 02 Oct 2001

Meeting date: Tuesday, October 2, 2001

Official Report 281KB pdf

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Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (PE393)

Agenda item 2 is consideration of petition PE393, which has been submitted by Killin community council. The Public Petitions Committee referred the petition to the Rural Development Committee and asked us to consider raising the petitioners' concerns with the Minister for Environment and Rural Development today. The minister is not here this afternoon, but at agenda item 3 we will discuss with officials the consultation exercise that has now been completed. I therefore ask Sylvia Jackson, in whose constituency Killin lies, to give her concerns and insight into the problem.

There has been an enormous reaction since the start of the draft designation order consultation, not just from the community in Killin, but from people living in the abutting areas and from various organisations. I will explain why. The Killin area, which is in Glen Dochart, is excluded from the proposed Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park, but the western part of Glen Dochart and the area round Tyndrum and Crianlarich are included. That seems somewhat illogical.

The community's representations come chiefly from the community council. The Scottish Executive has visited Killin and I gather that all 50 people who went to the day surgery that was held said that they were in favour of Killin's inclusion in the national park.

There have also been representations from adjoining community councils, which feel that Killin is part of their area. All the children in the area go to the same secondary school and Killin is represented on the same Stirling Council area forum. In a social sense, Killin is part of the bigger area that mostly lies within the boundaries of the proposed national park.

There have also been representations from Stirling Council, from the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs interim committee, from the local tourist board and from Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley. Every single organisation that I can think of that is concerned with the national park has said that Killin should be part of the national park area. The petition has provided a further means of bringing the community's concerns to the notice of the Scottish Executive and, via the Public Petitions Committee, of the Rural Development Committee.

The petitioners have focused on the criteria that were outlined by Scottish Natural Heritage for the inclusion of areas in a national park. They have successfully highlighted the facts that the Killin area is an area of outstanding natural and cultural heritage, that it has a distinctive character and a coherent identity and that both the community and the national park would benefit from its inclusion.

To be honest, I cannot find a reason why the area should not be included in the national park.

Thank you for that obviously strong support of the petition. I am keen to have a short discussion on it, so that we gain the measure of other members' support, but I would like first to ask Dr Jackson whether, as the constituency MSP, she has received any representations to suggest that Killin should not be part of the national park.

I have received none.

So the support for the petition has been 100 per cent.

I am very sympathetic to the case that has been presented. It is absolutely clear, as far as I can see. Even the Scottish Executive response, which is before us, appears to be supportive. I have only one simple question, which I hope we can answer: why did SNH leave out the Killin area in the first place? Judging from the criteria that SNH produced, to which Killin community council made a very good response, the decision to leave out the area seems strange and I am somewhat perplexed by it.

I wish to support the petition. The Falls of Dochart, which I frequently drive past, is probably one of the best-known tourist spots in Scotland. Killin, which has many amenities, would form a natural entry into the national park. The other entry from that angle would simply be a sign on the road running from Lix Toll to Tyndrum. From that point of view alone, Killin would make a very good addition to the national park.

I should declare a potential interest: my wife and I have a house in the proposed Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park area.

I support the petitioners. There are great links between those parts of the Endrick valley, Loch Lomond and Trossachs areas that are to be included and those that would be excluded. I see no logic for the exclusion of Glen Dochart.

I say that as one who spent many years in the Lomond mountain rescue team, which had joint exercises with the Killin mountain rescue team because we covered areas in common. There is no obvious geographical feature that divides or in any way differentiates the areas. The exclusion therefore seems to me to be arbitrary.

Given that we seem to have broad-based support from all the parties, we can give far more weight to the views of communities than to the apparent objections of SNH, which I find extremely difficult to understand. I fear that we will consider such objections again when we come to consider the Cairngorm national park boundaries. It has been suggested that part of Badenoch and Strathspey should not be included in that national park. In those areas, there are similar feelings and views to the ones in Killin to which Sylvia Jackson has referred.

On Mike Rumbles's point about why SNH is taking the view that it is, the note from the Executive suggests that it was based on cultural and geographical considerations or, if we read between the lines, that the excluded area looked a bit more like the Highlands than Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. That is clearly not reflected in how members of the local community identify themselves in the representations that they have made or in the views of local members who obviously know the area a lot better than I do. If the desire of local people is to be included in the national park, we should support that.

Stewart Sutherland—I mean, Stevenson.

You are giving me responsibilities to which I do not answer.

One day, perhaps.

I, too, support the petitioners. The views of the community are important. I am fairly familiar with the area. My great-great-grandfather was born just a few miles west of Killin. I do not know whether the MacGregors were terribly popular in the area. Nonetheless, I support the petition.

Thank you. Would Jamie McGrigor like to respond to that?

They were very popular indeed.

We are taking evidence from Scottish Executive officials under the next agenda item. Can we come back to this item and make a decision?

That is what I was about to suggest. It is obvious where the sympathies of the committee lie. Our next agenda item is to ask officials about the consultation programme. If we feel the need to return to the petition following discussion with the officials, I suggest that we do so. Is everybody happy with that suggestion?

Members indicated agreement.