CONSULTATION has begun towards realising the Scottish Government’s commitment to establish at least one new National Park in the lifetime of this parliament, by spring 2026.

The New National Park stakeholder consultation, led by NatureScot, is now inviting contributions which will help define how a new National Park will work.

It is nearly 20 years since the first two national parks were created in Scotland. Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park was established in 2002 and Cairngorms National Park was established in 2003, following the approval of the National Parks (Scotland) Act in 2000.

With a third designation in the works, NatureScot has already established a national stakeholder advisory group bringing together a range of involved organisations and sectors. The new consultation is intended to involve further stakeholder and interest groups from across Scotland’s local authorities, visitor destination groups, conservation, planning and education bodies.

Biodiversity Minister Lorna Slater said: “Our National Parks do essential work to restore our natural environment, tackle the climate crisis, help manage facilities for visitors, promote responsible access and develop sustainable communities. That is why we are committed to establish at least one new National Park in Scotland by the end of this Parliamentary session in 2026.

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“Earlier this year I launched a national discussion to understand what the public value most about our National Parks and to seek views on what they should be delivering for Scotland, its communities and its visitors.

“For the next stage in the process, NatureScot will lead an online public consultation and host stakeholder meetings to give everyone the opportunity to feed in their views and ideas," said Ms Slater. “The consultation will lead to a transparent means of assessing candidate National Parks, and will inform our strategy for supporting our Parks to do more for local communities, visitors and nature.”

NatureScot’s chief executive, Francesca Osowska, said: “Our ambition for a new National Park for Scotland is that it will drive the transformation needed to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, helping to halt nature loss by 2030 and restore nature on a landscape scale by 2045.

“National Parks are special places valued by the nation. The scenery and wildlife of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms are some of the best in Scotland and are wonderful places to enjoy the outdoors. It is exciting to imagine that potential for another beautiful area in Scotland to become a National Park.”