Divisions are widening over the Scottish Government’s plan to create a new national park in Galloway, with opponents claiming their banners are being torn down and social media messages blocked in a “dirty tricks” campaign.
No Galloway National Park banners at three different locations have disappeared in the last month, and campaigners fighting against the plan say posts to their Facebook page are being removed after being reported as coming from “dangerous individuals or organisations.
Now politicians say the deepening rift between the two sides is a strong sign that the plan lacks the support needed to take the proposal forward. Both the National Farmers Union Scotland and Scottish Land & Estates, the rural business organisation, have found overwhelming opposition in the region to the plan.
“It’s really disappointing that supporters of a national park have descended to these types of dirty tricks,” said No Galloway National Park campaign co-founder Liz Hitschmann. “We and our supporters are perfectly entitled to stand up and be counted and express our opinion, and those responsible for trying to disrupt our campaign should know it only makes us more determined.”
The Scottish Government has commissioned its agency Nature Scot to carry out a consultation on the Galloway proposal and will meet opponents at a meeting this Thursday (October 3) at wallets Marts in Castle Douglas. A final decision is expected at the end of April next year.
“We still have months to go before the consultation closes, and if anyone thinks intimidating us will help their cause or put us off, then they are very much mistaken. These underhand tactics only harden our resolve and if anything shows we are winning the argument,” said Ms Hitschmann.
One of those affected was Dawn Millar, who runs a beef and sheep farm with her husband at Ringford near Castle Douglas. They put up a banner up at a gate next to the A75, but on returning from a recent holiday they found it had gone.
“We put up the banner where we normally put up other signs to advertise local festivities where it gets prominence, but when we came back from holiday it had disappeared,” said Mrs Millar.
“The ties had been cut off, so even if we’d found it, we wouldn’t have been able to put it back up, but we’ve been given another one free of charge and we’ve put it on the side of a silage trailer near a parking area and hope it will be more secure.”
Mrs Millar added: “It was just really petty. If others disagree then they can put up their own banners, but our views are not being respected. It’s an attack on free speech and although I can’t say I’m surprised, I’m very disappointed and sad that it’s come to this already.”
Robert Gladstone bought two banners which were securely fixed to metal gates at his cattle and forestry estate on the A702 at Thornhill, and they were removed within two weeks.
“I am entitled to put up these banners on my land, and this was a dishonourable and criminal act. I reported it to the police, but they just noted it and said there was nothing they could do,” said Mr Gladstone.
“I’ve got another and I’m going to get some stepladders out and hang it between two trees to make it more difficult to remove.
“I am very concerned about the way this is being handled and the Nature Scot consultation has been a sham. They seem to have made up their minds already, so we need a very visible campaign to make sure they know how local people feel,” he added.
Denise Brownlee, the No Galloway National Park co-founder who helps run the campaign Facebook page said she has spent hours unblocking messages and pictures supporters have posted on the site.
“We’ve had so many very straightforward posts removed because they were deemed to have come from a dangerous individuals or organisations so it’s obvious that someone is doing this deliberately. One of them was a picture of a banner so our message is obviously getting through.
“But it’s unacceptable that people cannot post perfectly reasonable views about this plan without being dubbed a dangerous individual. It’s absolutely ridiculous. It took us hours to get the messages unblocked, but we managed it and we’ll certainly be making sure that anyone who wants to express their opposition can do so on our page, no matter how much work we have to do.”
“It might only be a few banners and Facebook posts, but this is supposed to be a fair community consultation and it’s very early days. These people need to calm down,” she added.
Politicians have also criticised the tactics.
Conservative MP for Dumfries & Galloway John Cooper said: “It is extremely disappointing that campaigners for a national park in Galloway have already descended to these sorts of tactics and all it does suggest they think they are losing the argument.
“But what concerns me is that once again we have an SNP policy which is causing anger and division in communities. They say nothing has been decided and it’s all a blank sheet of paper, but you can’t have a consultation on that basis, and I’m not surprised that people feel the creation of a national park in our area is a done deal.
“They appear to be moving the goalposts to the point where they are claiming there aren’t any goalposts at all.
“The removal of these banners already shows how heated the national park has become, and as one of the key criteria for its introduction is community support, I cannot see how it can possibly proceed, certainly not with the vital farming sector unanimously opposed.
“The SNP Scottish Government should accept this plan is causing unacceptable and unnecessary division in Dumfries & Galloway and call a halt now before it gets any worse.”
His views were echoed by Fergus Ewing, the SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn, who has led opposition in the Scottish Parliament to the expansion of national parks.
“I am appalled to hear of the extremist tactics used to try to gag those locals who oppose a National Park being foisted on them,” he said.
“I hope people in Galloway will not be intimidated by these bully boy tactics and will continue to speak out. From my own extensive work for hundreds of my constituents such as farmers, landed estates, construction and tourism businesses, I can say that very last thing that Galloway needs is another giant bureaucracy costing up to £15 million a year, that does little but meddle with existing farming practices.
“That’s why in a recent survey of opinion in a community forum, locals in the Aviemore area when asked if they believed that the Cairngorms Park was doing well, a staggering 93 per cent said ‘No’ and a pitiful 3 per cent said yes.
“There has not even been any independent assessment of how the two parks have performed, and sadly both the Scottish Government and the Nature Scot their agents have just ignored these and other polls showing massive opposition to this new Park, and the waste of money at a time of financial pressure.”
Dawn Millar agreed. “We just don’t want yet another layer of bureaucracy,” she said. “There is already more than enough, and the idea is unbearable that we might have even more hoops to jump through. It will be just more jobs for the boys, rather than people who want to do their best for the area, and we’d be better spending the money on infrastructure.”
