Scotsman Article 29 Jan 2003

The 13,000 residents who live within the proposed boundary will shortly be asked to vote for the five community representatives who will serve on the 25-strong park authority when it opens on 25 March.

Nomination forms will be available from today and prospective candidates must return these by 4pm on Wednesday, 5 February.

In the event of a contest in the five wards, postal ballot papers will be issued on 20 February with a deadline for return by 4pm on 13 March.

The park area has been divided into five wards - three in Highland, one in Moray/Aberdeenshire and one in Aberdeenshire/Angus - with one community candidate being elected to represent each area for four years.

The park authority will also be comprised of ten people appointed by the Executive and ten nominated by local authorities - five from Highland Council, three from Aberdeenshire Council and one each from Moray and Angus councils.

A key early task of the National Park Authority will be to prepare and consult on a National Park Plan for the Cairngorms.

This will set out the NPA’s policy in relation to the management of the park.

The park will be the biggest in Britain at 1,466 square miles, but, as it nears reality, the row shows no signs of abating.

A number of bodies have been critical of the proposed boundary and the two-tier planning system with powers shared between the park authority and councils - a move opponents say will lead to conflict and confusion.

Much of the anger centres on the omission of Perthshire, which was included in the original Scottish Natural Heritage recommendations, but later left out.

Perth and Kinross Council is taking legal advice and may seek a judicial review.

Michael Barnacle, a spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council on the park issue, said: "I sincerely hope that the council can take this boundary issue further and get this ‘flawed’ piece of legislation changed."

He said the final boundary was based upon political lobbying and cronyism rather than natural heritage considerations.

"I and the council - on an all-party basis - find our exclusion from the draft and final designation orders unjustifiable, regarding it as unacceptable that the parts of Highland Perthshire [most notably Atholl and Glenshee] recommended for inclusion by SNH ... are not within the park and that we will not be represented on the board."

He added: "Representations from Perthshire have not been listened to on the boundary issue, the current southern boundary is at odds with the overwhelming view from respondents to the costly consultation exercise sought by the Executive, who have not provided clear reasons for their departure from SNH recommendations.

"What is now proposed and finalised through Parliament precludes obvious gateways to the national park in Atholl and Glenshee, where the majority of visitors from the south approach the Cairngorms from Perth."

Mr Barnacle claims the Executive is seeking to drive the designation order through Parliament as quickly as possible, for "political expediency" to meet a pledge to establish two national parks before May 2003.

"I regard this as poor timing and that it would have been more appropriate not to rush through a ‘flawed’ designation … but to have redrafted them in accordance with representations made so that we got the parameters for this important mountain park right on natural heritage grounds."

The Liberal Democrat councillor says he feels badly let-down by his party colleague Ross Finnie, who has "effectively abrogated responsibility on this issue" to his deputy minister.