Murdo is calling on Perth and Kinross Council to widen its consultation with local residents and land managers regarding its National Park bid.
The local authority submitted the bid for the Tay Forest National Park (TFNP) in February, but Murdo has said he shares concerns raised by the Tayside and Central Scotland Moorland Group about this matter.
The Moorland Group have written a letter to the Scottish Government which provides details of why they feel that the engagement process was ‘fundamentally flawed.’
Commenting, Murdo said: “I agree with the concerns raised by the Tayside and Central Scotland Moorland Group and feel Perth and Kinross Council need to widen its consultation process with local residents and more land managers. As the Moorland Group point out, the principal question in the consultation asked, ‘To what extent do you agree with your community being in a national park in northern Perthshire?’ As the Moorland Group state, 116 responses to this question out of the 352 were received from communities located outside the proposed national park. I agree with the Moorland Group who feel that those responses should carry less weight than those from within the proposed boundary.
“It is also worth noting that 78.1% of those in general disagreement to this question came from land managers.”
Murdo continued: “The Moorland Group raise many valid concerns, in particular, asking why they were not invited to the initial launch on October 5 in Pitlochry Festival Theatre. I agree with their claim that this move suggests very little value was ascribed to the views of those who manage and work the land, which I find very concerning.
“I also agree with their concern that it is disingenuous of the Council to claim that overall engagement levels in the consultation process were very high, when only 525 people engaged in total, and, as they quite rightly point out, this equates to just 0.8% out of a population of around 68,000 people. This demonstrates that the Council definitely need to go back to the drawing board on this consultation process and make sure it is widened in terms of those who are contacted and made aware of the National Park bid.
“The Council claim they carried out their eight-week public consultation with residents, land managers and other interested parties across Perth and Kinross to discuss their initial proposals for Tay Forest National Park, but it appears that this consultation did not include land managers such as the Moorland Group, nor did it include many local residents, who I’m sure would wish to comment on this plan.
“I am asking Perth and Kinross Council to extend their consultation process to include these interested parties.”
The Scottish Government has announced it intends to create at least one more National Park.
