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Cairngorms National Park: Consultation on draft Designation Order

Background

1. The National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 (referred to as "the Act") received Royal Assent in August 2000. It is an enabling Act, which sets out the criteria and the process for areas to be designated as National Parks in Scotland and lays out the framework under which all National Parks in Scotland must operate.

2. Under the Act, each National Park is set up by means of secondary legislation known as a Designation Order. The Designation Order specifies the boundaries of each National Park as well as detailing the mechanisms to be adopted for administration of the planning function. Additionally, the draft Order gives the date of establishment of the National Park Authority, the date on which the Park and the Park Authority become fully operational and details on the composition of the Park Authority.

3. The Act sets out the process which must be followed in setting up a National Park. This started in September 2000 when Ministers published formal proposals for a Cairngorms National Park. At the same time, under the terms of section 3 of the Act, the Scottish Ministers appointed Scottish Natural Heritage as the 'Reporting Body' and asked them to consult widely on proposals for a Cairngorms National Park. In doing so, Scottish Ministers directed SNH on the conduct of the consultation. In particular, they required that the consultation should be participatory; that SNH should develop and report on objective criteria; and, in carrying out its role as Reporter, SNH should record and report on the views expressed by consultees, and make quite clear and distinct any views which are those of SNH as statutory adviser on natural heritage matters.

4. SNH reported back to Ministers on 21 August 2001 and their report (and supporting documents) were published. Ministers having considered the report decided to bring forward a draft Designation Order and that draft Order is the subject of this consultation.

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