Consultation on scrapped national park cost £160,000

A government body spent more than £160,000 on a consultation process which ultimately ended in plans for a new national park in Galloway being scrapped.

The sum spent by NatureScot was revealed through a freedom of information (FOI) request by the BBC - and is only a fraction of the overall spend on the park plans.

NatureScot said the total spent on the consultation had not been finalised, and final invoices would see the total rise "very slightly".

The consultation was held between November and February and its findings were used to help deliver a final decision on whether or not a new national park should be created.

The Scottish government said it was "absolutely correct" to support the nomination process.

Plans for a new national park - to join the Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs - were part of a power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens.

Although that agreement collapsed last year, the process continued.

The Scottish government revealed in May last year that it had spent more than £300,000 in the earlier stages of the search for a national park.

It spent a further £28,000 after Galloway was announced as the preferred potential location for a new national park in July 2024.

However, it stressed that civil servants worked "flexibly" across a range of matters making it impossible to specify exact costs in terms of their time.

The final stage of the process was the extended consultation - both in person and online - across 14 weeks which was carried out by NatureScot.

Here is a full breakdown of how much this cost:

• Licence for online engagement platform - £23,220
• Leaflets (printing and posting) - £20,438
• Gaelic translation - £215.55
• Event and other materials - £908.39
• Consultation events (hall bookings etc) - £5,695.96
• Facilitation consultants - £62,244.92
• Analysis consultants - £21,808.80
• Independent review of consultation - £9,900
• Board costs and subsistence - £7,982.35
• Staff costs and subsistence - £11,082.58
• Total spend (at 20 June 2025) - £163,496.55

NatureScot said there were still some outstanding costs which would see the figure rise slightly.

It said it intended to put the final cost on its website by early July.

The consultation ultimately led to a recommendation not to take forward the plan for a new national park, which proved a contentious in the area.

NatureScot concluded - in its role as reporter - that from the views expressed the proposal had "not garnered sufficient support locally to proceed".

Instead, it recommended the strengthening of the likes of the Galloway and Southern Ayrshire Biosphere, Galloway Forest Park and national scenic areas.

It described the consultation as the "largest and most challenging" it had ever undertaken.

Rural Affairs Secretary Mairi Gougeon said the Scottish government had weighed up the arguments for and against and agreed not to proceed.

Opponents welcomed the decision, saying the area did not need another "layer of bureaucracy".

Campaigners in favour, however, said it was a "huge missed opportunity" and a "big loss" for the region.

The Scottish government said the Galloway nomination had met all the selection criteria to be confirmed as the proposed location for the country's third national park.

It said the designation process required a "thorough consultation process" which had been independently reviewed by the Scottish Community Development Centre which found it achieved "very impressive levels of public involvement".

A spokesperson said: "The consultation collected more than 5,000 surveys and more than 1,000 people attended events to share their opinion.

"Based on this engagement and the reporter's recommendations we took the decision not to designate Galloway and Ayrshire as a national park.

"But it was absolutely correct to support the nomination process, thoroughly consider the application and meet the statutory consultation requirements that such a process demands."