The public consultation into a new national park for Galloway has descended into farce with claims that the government agency tasked with its introduction is helping to encourage children to fill in its questionnaire after a heavily biased presentation.
NatureScot has begun a series of presentations in schools, with parents at Castle Douglas High School reporting that First Year pupils as young as 12 were being encouraged to complete the survey, which is being used as the basis for the decision whether to turn thousands of acres of Dumfries & Galloway and Ayrshire into a third Scottish national park.
It has also emerged that Ramblers Scotland is encouraging walkers from across Scotland to participate, meaning it cannot be relied on as a measurement of public opinion in the affected area. The John Muir Trust, the national charity which supports rewilding, is also now promoting the pro-park agenda.
And in what is seen as increasingly desperate tactics to counter growing opposition to its plan, the Galloway National Park Association (GNPA) has issued statements which park opponents allege are “appalling untruths designed to mislead”.
Liz Hitschmann, co-founder of the No Galloway National Park (NGNP) campaign, hit out at the way NatureScot is conducting the consultation. “We know the questionnaire is utterly biased in favour of a park, and that NatureScot is entirely unsuitable to run a fair, honest and balanced consultation, but to take what is a blatant pro-park presentation into schools is completely unacceptable when we are not being afforded the same opportunity.
“The presentation slide pack for schools is even more biased than the questionnaire, which we didn’t think was possible.“But for NatureScot to then actively encourage children to participate in the questionnaire is beyond the pale. Even when schools run mock elections, they put up arguments from all sides, but this is the appropriation of children to achieve a political goal. It’s like something out of Red China.”
NGNP co-founder Denise Brownlee said the consultation should now be suspended after involvement of outside pressure groups.
“We have repeatedly been told the park would be for the people of Galloway and shaped by the people of Galloway, but the Ramblers and John Muir are deliberately turning it into anything but. We would have liked it to include a yes-no question, but that’s now impossible because of this outside interference.
“This was never a park for Galloway people but a park for the Scottish Government, with Scottish Government targets and priorities. It’s now been hi-jacked by outside interests and the views of Galloway people are being diluted by the day.
“If it wasn’t already, the consultation is now effectively pointless and should be suspended before any more time and money is wasted on it.
The campaigners also hit out at a series of social media posts released by the GNPA, including a false claim that there would be no investment in the region without a national park.
“Not content with having the power of the whole Scottish Government behind them, the GNPA is now resorting to spreading quite appalling untruths wilfully designed to mislead. They are not even clever about it because it is so easy to prove wrong, so they must be getting desperate.”
Dumfries and Galloway MP John Cooper agreed the NatureScot consultation was unsatisfactory.
“I have always been clear that the decision on any National Park sits with Holyrood, and not Westminster, but I have also had long-held concerns about the consultation,” he said.
“Very early on, I asked NatureScot how they would weigh responses – what significance would they give one response, positive or negative, from a person living in Dumfries & Galloway compared to perhaps 10,000 from outwith the region.
“I have to say they did not have what I felt was a satisfactory answer, which does make me think external lobbying could play a role given consultations tend to be a numbers game.”
Mr Cooper also criticised the lack of a ‘No park’ option. “While we were told the consultation was “a blank sheet of paper”, I am surprised there is not a simple “No, none of the above” option. I think that should have been included in a consultation which we are told is not a fait accompli in which “no Park” is a possible outcome,” he added.
Read this story in The Telegraph and Ayr Advertiser.
