Outcomes

National Scenic Areas: Scottish Natural Heritage's Advice to Government

Introduction

The Background

1. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) inherited from the former Countryside Commission for Scotland (CCS) its responsibility for the National Scenic Area designation. This designation was established in 1980 by the Secretary of State. A survey of Scotland's best scenery by the CCS identified 40 areas, described by the Commission as being "... of unsurpassed attractiveness which must be conserved as part of our national heritage". Descriptions of each of the 40 areas were provided in the CCS report Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, published in 1978. The subsequent history of this designation is described briefly at Annex 1.
2. It has been widely recognised in recent years that the National Scenic Area (NSA) is due for re-assessment. A range of concerns had been identified in earlier reviews (see bibliography). The most important of these was that this designation was not sufficiently effective as a protective mechanism. There was criticism also of the original selection of 40 areas on the grounds that it placed undue emphasis on the mountainous areas of Scotland. A preoccupation with other natural heritage issues, however, prevented much being done to tackle these concerns.
3. In 1997, the present Government, in its response to a general review of all natural heritage designations, endorsed the need for a national landscape designation and asked SNH to review the National Scenic Area. The brief requested SNH:
• to make recommendations on how the operation of the NSA designation can be made more effective, including re-establishing its basis in statute;
• to consider and advise on whether the present NSA suite should be expanded to include other kinds of landscapes not yet represented, for example, in the lowlands, or to add to the coverage of Scotland's fine coastline;
• to advise on what relationship the NSA might have with any future National Park designation; and
  to make recommendations on the relationship between the NSA and other scenic designations.

The Process of Review

4. The review was led by an internal SNH working group, which also included representation from COSLA. The previous reviews of the NSA had all pointed to failings in the way in which the designation functions, and many of these criticisms remained valid. With this existing knowledge, no major review of the recent performance of the NSA was considered necessary. However, the following action was undertaken to gather some further information and advice:
• an initial Invitation to Contribute to the review was circulated to the main organisations and interests either involved in working with the NSA or affected by it, and this drew out a number of useful contributions to assist the early thinking of the working group;
• a seminar was held at Battleby in November 1998 to debate some of the main issues with an invited audience of the main interests;
• a contract was let to ERM Consultants to review the current use of scenic designations in the planning system, and this study also included a brief assessment of the use of the NSA by a number of mainly public sector organisations involved in land-use planning and management;
• a review of experience in landscape designation in seven selected European countries was commissioned from Professor Michael Dower, Cheltenham and Gloucester College of Higher Education, and this report has provided a useful compilation of the diversity of approaches to landscape protection and management followed in these countries;
• a Forum on the Environment seminar at Pitlochry in February 1999 addressed the future of landscape designation; and
  two versions (full and summary) of a consultation paper setting out SNH's initial proposals were issued on 4 February 1999.
5. Some 143 responses were received by or soon after the closing date of 7 April, and they are listed in Annex 2. Detailed comments were received from 21 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, and from 43 community councils, drawn from right across the country. A summary of responses to the consultation is available alongside this submission to Government. The above-mentioned commissioned studies by ERM and Professor Dower will be published shortly in the SNH Review series.
6. This paper sets down SNH's advice in response to Government’s original request. As in our consultation paper, we continue to place emphasis on the need to make the NSA designation operate more effectively (Chapter 3). We also address the other issues referred to us: on the possible expansion of the NSA series (Chapter 4), on the role of local scenic designations and on relationships with proposed National Parks for Scotland (Chapter 5). First (Chapter 2), we set out an approach to safeguarding Scotland’s landscapes and the basis for the designation.