Park planning probe cost £178,000
Cairngorms authority need not even heed findings despite large bill to taxpayers
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Taxpayers stumped up £178,000 for an 11-day Scottish Government inquiry into the Cairngorms National Park’s planning blueprint.
But it emerged yesterday that the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) is not obliged to take heed of the inquiry findings, published in a 338-page document, even though it called for the inquiry.
On top of the investigation’s six-figure cost, it is reckoned the drafting of the CNPA’s local planning blueprint, which started five years ago, cost an additional £170,000 up to April this year. Park chiefs have admitted the costs do not include staff time involved in the process.
A spokesman for the Scottish Government said points raised by the inquiry hearing were “a matter for the park authority, as is whether they choose to accept the various recommendations made”.
Horrified by the revelation, Highlands and Islands Tory MSP Mary Scanlon said: “There seems little point in having a public inquiry at huge expense to the taxpayer when it would seem the national park authority can choose to ignore the recommendations.
“I would have thought the status of the national park would be the same as any local authority planning department where recommendations by the reporters’ unit must be adhered to.”
Park planners will debate the report’s findings in public next February. Planning committee convener Duncan Bryden said the report raised “significant issues” which his team needed time to digest.
In the hefty inquiry report, park chiefs have been advised by government inquiry officials to revise their draft policy document – the first local plan for a national park in Scotland – to ensure the right emphasis is given to encouraging economic development. Its policy must strike a balance between conservation within the park and demand for housing, recreation and economic development.
The guide will replace the existing four separate plans for the Highland, Moray, Angus and Aberdeenshire council areas and ultimately govern all future planning applications within its boundaries.
Park board member and Highland councillor Gregor Rimell yesterday questioned the “consistency” of government reporters.
He said: “Those who considered the local plan seem to be of a differing view to others who have considered local appeals.
“Where the reporters here may be saying ‘there is too much land allocated for housing: how do you justify it?’ individual reporters seem to have allowed appeals against refusal to build without any regard for this being a national park and sometimes, in local opinion, detrimental to the park.”
The inquiry report is available to view at the park authority’s Grantown and Ballater offices, and online at www.cairngorms.co.uk/park authority/publications/results.php?publicationID=233
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