A bid to create Scotland’s newest national park in Galloway is facing opposition from local residents after three quarters of those surveyed said they were against the plan. Galloway has been selected from a list of five other regions to potentially become the country’s third national park. However, a survey, which was sent to residents and businesses living within the proposed boundary, found 73 per cent voted against the proposed national park bid, 16 per cent were for the proposal and 11 per cent remained undecided.
The National Farmers Union Scotland (NFUS) said only 28 per cent of the 1,983 respondents were members of the union, and 33 per cent identified themselves as farmers. Looking exclusively at NFUS members, 556 members responded, of which 78 per cent were against the proposals, 10 per cent were for the plan and 12 per cent were undecided. The union said the results from the survey, which ran between February and September this year, gives NFUS “a clear mandate to continue its opposition to the proposals.
” An official government consultation on the move is due to begin in November. NFU Scotland’s chairman of Dumfries and Galloway Region, Stewart Wyllie said: “With almost 2,000 responses, the majority are clearly against the National Park proposals. The high response rate justified our decision to open the survey to all rather than just NFUS members.
“NFU Scotland continues to meet with NatureScot to establish how it will fulfil its remit as reporter a.