Scottish government abandons plans to create national park in Galloway

29 May 2025, 20:27

The Scottish government has scrapped plans for a national park to be created in Galloway.

Plans to create Scotland's third national park in Galloway and Ayrshire have been dropped by ministers.

The national park could have seen the area join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs.

Rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon said the Scottish government had weighed up the arguments for and against the park and decided not to proceed.

Speaking in the Scottish parliament, Ms Gougeon said: “While there is substantial support for a national park and what it could deliver for the southwest of Scotland, there is also significant opposition. 

"I realise that this decision will be very disappointing for those who have been campaigning for a new national park in Galloway over many years."

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Ms Gougeon added the consultation "raised some really important issues" that local people "care deeply about"

"We now have the opportunity to look at how we can address these," she said.

She added that the Scottish government remained committed to the existing national parks and could consider creating others in future.

Galloway and West Dumfries Conservative MSP Finlay Carson said he had initially supported the plans but it had started to feel like a "designation imposed rather than a designation requested".

Mr Carson welcomed the decision to drop the plans which he said reflected the views of the people in the area.

More than 5,000 surveys were completed and around 1,000 people attended events that were held across Galloway and South and East Ayrshire.

The final results showing around 54% of responses opposed the National Park proposal and around 42% of responses supported it.

Mr Carson also criticised the process which had led to the decision as "deeply flawed".

However, Labour's South Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said the area had been a "forgotten corner" of the country for too long.

Mr Smyth said he was afraid the area could now become a "dumping ground" for wind turbines and said the Scottish government had taken the "easy way out" in deciding not to proceed.

The Scottish Greens also criticised the decision not to go ahead with the proposals.

"By scrapping plans for the third national park in Galloway, the Scottish government has slammed the door on the economic investment and new powers this designation could bring," Green's Scottish MSP Mark Ruskell said.

"This is devastating news for the local community and nature."