Update - Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill - Stage 2

The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill is now at Stage 2 of the parliamentary process, where the Bill can be amended by the parliamentary committee responsible for scrutinising it.  The Rural Affairs and Islands Committee (RAIC) have now had two sessions which have considered amendments to parts 1 and 2 of the Bill.  Amendments to part 3 which covers Scottish National Parks legislation  - and will eventually result in the updating of the original National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000 - are to be dealt with at the next RAIC meeting on 3 December.

Nearly 40 amendments have been lodged in total by MSPs to alter or add to the proposals in part 3 of the Bill as it was introduced to the Scottish Parliament.  APRS and SCNP have worked with Scottish Environment LINK and other conservation charities to develop and refine ideas for amendments. These are variously intended to improve the legislation in order to help our existing National Parks achieve their aims more effectively, to improve decision-making by public bodies and office bearers that can impact National Parks, and to strengthen the statutory process for designating new National Parks.  We are grateful to the MSPs who have agreed to take our amendments forward.  The amendments promoted by us and SE LINK include ones covering the following:

•   A requirement for Ministers to produce and review a National Parks policy framework,

•   Strengthening the wording of both the new duty on public bodies to have regard to the aims and the existing duty around the delivery of Park Plans,

•   Extending the scope of the Sandford Principle which only applies to National Park Authorities, to include other public bodies whose operations affect National Parks. This can helps guide decisions if there appears to be a conflict between the first heritage aim of National Parks and other aims, giving priority to conservation,

•   Introducing a definition of cultural development into the Bill,

•   Removing the reference to “individual prosperity” from the new list of explanatory “sub-aims”,

•   Highlighting the importance of landscape in the ‘sub-aims”,

•   Creating a new fourth condition for an area of a potential National Park about its potential to contribute to nature recovery targets and climate targets,

•   A requirement for the Scottish Government to publish a clear vision for any new National Park at the point of its Proposal to give a strong foundation for a Reporting process and public consultation.

Some of these proposed changes have been developed following the government’s decision not to proceed with a third Scottish National Park and subsequent reflection on the statutory parts of the process that led to that point.  Others, such as the duties around the aims and implementing Park Plans, have been under consideration for much longer, including their discussion in SCNP and APRS’s 2013 publication ‘Unfinished Business’, written by John Mayhew who was APRS Director at the time and who very sadly died recently. John’s legacy from many years of campaigning for National Parks and his thoughtful and knowledgeable consideration of policy matters continues to be hugely influential.

As we go into December, we know that the Scottish Government have tabled a similar amendment to ours about “individual prosperity” so that particular change is likely to succeed.  We hope more of our ideas will find support from the Committee.  Following the completion of the Stage 2 Committee sessions, the amended Bill will go forward to Stage 3 for parliamentary debate, at which point further amendments can be put forward by MSPs and voted on.  We currently anticipate that Stage 3 will take place in January 2026.

The up-to-date list of amendments for the next RAIC meeting - The Third Marshalled List of Amendments for Stage 2  -  which relate to part 3 on National Parks, can be found here and the Bill as introduced is here.