A new national park in Galloway, southwest Scotland, would bring an end to the stunning but overlooked region’s “obscurity”, said The i Paper.
But the proposal to create the UK’s first new national park in 15 years is at the centre of an “increasingly bitter” row among local residents, complete with accusations of sign-stealing, a shouting match in the street, and demands for a referendum.
“There will be mutiny if this is forced through – a lot of people are livid,” said Stewart Wyllie, a farmer and the regional chair of Scotland’s farmers’ union.
‘Ablaze with vitriol’
“Neither the politicians at Holyrood nor the local campaigners were prepared for the ferocity of the backlash” after the Scottish government chose Galloway from five areas in consideration to be the site of the new national park this summer.
Small towns are covered in campaign banners, and the back-and-forth has triggered “warring missives in the press” and Facebook groups “ablaze with vitriol” – in stark contrast to the picturesque rural scenery. “It’s been more divisive than the Scottish referendum vote,” Denise Brownlee, co-founder of the No Galloway National Park Facebook page, told The Guardian.
So why is the “ostensibly inoffensive issue of a national park ripping apart the genteel towns of Galloway?” Advocates say it will bring much-needed visitors and revenue to the region, which experiences higher than average poverty levels and offers limited job opportunities for young people. But those against the plan – including some locals who work in the tourism industry – are “concerned about everything from poor road infrastructure to Lake District-style overtourism“.
‘Extraordinary omission’
The Galloway National Park was meant to be uncontroversial, backed by Scottish Conservatives, Labour and (supposedly) the public, said John McLellan in The Scotsman. But when the decision was made and the “opposition campaign quickly gathered pace”, that backing quickly crumbled.
Of most concern to detractors is the Natural Environment Bill, part of the Scottish government’s Programme for Government. The NEB was introduced after the public consultation over the national park had ended, even though it includes “legally binding” new measures on biodiversity and climate change and “restrictions to local councils’ powers” over the management of the park.
That the NEB did not feature in the consultation period is an “extraordinary omission”, said McLellan, and one that appears to “make a mockery” of claims that the park’s plans will be “shaped for local people by local people”.
The Scottish government is currently awaiting a report into the consultation, but given the intensity of feeling “it’s not clear” whether the plans for a national park in Galloway will move forward, said The Guardian.
In the meantime, those against the park are demanding a referendum, hoping they can push the issue far enough out that it becomes part of the 2026 Holyrood election campaign.