Debate on bid to protect Loch Awe

A BID to have Loch Awe designated as a National Scenic Area (NSA) has been discussed in the Scottish Parliament.

The debate followed the John Muir Trust backing a petition lodged by Christine Metcalfe, on behalf of Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, calling for a review of the process for designation of NSAs and consideration of the potential for more NSAs to protect the natural landscape and support the tourism sector.

As a result of the petition, Scotland’s NSAs and whether there should be more of them was debated last week by MSPs on the Public Petitions Committee.

Earlier this year the John Muir Trust had encouraged members to add their name to the petition lodged by Ms Metcalfe.

There are 40 National Scenic Areas (NSAs) in Scotland, covering 13 per cent of country’s land mass. According to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) they represent Scotland’s finest landscapes - mountain areas such as the Skye Cuillins, Ben Nevis and Glencoe, and dramatic island landscapes like the Hebrides. The purpose of the NSA designation is to identify Scotland’s finest scenery and to ensure it is protected.

In the evidence session before the committee, Ms Metcalfe was accompanied by Alan Mitchell, also of Avich and Kilchrenan Community Council, and by Douglas Wynn, a trustee of the John Muir Trust.

Ms Metcalfe highlighted to the committee how the founding document of NSAs suggested that landscape conservation should be open to revision but that, to date, this has not happened, and the 40 NSAs remain as originally mapped in 1978.

She noted how a previous petition in 2015 had called for NSA status for Loch Ness and the Great Glen but the Scottish Government had said it had no plans to designate any further NSAs, a position restated late in 2016 in answer to a parliamentary question.

The scale and rapid spread of major developments - largely wind farms - in Scotland’s most sensitive scenic areas required, Ms Metcalfe argued, a ‘much more dynamic policy response from the Scottish Government than reliance on a four-decade-old mapping of protected landscapes’.

Ms Metcalfe felt that there are a number of potential candidates for new designations, but cited Loch Awe specifically as an example of an increasingly rare, tranquil environment in an unspoiled landscape. Designation, she argued, would be greatly welcomed by the tourism industry, visitors and residents.

Mr Wynn highlighted the dramatic rise in the areas of Scotland from which large industrial structures are visible. The lack of any revision of the NSAs in the light of these changing circumstances and pressure on landscape gives, he argued, strong justification for action.

MSPs agreed to write to the Scottish Government to ask why it is not reviewing the NSAs process. Views will also be sought from SNH and COSLA.