Looking to a Brighter Future –Park Consultation is Set to Start

·      Huge opportunity for Galloway, south and east Ayrshire

·      Build something amazing for nature and communities

·      Sixteen meetings will gauge views across the region

Let’s look to a brighter future - that’s the message from campaigners as they look forward to the start of the Galloway National Park consultation this week.

A National Park would bring together communities, businesses, nature charities and many others to build a brighter common future for Galloway and areas of south and east Ayrshire that are beautiful but have suffered major decline.

The NatureScot consultation into the proposed Galloway National Park, which could bring many millions of pounds a year of Scottish Government funding to the region, is due to begin on 7 November.

Sandra McDowall, Vice Chair of the Galloway National Park Association (GNPA), said: “This is a chance for all of us to build a brighter future - to achieve something amazing for our region.

“A Galloway National Park would attract large amounts of direct funding and inward investment for our environment, our economy and – of huge importance – would help us create a better future for our children.

“We want to see as many people as possible getting involved with the public consultation as this is their chance not just to win National Park status, but to shape the park and how it is run to suit the needs of the region.

“With so much doom and gloom in the world at the moment it’s brilliant to have something so positive available to us – especially as it means more of the money paid by local taxpayers is invested back in our area.”

The idea for a Galloway National Park dates back to a Dumfries and Galloway Council report in 2016, after which local people came together to form the GNPA, which has been campaigning ever since.

Sandra said: “It’s an idea born and bred in Galloway, by Galloway residents. And now we want to see a Park developed that is shaped by the people and the needs of our region.”

As part of the consultation process 16 meetings have already been announced in towns and villages across the region that will allow people to take part.

For more details see https://newnationalparkgalloway.commonplace.is

The Scottish Government also announced a two-week extension to the consultation period which will now run for 14 weeks.