Don’t Forget our Regional Parks

Welcome progress is being made to identify areas suitable for National Park status by the end of this Holyrood Parliament in 2026. But what of our three Regional Parks, established initially with the encouragement of the former Countryside Commission for Scotland and supported for a number of years by Scottish Natural Heritage (now NatureScot)?

The three areas – Clyde-Muirshiel, the Lomond Hills, and the Pentland Hills – are possibly too limited in area to be considered as future National Parks but are nevertheless important national resources deserving of greater emphasis than they have been receiving in recent years. They have been abandoned by central government and allowed to drift downhill as far as financial support and staffing are concerned, and yet they could play an increasingly important part in the drive to tackle climate change, having extensive areas of upland bog and heath. They are of course some of the most accessible areas of hill country for the bulk of the Scottish population in the central belt and can play an important part in providing an upland experience for those who cannot easily reach the Highlands or the Southern Uplands.

SCNP and APRS carried out a review of the Regional Parks in 2019/20, and our report can be seen here.