02/04/2024

You may know that the Scottish Government is committed to designating at least one new National Park by March 2026 and that a nomination process invited community-led proposals by 29 February, 2024.

Through the seven years that our Campaign has been active we have had numerous contacts with community councils within the former county of Roxburghshire, the area which we have proposed as a starting point for consideration by Scottish Government.  But we have also had the opportunity to communicate with all other CCs in the Scottish Borders, and we have been open to suggestions for the proposal to cover a wider area, for example the Ettrick and Yarrow valleys and the southern and eastern parts of Berwickshire.

Please find attached our submission to the Scottish Government; we have also shared the document with Scottish Borders councillors and officials. The five applications lodged by the government's 29 February deadline are now being appraised. The successful bid or bids will be announced in the summer, after which there will be a long evaluation and consultation stage so that local businesses and residents can have their say.
 
National Park designation for the Borders would not solve all the entwined problems of the region’s environment and its communities. But it would help. Whether this bid is successful or not, we would like this document to communicate, to at least some degree, the fascination and importance of the landscape, its cultural heritage and its potential for the future. Please would you share it with your fellow community councillors?
 

Best wishes
Jane Bower, Malcolm Dickson
On behalf of the Campaign for a Scottish Borders National Park

 View Attached Document