Just to be clear. I personally am not taking sides here. As an outsider I can see it from both perspectives. I visited as a tourist so a NP would prob benefit me. But I’m also from a place that has had similar issues to Galloway. This story fascinated me though and I’ve tried to present the arguments from both sides as presented publicly online.
Some utterly hideous, unfounded and non-researched quotes in your piece. The elected council of D&G proposed the National Park, it's supported by the elected councils of South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire. It has cross-party support, councils who have changed in party leadership when it was proposed in 2016 still support it in 2024. Scotland's elected Government have always supported it. Some farmers posting utter BS don't.
I live in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and would say that on balance, the planning protection afforded by the authority is a positive thing. The irony of tourists to an area questioning the impact of tourism on that area isn’t lost on me. The main challenges as I see them currently are that the National Park planners are somewhat neutered by the ability of whoever’s in government to overturn decisions for political reasons, and for timber producers (especially FLS) to pretty much ignore whatever the aims and objectives of a National Park are, and continue to stifle biodiversity with great swathes of Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock. Tourism is going to happen in anywhere that’s reasonably marketed (see the chaos of the NC500 - no National Park influence there…
Until "National parks" are just about environmental protection and not about socially cleansing vast swathes of countryside to make them refugia for the urban rich, to escape the cities once they've earned their 30 pieces, then no sane British person should want one anywhere near them.
As someone who lives in North Wales, near Eryri (Snowdonia)... I completely relate to the residents. It is truly a nightmare living in this area during the tourist season. The infrastructure just doesn't exist here to support all these people. It was a similar situation growing up on the Llyn Peninsula. The only "benefit" we saw as residents was very poorly paid summer jobs. Now there is no housing in the area, a huge percentage of the houses have been converted into holiday homes. As a Welsh-speaking area, the damage to the local language and culture has been massive. The only way is to tax tourists, ban airbnb, and invest in infrastructure in these areas... especially public transport!
Not to distract too much from the spirit of the point you're making, but it's not that there's no housing in the area, it's just that the value for money is so poor. Appearances are deceiving, and there is no shodtage of know-it-all pompous middle class holiday-home owners here who think they know everything by having a quick browse on Rightmove. To get a half decent house that doesn't have serious issues with it, you need to pay at least 150k, and I've seen poor ones up to around 185k as well. So that's not a jump of £0 to £50k for a first time buyer. It's a jump from £0 to 150k just to buy somewhere highly problematic (like issues with knotweed), or tiny or noisy. In light of that, many will just give up and move away. People like to say 'but it's cheap compared to the South -East'....yes, but there's no use telling us that. We don't want to live in the South-East, and it's cheaper here for a reason, such as being a much more rural area, in comparison.
I was born and raised in Dumfries and Galloway (though I am currently in Glasgow for university) and, honestly, tourism is just not the way for the region to flourish. There are already plenty of places to go throughout the region, but it would not resolve the key issues that have made younger people (including me) look elsewhere. The whole area is beautiful, and the small village communities (like the one I lived in) are truly a great place to grow up, but as you mentioned at the beginning there are very fundamental problems with the way the whole region is governed and managed. Even if jobs were to appear in the national park, it would not solve the fact that it would likely take hours to travel back and forth due to the lack of available bus routes for younger people, meaning that everyone would have to depend upon vehicle even more to get to work meaning more stress on the already dilapidated road network and even more parking that would take away from the natural landscape. I cannot speak as much for places further west, but Dumfries as an urban centre is horrible for job opportunities and provides nothing more than low-level work, charity shops, and government jobs that do not make nearly enough to compete with the Central Belt. I, myself, am studying to go into journalism and while there is some local and village-ran gazettes, they have no competition with Glasgow or Edinburgh and I expect it to be the same across many other industries. Our region needs investment, but not for a forest park. Tourism is a vital part of our economy, but it should not define it and it certainly hasn't helped us so far. We need actual jobs, actual careers, and actual industries to be able to grow and bring more people to move into the area (not setting up holiday homes or summer homes). If they actually figure out something, I personally would love to come back to my home. I just do not see a long-term future living in Dumfries and Galloway.
What industries can compete with the cheap factories in other parts of the world? There's a limited pool of customers for high end niche industries. With the declining local population there is less demand for many future focused industries like schools and more demand for relatively cheap service based industries for the aging population. There's an increased need for medical professionals too but doctors in particular haven't been trained in enough numbers to meet demand.
@@damionkeeling3103 The main one I can think of, though mind you I am not in this industry, would be renewable energy. We are on the coast, we are crisscrossed with valleys, and we already have companies operating in the region. Wind power production in particular could be expanded greatly, and we are already geographically closer to England where most energy will end up going anywho. We already have educational facilities for rural skills, but we could expand and adapt them to allow for an entirely in-region education in fields that support energy production. I doubt that we would ever be able to be self-sufficient, and will likely depend on the rest of Scotland and the UK for financial support but we can at least give back some of it so we can expand public facilities. Isn't the fact that there isn't enough medical professionals proof that there still is a demand for educational facilities?
Well said. My parents best friends lived in a small holding near Kirkgunzeon, between Dumfries and Dalbeattie and we used to spend holidays there. The area just couldn't contain tourisim. The infrastructure is very (*very*) basic - it's setup for farming and forestry. There are very little joined up routes for walking / cycling / etc, so tourists would just tramp around willynilly and annoy the f*** out of locals for zero benefit!
I live over on the east side of dumfriesshire and yeah it feels like all the recourses are used to make the centre better and ignore rural problems. Need refund small business and get public transport up and running
I agree. But I bet in their small print there’s something about making an area a valuable amenity for the public. Facilities and transport will no doubt ask be included in that.
What nature? The Galloway's have a tiny percentage of the wildlife/ nature it could have. There are large parts of the area without trees (bare in mind it's called a forest), large parts covered in plantation conifers and a small percentage that has deciduous woodland. If a NP status turns that on it's head, I'm all for it.
The underlying issue nobody is talking about is the wealth divide. There's a big gap between the richest and poorest in this county. The rich are in favour because it doesn't negatively impact them and they might even get some additional income. The rest of us will be worse off. Even the most major road, the A75, is not fit for purpose with the current level of traffic and tourism. Someone died in a fatal accident outside of our village literally a few days ago. The only conceivable net gain will be jobs - but they will be low-paid hospitality jobs that nobody wants to do anyway. It won't stop young people leaving the area. The additional funding for conservation will be needed to offset the destruction of habitats necessary to support the influx of tourists (yay more car parking for ugly motorhomes!). I'm not a NIMBY either, I'm a 24 year old who moved here. I am all for positive change but I don't believe this is positive change. Ultimately I would probably benefit, my house would likely increase in value and my village is outside of the proposed NP area so no planning restrictions.
Yeah, I drive the 75 for work, and it is stupid that Springholm and Crocketford have not been bypassed the way CD and G-Fleet have been. It should be dualled all the way from the 74 to Stranraer. And the Cuckoobridge and Bloomfield roundabouts at Dumfries already should have trafficlight controls at peak hours. How many more people are gonna have to die?
@@rhisands2063 Absolutely this 👌 I drive on the A75 maybe a dozen times each year, entering from the border at Gretna and usually turning off for Loch Ken or somewhere around Newton Stewart to get into the GFP. Sometimes I'll drive the full length to Stranraer. I will encounter the issues that you highlight and understand just how frustrating it will be for you as a regular commuter. I'm not looking forward to driving it with all of the extra traffic and towed along caravans that the national park status will bring. It's obviously going to be downright frustrating for you and your commute, plus a few % longer in time!
@jr-hr2mw Very well observed and said 👏, I agree with each of your comments. The new businesses that will inevitably pop-up are often owned by non-local entrepreneurs wanting low-cost labour. I have a few more opinions about the effect on this particular area myself but I've just learned of this 'proposal' and so I'd best calm down before I continue typing 🙄 Here's hoping common sense prevails, I've seen far too many beautiful areas ruined by such 'forward thinking' ...🙄🤞
Once again a precious habitat full of non native trees 😢 Scotland is turning into a Sitka forestry base. A national park should be natural to the land, the forests should reflect this.
@@StephenJReid Great, cause this is a huge issue. A lot of the landscapes you showed in the video look pretty on the face of it, but actually, they are ecological deserts of sitka spruce and stipped hillside for farming. I think places like Glen Affric are what Scotland _should_ look like. On the issue of the new NP - from a conservation POV I am totally for it, but also think without protections on issues of home ownership and locals being forced out, we have a huge problem. It's not an issue exclusive to Galloway though. It's common throughout Scotland on the NC500, the Islands, and in the Lomond and Trossachs NP. We need to make second home ownership much too expensive to be desirable. Good video!
What about all the land cleared of forest for farming, barren scared land, stretching as far as the eye can see, is that natural no, it's all man-made.
@@1983samwise There has been some legislation on that. People with a second home are charged double council tax now. Probably still not enough. www.gov.scot/news/council-tax-on-second-homes/
I live in the area and it's not mainly about housing. People leave because there are no jobs, or they leave for university. They actually go to areas where housing is more expensive. There is currently a range of empty affordable houses on the market in Stranraer.
I live in Glasgow and rented a holiday cottage for my mum and I for a week in New Galloway a beautiful friendly village. We were stunned to learn on a row of 12 cottages only 3 belonged to and were lived in by local residents. It's not right and a national park would make this worse.
Yet you rented one. You might not have known before you went, so no offence. But no one without money can afford to buy such a house, and renters/airbnb make that an absolute. The damage, in any case, is already being done. A NP will only make everything worse. Just look at the Lake District in England - some weekends you literally queue for many miles just to get in! The footpaths can be seen from space, and the prices of homes and rentals is off the charts. I remember the Lakes before the masses arrived, I loved it. Yes I am old! Does D+G really want this...
@@bobphillips2188 I didnt know and I never use airbnb and go to owners directly who lived in the next village. For such a small place I didnt expect there to be so many holiday homes. I hope the NP dosent happen and I agree its awful about the Lake District.
This happens and has been happening for years without NPs. I'm not sure NPs is the issue here. Taxing second homes needs to happen and more community control over their own land. NPs surely should be about protecting nature and the community's place in it?
As someone who's worked and lived in both forest parks and a national park I see absolutely no benefit in a D&G national park. The scenery and wildlife has existed perfectly fine for decades as a forest park. The only reason organisations want it to be a national park is corporate greed , the wildlife and land owners , predominantly Forest and Land Scotland just see pound signs for their own budgets. I've worked for them and they are purely money driven , the guys doing the practical work on the ground do a great job though. I say leave the area alone , I love visiting D&G the way it is.
@@StephenJReid there has been years of neglect and archaic planning and much of the area is stuck in a time warp because of the restrictions of 'conservation', what we need is to encourage investment to bring in meaningful employment, entrepreneurs, etc. but without an upgrade to the A75 and A77 this will never happen and these roads will certainly not be upgraded if we become a national park. So we want change, just the right sort of change which benefit communities, especially our young people.
"Purely money driven." There are two types of groups that propose things: those doing it for money, and those doing it for purely benevolent purposes. The latter groups almost never have the influence to make things get done, so if something seems like a legitimate possibility you can be almost certain it's backed by money-grubbers.
Hello from America. That countryside is beautiful, but it's perfect as it is. 50 years ago when I was younger, there was a cave that the indigenous people used, here in Nebraska. The new settlers who moved in enjoyed exploring, and as a child my family came as well, the g. grandchildren of those settlers. It was just a dirt footpath up to its location on a ridge of the forest. Very beautiful! The state got hold of it, and now there is a wooden pathway with stairs and railings that get one almost there, as you're not allowed to go into the cave and explore anymore. It wasn't very deep or dangerous, but it was cool inside, as caves are. It just isn't the same.
To an outsider it might look 'perfect', but here's a bit of local knowledge - Scotland is an ecological disaster area where most of our species have gone extinct or are close to it. The land is largely owned by a small number of aristocrats and forestry corporations who exclude the local people from having a say. That's why folk are so hostile to the idea of a national park - they see it as more of the same problems they already have, but instead of existing landowners it's outsiders changing how everything works. Better the devil you know.
Same in the UK generally, and Scotland in particular. I know places where almost no one used to go. Now, thanks to 'improvements', such places are now busy-fit-to-burst. The Faery Pools on Skye eg. Once a faint track, now a major seen-from-space 'footpath', complete with overpriced car park just off the skinny little single track road. It's on everyone's To Do list, Skye businesses love it, everyone else who lives there, not so much. I will never go back there now, it is too depressing, you will never be able to see such places alone again. Most people aren't even what we might call walkers, and most views are taken through the screen of a 'device'. Truly sad. One of my favourite places in NW Scotland, my home patch, is now a rubbish dump for people 'Doing the North Coast 500'. This is not a national park, any of it, but people making youtube videos, saying You MUST See This Place! are kinda trashing it for the rest of us. Sad, just sad. Many people only come the once, maybe twice. But by popularising the remoter, yet still accessible, tracts of land and coast that were once stunning, they are being reduced to muddy, obviously heavily visited places which have lost their feeling of solitude. There really isn't anywhere left in the UK to despoil now. I am getting on now, and I am glad, and privileged, to have known many a remote spot (always on foot, over trackless terrain mostly, although easier routes are clearly available...) and have camped and seen no one. While I am not a Nimby man, it is still sad to lose any sense of quiet and relative remoteness. I have seen cubic metre dump bags, full of people's crap, miles from any road, waiting to be picked up by helicopter! I have dug complete tents, deliberately collapsed and buried, from the sand!! I found a gas stove, left because the gas ran out... This is like music festivals now, tons of cheap camping gear abandoned, so cheap it is 'easier' just to leave it behind. These things I will never understand. (There is a tiny cave near me, virtually unknown even to locals until someone 'discovered it'. Soon someone will claim ownership and start charging for entrance, I just know it)
You do such a great service in shining a spotlight on the issues affecting the areas you visit. Most of the ‘outdoor community’ use the environment to showcase their videos but really don’t want to involve themselves with the issues affecting it. Your ‘outsider’ perspective contributes to the debate and airs the opposing views, and doesn’t detract from the beautiful filming and ace humour 😊
Great video Stephen. I can sympathise with the residents of the area as someone who lives next to the Burren national park. The infrastructure just does not support the numbers of tourists who arrive and it makes life hell for local. As well as that it really does not help the local economy outside of hospitality primarily. My father had an outdoor shop and we very rarely had tourists stop at the shop other than to maybe use the toilet. Its a complex issue. As an environmental scientist and ecologist, I'd love to see more protection areas for wildlife and habitats, but looking at Galloway, it looks like 90% of the habitat is non native forestry!
Close 86% are non-native. Kinda ironic for a “National Park”. Do you think not being a National Park would decrease tourist numbers to the Burren? I thought as it was on the Wild Atlantic Way that would be enough to drive people to the area. I’m curious as I’m planning on making a video there fairly soon.
Looking at Galloway, it really reminded me of Connemara. As you've highlighted Michael, this kind of "development" brings with it a lot of negatives, I was specifically reminded of the local property prices inflating beyond the means of the locals which leads to empty holiday homes and a the locals being priced out. I hope the interests of the local community in Galloway are paramount.
Sorry but this stinks of a government that hasn't got a clue what its doing. Industry is what is required to bring stability to Scotland but our current leadership are just a bunch of wasters asset stripping the whole of the UK!
@StephenJReid I think that the Wild Atlantic way is probably more of a source of traffic problems particularly than the Burren National Park yes. It's sort of a compounding effect of a national park with no infrastructure to support the numbers visiting it, as well as a highly travelled route (WAW) bisecting it. I do like how there is little infrastructure in the actual burren national park to maintain the integrity of the landscape, but particularly along the wild Atlantic way portion of the Burren there needs to be serious infrastructure or policy changes. I'm surprised there aren't more fatal accidents within the area given the huge coach buses on small rural roads. Another big problem is locals can't get the bus anywhere from my hometown as it's usually full from tourists who board in either Galway city or Ennis!
First some context. None of the existing National Parks in Scotland or the rest of the are true national parks, under the accepted international definition (which is land owned by the nation primarily for nature conservation). What we have in the UK are effectively tourism management zones, and they tend to be much bigger areas (of what are essentially managed landscapes) than a true national parks as you would have in the USA. The two national parks in Scotland were essentially chosen on the basis of Frank Fraser Darling's 1950s landscape report for the UK government , but Westminster never found time or inclination to pass the legislation to create Scottish nat parks,, so it was not until the early 2000s that the Scottish Parliament belatedly created Loch Lomond & Trossachs and the Cairngorm National Parks. However, by that time, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs had largely been covered in thousands of acres of sitka spruce, and the Cairngorms had been significantly overgrazed by another 50 years of too many sheep and deer, and both had been adversely affected by inappropriate and/or poorly planned tourism developments. Meanwhile, an area further west, and I am not saying the name, with some remnant caledonian pine forests, was being quietly and sensitively managed by the Forestry Commission Scotland, such that the forests recovered, expanded and became an outstanding landscape asset, ironically worthy of genuine national park status (in line with the American model). But thankfully it was never identified as a potential for National Park status (even though it's mostly already owned by the state, it's too small for the UK's tourism management zone model), and the area has remained as a forest park, with a little tourism but not too much. And therein lies the lesson. If I lived in Galloway, I'd probably be against the National Park, because even though the status can bring extra revenue and some potential good, there's already too much public sector in Scotland, and frankly most people in it are numpties and don't achieve much except jobs for themselves and their pals. And the National Park status will also bring negatives. (And if it ain't broke, don't fix it - some parts of Galloway do look very attractive - for example there much more decidious natural and semi-natural forest than I thought there was). Also lack of affordable housing and opportunitites for young people are common to all of rural Scotland, policies to address these problems should be applied across the country, not just in areas which have some nice forests and hills.
Some good points but your about "too much public sector"... surely there's too much land in the hand of too few private individuals. More community control should be the answer.
@@seonaidh8810 - Not as simple as that. Some of the best managed land (for nature / conservation) in the Highlands is privately owned. And that doesn't cost taxpayers anything, and leaves public money for other good causes. If some very wealthy Dutch or Danish people want to invest in our landscapes then let them. Yes community control is the ideal, but dos not always work out, or realise potential. I was involved in a community land project, which after 20 years has effectively restored 1000 acres of overgrazed heather into an young and expanding native woodland, all good. But the trustees all focus on just the flora and fauna, and are against pretty much anything else. To my disapointment, they even let the Woodland Trust plant trees in an area which would have been great location for a future affordable house or two. There's no point in having land just for nice scenery and nature, it has to be for people to live and work two.
it wouyld be great if they used the revenue to buy back privately owned land in Scotland and return that to the people of Scotland , and then plant loads of native species
As a Cornishman I can tell you for certain that the tourist trade will destroy what little you have left if you let it take root. Almost guarantees you'll have to leave your home. That national park is a terrible idea. How does adding roads and carparks while increasing foot traffic protect natural habitat?
Eco-tourism is not generally a bad thing for wildlife when compared with other land uses. Intensive sheep grazing, water system alteration and industrial forestry are what destroyed our natural habitats. Conservation is increasingly regarded as a failed strategy - in order to increase natural habitats you need to change land uses. And that means you need nature to make money. When landowners realise that natural landscapes can make them more money than intensive farming then you'll see nature flourish, as happened in the Knepp estate in England for example. As regards whether a national park is the best way to do that, that is another question.
Are there any National Parks in Cornwall? I can't remember. I do totally agree with you, but as said in response to another comment the problem isn't National Park status, I think that's the misnomer here, it's lack of protection of high tourism areas for locals and those loving in the area, lack of building of affordable houses, of investment in the local economy over the years, and basically a free for all. If that was all in place and you could convince those that housing affordability, jobs, infrastructure (roads, GPs, schools, police if the local population increases) wouldn't be an impact and you had access to all the new and improved (and well maintained) local facilities would be easily accessed by you as the local population many that oppose this wouldn't be opposing it. As it is this isn't in place so I'm not surprised there's opposition and probably quite rightly so.
Just another way for the rich from down south who buy up homes in the hills to bypass scotlands right to roam laws . They are systematically doing this all over Scotland and then saying its private land , taking away our right to roam our right to camp our right to fish and they are doing it all over Scotland. Massive areas getting blocked off from our people for a selected few rich people who either have bank loads of money and stay in these houses 1 week a year . Its the same where i live , 4 masdive country houses bought up by lawers etc from london with masive ammounts of land , signs put all over the country shutting off roads with private land and no through roads and these houses are empty for atleast 10 months of the year . How do i know this , because my mate cuts the grass for them all and the houses are empty most of the year .
One key issue here has been the GNP not advising those who seem for it that they're for it for totally misinformed reasons. One huge one is people think it will stop windfarms when scottish governement have updated policy to state its needed and will be welcomed within the boundaries. The boundary itself is another huge reason it's not fixed at any point they can change it as they desire that's before even looking at the fact they've cut Dalbeattie in half. People seem to think it will being all these jobs which yes hospitality jobs will increase but they're seasonal and min wage so how are these people to afford the increased cost of accommodation if they can find it. Whole towns in other NPs are classes as being dark in winter because there's no locals left and tourists and 2nd homes don't visit in the off season. So who goes to these hospitality businesses then? Only so many will ever survive or thrive if all there is are hospitality businesses. Our infrastructure is on its knees with the A75 closed 5 days over the last 6 weeks due to accidents which have cause not only chaos locally but other accidents on B roads which have had to take ferry traffic. Our hospital is on its knees with a delayed discharge crisis between the average age already rising and projected to rise further if our young all leave being priced out where do you think the carers come from? Accommodation is a huge issue we can't even get new Dr's accommodation and we desperately need them to come. Long term rentals are fast changing to holiday let's and Air B&Bs. These seasonal min wage jobs won't afford folk mortgages here so where do people live. Ask yourselves why Naturescot who cowrote the bid are now acting as reporter in the process and why scotgov won't give residents a referendum? Why all previous events of engagement prior to the bid being sent were at certain establishments and ticketed with selected people invited? Less than 0.5% of the residents were actually engaged with for a view and this was used to say the region wanted it. We have so many local groups who do an amazing job and could do so much better without a board of over paid people take control of planning in the region and have no thought for the region itself. Ask yourselves as a region of high deprivation who benefits? I cant say many affording days out in the NP and our transport doesnt afford people options to get there. This simply benefits those already benefiting while the locals will pay the price of this glorified experiment by scotgov
I only watched a minute of the video and was already suspecting everything you just confirmed. Government at all levels is acting in this manner. It's entirely predictable at this point. Give people the illusion of choice, make them believe they're getting a good deal, and then shaft them all the way. And the fact that they're ploughing ahead with this and ignoring all the local's concerns is, once again, par for the course.
@@CristiNeagu We have a word for it in the English language although our superiors deftly avoid its use: Corruption. Corruption is alive and well in the UK and anyone who says otherwise is in on it or living under a rock.
@@entropybear5847 No, this isn't just corruption, it's something bigger. Corruption is when individuals cheat others for their own benefit. This seems like a concerted effort. It looks like a large scale agenda being pushed, aided by corruption.
The area is very run down with little infrastructure I thought when visited last year. Needs investment injections and more job and improving facilities, etc.
@@Nate1975 What it needs is for the people living there to be encouraged to do the kinds of things they're already doing. Whether they're farmers or craftsmen or whatever. The government should support local businesses instead of replacing them with large corporations.
Well this was such a gem of a video. Not just because my in-laws live in the D&G and I had no idea about the national park prospectus, but also because of the outdoor adventure you and your friends went on to bring us this story. We have long enjoyed how quiet this area of Scotland is compared to the more ‘conventional’ visitor haunts, and thus have been able to spend our outdoor time in relatively low numbers even in peak season. Superb Stephen!
Galloway is not a playground - it's a living, working area of small communities. The N.P. proposal is a vainglorious gravy train of an ill considered concept that could be thrust upon the residents - more rules and regulations, red tapes, restrictions, by laws, etc - more layers of bureaucracy. If the money and will is there for this "project" then why not invest in Galloway as it is? Over-tourism is a blight on the planet, not just Scotland. Go back and watch the video again and imagine nose to tail vans, campers, huge motor homes, cars, hikers. They would all expect "facilities" - and providing those would destroy the very thing that they purport to come for. The vast majority of jobs created would be seasonal - you can't pay a mortgage on a seasonal wage even if you thought you might be able to afford one of the local houses with prices greatly inflated just by the misfortune of having the N.P. name tag. I would like to see Galloway tourism left as it is, and more investment that would directly benefit local people for their schools, housing, roads, environment, young peoples' prospects etc. I've lived in the Stewartry and now live in Wigtownshire; it's a very beautiful area, but you can't eat the landscape. As I said, it's not a playground.
You've just described the Cairngorm National Park to a tee...What happened here would happen there too, try and avoid NP status at all costs.... (It's mad- you can live in a town area no different to a central belt area but yet not have permitted development rights to put up a shed without "asking" the NP AND THE COUNCIL! Housing is at crisis levels now, the Air B'N'B is declining and properties are coming back on the market, but most of these will be bought up by corporate buyers so it does nothing for the poor locals doing all the service industry jobs)
An idea is only ever pushed on for profit, absolutely NO BUSINESS of any description, comes up with an idea on this scale for nothing or for the "good" of the locals. 😢
What I remember most about childhood holidays in Galloway is the similarity to the problems of the Highlands. Large land owners holding far too much sway over resources and everybody's lives. At both ends of the country, it is necessary to move from that archaic model to something that functions properly and sustainably on both social and economic plains.
I agree what you say but giving even more power to an incompetently managed bureaucracy is not the solution, you may find the same landowners having sway over the national park.
Galloway and the Highlands are not the same- different history and different relationship between the estates and the wider population. We don’t need the highlands’ grievances and politics forced onto us.
I’ve been visiting this area for 30 years as my wife’s family live here. It’s always been an unknown gem by many in the UK. The area seems to be doing alright without national park status. Plenty of tourists throughout the year. I say leave it alone and I believe locals feel the same. Great video Stephen and great reporting combined with the beauty and majesty of this area. Thanks.
Encouraging tourism will only push out locals and leave countless homes as holiday lets, which are vacant half the year. I come from Carmarthenshire, but had to move to Cardiff for work, which is what about 50% of the people I went to school with did. The difference between Galloway and where im from is that, although naturally beautiful, Carmarthenshire was ravaged by industrialisation, even so due to the rural vibe and relatively low house prices, people from england have flocked over en mass. The pretty coastal villages have been gutted and are now >50% airbnb lets, and even the cheaper, ex mining villages have gone from being 100% welsh speaking communities when i was a kid, to now mostly english. I used to be able to go to the local pub or shop and speak welsh, now everywhere i go everyone has an english accent, and it's happened in the span of about 15 years. This isn't an anti english rant either, it's just really depressing that larger, overarching economic forces and a historic lack of investment in rural communities (particularly in Wales, Scotland, cornwall, devon etc) is leading to the homogenisation of UK culture, and i think our various unique and ancient cultures is honestly one of the best things we have in the UK, amd we should celebrate...
Yep, time to buy up all the houses and open AirBNBs! I guess if you don't want things to ever change, you should become a living museum, go for protected indiginous rights... but anything you've said can be applied to most parts of the Western World from Europe to the US. Similar sentiments are being voiced in Spain for instance.
@@jjskn93 I live in London, what benefit am I getting from any of this? Most of the kids I grew up with in my English village moved to eiher London or Manchester for work and better opportunites, that's not unusual, you go where the work is not the other way round.
Hate to break this to you but "the homogenisation of UK culture" and stand based on ethno-nationalism is now an unwinnable and politically toxic debate. I should know, I'm English and everything about my culture has been either supressed or erased from education and society over the last few decades. FFS we can't even ask to have a national holiday or fly our own flag without being labeled. Then again I live in a country run by the foreigners of the aristocracy and monarchy.
Your videos are absolutely brilliant at the moment. I'm really enjoying all this different subjects in local areas that don't get widespread publicity. Keep them coming. 👍
I live in Dalmellington, just on the outskirts of the Galloway Forrest Our local loch is loch doon, well known around here but to others it’s not as known. It’s generally a well kept area and an absolute hidden gem really. Things have changed over the last few years as posters were placed in Glasgow train station amongst other places, now more known and as times went on the place has become very busy on nice weather days with visitors from all over. The outdoors are for everyone without a doubt but when people come from all over and leave rubbish everywhere, scorched ground with campfires and just generally become a nuisance, then ask anyone around here and they would categorically tell you it ain’t worth it.
Living and working in the northern Lake District which I can confirm it is collapsing. A living hell in the summer. A small example, public toilets at Buttermere had to be closed as there was no one to clean them, because no local can afford to live here, so there’s no one local to do the work. There needs to be at least 200% council tax on Airbnbs and holiday homes with the money raised spent in the region. They need to make places to live in and visit. It is worth noting that the increase in the UK’s population from 59 million to 69 million in the last 10 years or so has to be a factor.
I fell in love with the Lake District 30 years ago, I now hate the chintzy place it’s become, please don’t let that happen to Galloway, you live in a beautiful place, with wonderful people, why risk that?
@@gyalsnextman4725the scenery isn’t nearly as dramatic or beautiful there though. All the forests as well seem to be pine plantations as well very few deciduous woodland unlike the Lake District
This is where I live and work. I have yet to speak to any local who thinks the park is a good idea. I think of the lake district and the North Coast 500 and would rather we stayed as we are, quiet, understated, relaxed, beautiful..... than imported all those problems. Have you been to the lake district? The place is a nightmare......
Lake District has been a tourist spot for over a hundred years, though. Ditto Snowdonia. Cairngorms and Northumberland might be truer comparisons to Galloway, if visitor numbers are already low?
As someone who moved into the Galloway area almost twenty years ago one thing that wasn't mentioned and is a huge problem whether the national park goes ahead or not is our totally inadequate roads infrastructure. Most incoming traffic will use the A75 which runs from Gretna all the way to the west coast, although it's designated as a Euroroute it is known locally as the goat track. Much of the heavy freight traffic to and from the Cairnryan port linking us to Ireland and Northern Ireland uses this road, it has very little dual carriageway over it's 100 mile length and decent, safe overtaking places are few. When it is closed, as it often is, due to accidents, fallen trees and road works diversion routes can often add hours to a journey. This must be addressed before any new traffic is produced as it will be by a national park. (The A77 running from Cairnryan to Glasgow is no better)
And the few roads in between are already decaying into the peaty verges. But there's a reason why there are few roads - there are relatively few places and people! Duh. That's why I LOVE IT! Nobody except people who already have enough money to be able to increase the size of their business will benefit, while grants for start ups or for locals to improve a small operation, which may or may not succeed, might not lead to anybody's improved situation, while such grants might still have to be paid back. Just wait for the bankruptcies to come a year or two after Parkmagedon. Where are all the extra houses going to come from for a start? Oh yeah, either by building more small boxes, tacked on small village fringes, to 'appease' the locals on benefits (for whom there will be no new full time jobs with a NP, and no improved transport infrastructure - read buses), or houses that most of us could only dream of. Probably for people who will buy them as holiday homes, empty most of the year, or rented via airbnb, thus pushing house prices way beyond anything locals could ever aspire to. An blah blah blah.
The question of national parks is always tricky. I used to live and work in Madagascar. Immediately in front of the lodge and dive shop was a natural area where green turtles lived and ate. There was a debate about whether to make it a recognised park. That would add protection, money for the local community and a recognition of its ecological importance. On the other hand, the area was relatively unknown so the turtles were mostly left alone with not many tourists visiting. If it was a national park, visitor numbers would increase, potentially to a level where the turtles would leave. It’s often not an easy decision about the best approach. As with Galloway, there were people from the same background on opposite sides. Inertia has prevailed so far and it hasn’t yet got protected status.
I understand the reluctance to the plans because, as somebody from Northumberland, I've seen a real change to the wilder places which are now filled with people. It's great that people get out and enjoy the wilder places but for people who care for the land seeing more and more people arriving, using the resources, then leaving can be hard. Local housing can be all bought up for holiday accommodation and AirBnBs, small areas which aren't designed for a lot of people can be overwhelmed, and often the local community doesn't see a huge amount of the tourist money anyway because it often goes to wealthy landowners. Also I wonder if people feel that this is being done *to* them rather than *for* them and for locals in an area which doesn't necessarily have a lot of prospects for young people it can be hard to trust large organisations who really haven't done a lot for them so far but are promising that they definitely will. I get it, I do. I don't live there although I do know from my own small home village how tourism affects the local way of life and it's a very hard balance to get right. My hope is that any plans that do go ahead protect the land, benefit the locals, and find sustainable and low-impact ways of allowing people to experience a truly special part of the world.
A very thought provoking video that really gets you thinking one way then the other about the benefits or impacts of introducing a National Park to the Area. The reasons for and against the NP both have positives within them. I did as the video goes on I tended too think the NP would be a bad idea, more than a positive one. The Points against it raised. More Houses being bought as second homes, and the affect that that has on house prices. That then stops the locals from being able to buy a home where they were born. Which will also impact the rental market, with the same results, and youngster moving away. We have seen it here in Norfolk, in the village were I live the Big House was for sale during Covid for £1.2 million. It has only just come back on the market and the asking price is £4.2 million. ( I honesty can't see how it has had so much value added to it in 4 years) Our own house had more that doubled in value. My kids will not be able to afford to buy their own home until we pass away. We have a lot of second homes that are only used for a few weeks of the year, then they are left empty the rest of they year. We don't often see the owners either. One home is well looked after and it has never had a car parked in the drive as it is empty. We have had 2 houses sell of over a million each and they are still empty. I don't tend to mind Holiday Cottages as much, as they are a lesser of the two evils as the phrase goes, because they still drive up house prices and rents, but when they are occupied their visitors do at least contribute to the local economy. As we tend to spend a little bit more when on holiday than we do when staying at home. That is from what I have seen myself without a National Park being added to the mix. Will look forward to the next part of the video.
A national park would be somewhere that you would think is full of wildlife, nature, a remote and biodiverse location where the natural world comes first. Now name one National Park in the UK that is this and isn't an overgrazed ecological deadzone that is mostly covered in animal-agriculture. The Cairngorms are trying to change this but is only at the start of it's journey.
Nowhere in the UK is like this, every square inch of the country has been used/exploited by humans. The Scottish highlands is not a natural landscape, if it were it would be covered in forests to an altitude of 600m but the industrial revolution and the aluminum industry destroyed almost all of the forest cover, with only a few localised patches around which survived.
@@StephenJReid i make wildlife and adventure documentaries and as you mentioned it you showed animals :) and it's one of the main reasons i am vegan. Looking forward to it.
That's what you would expect of a NP, but with a main Euro route (well this is what it is supposed to be, but after years of neglect, it is not fit for purpose) running through it carrying 1.5 million HGVs per year hardly equating to a remote and biodiverse location
Another great video, mate. Loving the recent move into more story-esque content. I hope your AWT gets a good bump and the algodrithm shows your channel some love.
Oh, you got a sponsor...Congrats sir...Keep going... Wow, this video is a total vibe! The visuals are incredible, and the music is perfect. It made me feel so relaxed and inspired. Definitely adding this to my playlist!😄😍
This is a really interesting topic. I think there’s a good argument on both sides, it all comes down to how it’s implemented. Look at what’s happened in Loch Lomond and Cornwall for example, where it was poorly managed. Loads of restrictions due to poor facilities and big volumes of people. Galloway Forest is like the Forest of Dean 25+ years ago, similar demographic, employment issues and mining history. I feel the FD has been well rejuvenated. Why can’t GF have this model, all the benefits of the NP without the restrictions of the NP and naming. You can’t beat a good bike packing trip, keep it up.
It does seem that a huge amount of the issues come down to car parking and access in general once somewhere becomes popular. I keep going back and forth on whether or not I think it’s a good idea. It’s one of those things that will take decades to really show its true worth or otherwise
@@kirsteneasdale5707 Between March and September, there are now camping management byelaws that mean you can't camp without a permit in specific parts of the park. The National Park don’t provide facilities such as toilets or bins in many of the popular spots either. Poor management and banning clamping down. Instead of progressive ideas and solutions. I will admit that there are some idiots who ruin it for everyone, so we have to make it easy.
@@rhisands2063 We won!! Though, it's depressing that the Scottish Government are so keen to build a resort in the national park, at least the plans have again been rejected.
I go to the solway coast every year in Dumfries and Galloway, for some late season birdwatching, and I am always amazed at the number of existing caravan parks and golf courses! So somebody must be visiting! But in November it's gloriously free of people and packed with overwintering birds
Very good video, raises lots of talking points. We.'ve been visiting this area for over 20 years and I'd hate to see it over commercialised and spoilt.
Great video Stephen! Thank you for making this excellent, well researched video and raising awareness about the National Park plans in Galloway. As someone from the area, it’s definitely a divisive topic.
Galloway is amazing just as it is. Because it is quiet, peacefull and not overun with tourists. The lake district has become an outdoor theme park, rammed with more people than it can handle. Don't let Galloway be ruined too.
Tourism isn’t the answer. There are so many misconceptions about tourism - that it brings huge economic benefits for local people, that economies in rural beauty spots depend on it entirely and so on. The fact is that most jobs in tourism are within the hospitality industry meaning part-time, minimum wage and seasonal. People cannot survive on hospitality jobs alone. Meanwhile property prices get pushed up and many holiday let owners live outside the area and just enjoy raking in money. Long term rentals virtually disappear and housing in general becomes scarce and expensive. Infrastructure struggles to cope with visitor numbers (take it from someone who went to A&E with an infection here in north Wales during the school hols and had to wait 15 hours). Tourism isn’t the answer
Spot on. Last time I went on zoopla and put in "Scottish Highlands" - 6 properties for rent in an area the size of Belgium. Put Scottish Highlands into airbnb and there are thousands upon thousands. Utterly broken.
Another great entertaining and informative video! This is a tough subject. I grew up in an area that was (in the decade before I was born) turned into a National Lakeshore and I can definitely see both sides. Places I used to enjoy as a kid are now packed with tourists every summer, and quite a few of them do not respect this place I call home whatsoever. But on the other hand, I am glad that the area will now remain undeveloped and available for future generations to enjoy.
All depends how it’s done. The NC 500 is an example of how not to do it. Promote a single track road in the far north of Scotland as a road trip destination; provide no extra accommodation or public toilets and allow the road to get destroyed. Galloway Forest is a large area of non native commercial forestry with pretty low ecological value. It is changing now and would benefit from the injection of funding NP status would provide, but put in the infrastructure first. I would suggest preventing vehicle access to the forestry dirt roads to encourage human-powered travel. That would eliminate the neds at a stroke…
the suggested National park area is many times bigger than the forest itself, extends right to the coast and includes towns and villages. I showed a map at the start but perhaps didn't make that clear
Most of them already are blocked for vehicle access. A lot of car parks have been bouldered due to issues with "wild camping". It doesn't stop them as certain areas have to be left accessible. It was horrendous during lockdown. A lot of the plantations have been cleared for the massive windfarms which initially promised that very same infrastructure and jobs. All it has done has increased HGV traffic thundering through villages thanks to the roads that were widened. None of the other promises have been met and we pay some of the highest standing charges which they "give" us back in grants from the huge constraint payments they earn each year.
I can see the resistance, just look at the Fairy Pools on Skye, the Car Park there now compared to 30 years ago Is an eye sore. Over tourism is a problem 😢
I went to Skye a few years ago and I was actually disgusted by the people at the Fairy Pools. People literally queueing up in their best bikinis to jump in the water for 30 seconds to get a pictures for their Instagram. Sad and pathetic I wanted to vomit in my mouth.
The way you narrate your videos is simply amazing i gotta say, watched your video about the reservoir test digs in Ireland the last night, was an instant subscribe. Keep up the great videos
many more people always put stress on wildlife without exception . the gentle atmosphere is ruined if a million more tourists descend and to cater for this, widening roads, destroying hedges and carparks on natural land. i agree outside companies and holiday homes will destroy the place like in other tourist towns. leave it alone.
I’ve felt for a while now that both the UK and Scottish Governments should, at the very least, come up with a plan to ensure that people living in our national parks actually see some of the tourist income-this absolutely should not apply to second home owners. It’s the least we can do for those who’ve had to deal with the pressures of living in such popular areas. And this isn’t just a Scottish issue either-it’s happening in Cornwall, Wales, Northern Ireland, and all across Europe, the US, and beyond. I absolutely love our national parks in Scotland and the world-class landscapes we’re lucky to have. I regularly go bikepacking and wild camping, but I’m fully aware that the needs of the locals should always come first. Of course, there should be significant investment in better roads and public transport, but that’s just scratching the surface. The real issue is how we support young people in these areas. I don’t have all the answers, but those who want to stay should, at the very least, have the realistic opportunity to earn a national average salary as a minimum. It’s unfortunate, but many people who grew up in cities often overlook or dismiss the experiences of rural young people.
I own a second home - but it isn't what you might think. I bought it for my son , who has a disability, and is not able to own his own home due to that reason. If he did, he would lose his benefits. I did not make these rules, but I have to work around them.
Having lived & worked in the Lake District, the locals in Galloway have good reason to be worried. I first lived there in the early 90s, and none of the problems that were apparent then have ever been properly addressed. Moved back in 2018 & over tourism was 100x worse. I moved away again in the end because I couldn't afford to live close enough to my job in Central Lakes to make commuting to a low paid job viable, much as I was happy to do that work to be able to live near the mountains. Windermere is horribly polluted, roads are grid locked most of the year & there's nothing for local young people. Even if they're happy working in the tourism industry finding a home is difficult even with local occupancy clauses which are too little too late. Communities have been decimated & the national park is little more than a theme park. Post covid fly camping is a massive problem, as is a general disrespect for the area and it's people from the new breed of scummy visitors who wouldn't have thought of going there before. Galloway will be in for the same unless measures are put in place at the start to prevent the problems encountered by other national parks, but c'mon what are the chances of that happening?!
Social media plays a big role . People who don’t care for nature or mountains come to the Lakes now just for Instagram pictures then dump all their gear . It’s disgusting
Planning is bureaucratic in a national park, I want to build a small room extension to replace an ageing ugly porch. Anywhere else this is permitted development, in national park I have to go through full planning which includes significant cost and architect fees. Anywhere else in the country a conservatory/building company could build an room for you cheaply with minimum fuss.
It's not for the environment, it's to price the likes of you out. A properly environmental national parks would be smaller, uglier more convoluted borders, and any wider policy would be designed specifically to stop social cleansing of the human environment in the area. A new NP is the wealthy elite publicly announcing that your rural area is now earmarked for gentrification.
@@garycroft8213 Feudal serfdom, doffing the cap, clearances to the 4th industrial revolution digital satanic mills in 15 minute surveillance ghettos they call cities .... aye this 100 year blip in human history with a "middle class" is over right enough....
As someone familiar with American National Parks, and a belief in the big promises/little results of government-I’d vote no. The massive amount of tourists will over run the budget-minded bureaucrats minimal facilities. Overflowing pit toilets, garbage, graffiti, and much more. Trails will become overcrowded crowded, wildlife will be impacted, people will simply not follow rules and on and on. And once it starts to become popular, housing prices will skyrocket. Those young people won’t be able to afford to live there. Neither will senior citizens because the tax rate will also soar. People who’ve lived there for generations have to sell out. Developers will be frothing at the mouth to throw up substandard housing that will look like crap in 10 years. Just ask Montanans. Tourism is a double-edged sword.
@@StephenJReid everything which is outlined in GNPA's bid can be achieved without Galloway becoming a NP, in fact, if the money which has been earmarked for this was spent on the current parks and communities, it would achieve far more. Given that they were not honest in their bid (they stated that they had extensive community support, yet only quoted a poll from 430 people), makes one question every other claims they make, and you were right, it reads like a marketing brochure. If the bid had been presented as a business plan, it would have been turned down without a second thought, yet here we are.
I live in NW Scotland, in a wee village. We have one or two shops, one or two hotels, and one or two pubs/cafes. Sadly, someone (I was going to say idiot, but then I thought, nah, gave the man/woman a chance) came up with the 'North Coast 500'. To those who make money from it, great. To the rest of us it means roads littered with campervans - of all sizes, and driver abilities - with new signs going up regularly saying 'Don't park here overnight'. The wording is deliberately, somehow, more aggressive than 'No overnight Parking'. And while locals agree it will reduce rubbish, mess, and the emptying of chemical loos/piles of excrement in those places, it only pushes some campervanners to push things further by finding any small area they can to spend overnight, causing damage to vegetation and creating further eyesores. There is not, by a country mile, enough space in the few campsites in a huge area (Wester Ross in my case, vast area, just one long road with a handful of side roads, single track one and all), and many people feel the prices charged are too high when spaces are available. Maybe after paying £1,000+ a week to rent one, or having bought one, people feel they've already paid out enough, thanks. So some of them park, quite legally, even thus far, in whatever small space they can. Fine. But PLEASE take all your s--t and other rubbish home ffs! However, the negatively worded signs to not clutter viewpoints and other large-ish areas with campers just remind the locals that we are, in a sense, under siege during the summer, which can make things 'interesting'... I regularly hear tourists in the few shops here say that 'They haven't got such-and-such here' that they could get in a Tesco or Lidl somewhere. Duh. Village, maybe 600 full-time residents, tripled in summer. The shops can't become three times bigger just to suit the visitors. The feelings of negativity felt by many locals daily in summer are something we - who get nothing from it, financially or socially or anyhow - have to live with, while we watch the people 'Doing the NC500' come and go from the multitude of airbnbs that have pushed house prices up, and the hotels where the people are even more well heeled, with their sports/supercar car convoys, massive motorbikes (often with massive riders wearing massive clothing, always keeping their crash helmets on so you can hardly communicate with them. Try getting past one in the very narrow aisle of a small village shop. They are often rude, even arrogant. Good luck! I'm not sure why they are even here. Oh yes, the NC500, the road in particular) and coach parties, which all splurge back onto our poor roads each morning. Thing is, by October we 'get the place back', more or less. The hotels close for the winter, as do many other places, with the basic shops and maybe one cafe remaining open (until next spring anyway. Nice, thank you! There is no pub to go to now, so us locals stay at home. So, most - 80%? - businesses here have to make 12 months' income in 6, so the prices they charge are not attractive to locals in summer anyway. However, most people who live here do so, or did so originally, because it is - for which read used to be - quiet. Poor D+G should national park status be forced upon them. Why can't people be left to find their own adventures? Is imagination completely dead? I visit areas I look into, I look at maps (paper ones preferably, something most people don't even possess anymore, let alone know how to read), and usually go because they look empty, NO hordes of day trippers or airbnb renters swarming the roads or byways. Please, let's not ruin one of the last pleasantly quiet backwaters (which doesn't mean 'opportunity to increase tourism and local misery', thanks) in Scotland, and please don't post youtube 'You really must visit this area' videos! NC500 videos extolling the wonders of northern Scotland just add to the masses who 'Do' areas both popular and 'upcoming popular' and turn them into places with a bipolar twist. Why National Parks anyway? By 2050 all of Scotland will be one big national park, and then what... Yes, find your own adventures, from your own head, but don't advertise it online! Please. But I know, too little, too late.
Thank you for the video and nice to see a balance of views presented. I live and work in galloway and feel really in the dark about how the process keeps just rolling without any real information and lack of chance to get facts so just down about how divisive this is becoming locally. My personal experience of growing up and living in other national parks means am against it happening but sadly feel the whole thing is just creating unnecessary turmoil and distracting from actual improvements so whatever happens the damage has been done.
Been staring at it over the sea all my life. Can’t believe it took me until this year to actually properly visit. Feel like I need to explore the coastal area next
All my mum's family is from near port patrick , all my dad's family is from Ayr.... They had to move to get jobs, that was in the 60s... me and my brother are from Glasgow....
@@littlegrandadoutdoors I was born in Glasgow which is where my Dad's family is from. Rottenrow hospital. I was brought up in Ayrshire though in Prestwick.
@@BrokenBackMountains did you know we share the same name?? Only mine is an yours being en.... if we do ever meet up that could be confusing for others...
I understand where the locals are coming from, I live close to the Peak District and it's absolutely full of tourists which naturally means a lot of houses there are air Bnbs etc, I understand it brings in a lot of money but the increase in people actually going to these national parks will always do more damage then any conservation can be promised
The Scottish government gave local authorities powers to license on short term let's. So in theory, they can either ban it, or limit numbers to what's perceived to be sustainable. Of course them doing the right thing, is not a given. And it won't stop people commuting in or wild camping
Perhaps those against a National Park would be happy to have Flamingo Land there, now that the planning in the National Park where I live, have stopped this development (thank goodness)? I would be interested to know what the ordinary folk who live in Galloway think? Not just what the large landowners and farmers think.
Fantastic video! We've walked the Southern Upland Way and the Galloway forest is our favourite part. As a Scot who lives in Dorset I hear the same arguments anytime the local council announce anything that 0.5% of the community think is a great idea. There is a lot of distrust of every area government/councils/associations etc and I don't blame anyone about it. Someone is always leading decisions with their own interest at heart. To use a word 'locals' to define a group in Scotland is not always what you think it is. As a Belfast man I think you will get my meaning. Loving these videos ATB 👍
Enjoyed this Stephen, certainly made me question why I've never made the short trip from Belfast to explore Galloway, although I've still yet to make the most of the Mournes! I can see both sides of the argument you explored in the video; I find myself coming down somewhere in the middle, the objective above all should be conservation and nature renewal. such initiatives can provide jobs, maintain the beauty of the area for those living there and visitors, without the massive 'Come and Holiday here!' that comes with being a national park. Fact is, the more advertised a place is to potential holidaymakers, the more visitors you are going to get who are underprepared and/or unthinking (fly camping etc). I doubt the locals are wholly against visitors to their beautiful home, they just don't want to see an increase in those who don't show it the respect it deserves.
Yeah I feel somewhere in the middle too. And a lot of the locals welcome tourists as long as they are actually spending in the area. I personally found the locals to be very friendly.
My favorite thing about your videos is the subject matter! You explore such a wide variety of stories :) I have fond memories as a child of going to the Cairngorms on a sunny day and swimming in a lake :) Quite a bit North from where you were but beautiful as only Scotland can be as well. My family moved to Ireland when I was about 7 in 1988 but I still have many memories of the beautiful landscapes :)
On AirBnB - my old house in Auchencairn is an AirBnB - Auchencairn is a very small village and, up until the mid-80's, could support 2 village shops, a pub, a hotel, and a nice wee community .... by the 90's that had changed!
In terms of the national park, there’s no doubt the area needs help with its economy. It would be nice to find a balance to protect the residents and farmers, whilst preventing over tourism. Perhaps a permit system like in the US limiting numbers, and then making sure lasting infrastructure is built and not just gravel poured down for car parks and roads. To me it seems like an incredibly fine balance between ensuring the area develops as it deserves to, without taking away the cleanliness and untouched beauty as well the lives of the residents already there. I’m not from the area so I don’t really know, but I hope that the trustee board opens up more and changes the plan as needed, rather than making it an identity and party politics issue
Balance is the perfect word for what’s required here. The area has a lot to offer that hopefully could change things positively for the locals. The challenge is how.
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park is probably the reason people are against it. Due to visitors leaving a mess, supposedly, wild camping is basically banned. You can rent a lodge though or buy a permit. Trying to build new houses in the area or basically do any development at all is apparently virtually impossible. There was a big fuss about how the park is managed in the news a few years ago.
Wind Farms and mining…? (Guessing that’s in the next video). I live in Galloway, everywhere you went are places I visit often, and several have a wind farm threat hanging over them. I know there were plans for mining near Glen Trool, not sure what happened to that. Great video, carefully thought out and presented for such a divisive subject. Thank you for that. There are also many many people here who simply don’t know if it’s a good idea or not. I fear deeply for this area 😢
Is the main objection to wind farms that they spoil the look of the landscape or other issues too? There have been a few attempts in Northern Ireland for gold mines in beautiful areas that got strongly resisted
@@StephenJReidwind farms can kill and disturb birds, especially if placed along migratory routes or hunting grounds. Their construction can also have negative impacts as they need large concrete foundations which can lead to drainage and run off from bogs. In the Republic they're often placed in ecologically sensitive areas without proper assessments done
The mining I understand, less so the windfarm objections.. Certainly beats building a power plant. National park status would eliminate any "threat" from wind farms.. and mines. Just needs to be managed well.
I live in the New Forest National park. My experience is skewed because It’s on the south coast and encompasses both Lymington and Beaulieu. The whole area is a house price hot spot. I understand why the locals don’t want it, house prices were are crazy to begin with now with short term rentals they are worse. New young families are so priced out it’s beyond a joke. The new Forest park authority is shutting car parks to preserve the park wildlife, and are shutting areas of the park to the public. Forestry England regularly close paths and bridal ways for logging activity for months at a time. Public events have been cancelled for the sake of the environment, the roads are clogged with tourists and jobs are still seasonal. Worse of all the park needs to be considered for developments 30 miles away - parking for new housing has been scaled back because of the potential impact of the park from all of the new visitors. National parks are a great idea, but empowering an authority with such unchecked power was a huge error.
I agree with the locals, let tourism take over and they gain another level of permissions and have contractors run through the area, once they advertise and take land to build on to sell for holiday homes..just putting Galloway on the map here on UA-cam is probably the best solution for the area, the rest will creep in slowly afterwards
In part the push back is no doubt nimbyism which you always get in these circumstances, not writing off peoples concerns solely as that alone though. I live in Ayrshire and used to head down to a certain beach on the coast near Dalbeatie which was an absolutely beautiful and unspoiled spot for power-kiting, got friendly with most of the locals there who were happy to have a few people know about the place... but were always quite protective about it being "their spot" and not wanting it over run with people, which I can understand. A bit like any community or group of people who have something special and don't want an influx of outsiders ruining their fun. It's a double edged sword and there really is no simple solution. Enjoyed your video and glad you and your friends enjoyed the visit. Haste ye back.
I think it's more the way it's been done and the fact that it will add untold amounts of bureaucracy. That is true of farmers who in a recent poll returned 78% against a NP. There are no guaranteed financial benefits of having a NP unless you are one of those elected to the oversight committee. It is unlikely to bring the proposed infrastructure benefits, the main one being upgrades to the trunk roads, as the Scottish government are against any improvements in this area and have consistently ignored the region, apart from trying to cover every inch in turbines which earn massive constraint payments, around £230m last year, set to double as capacity is also set to double in line with net zero targets. Imagine how much good that money could have done. We are given a very small proportion of those payments back in community funding as a gesture. Glentrol itself is at risk from three proposed sites. Not just the 100m turbines as exist in much of Ayrshire, but monstrosities of between 200-250m tall. On both sides of the village. Imagine what that will do to the surrounding area of Merrick and Loch Trool.
Its the same old story - a handful of businessmen want to monetise the beauty of an area. The tourists come in big numbers spend lots of money but ultimately ruin what was so special in the first place.
And if its anything like the NC500 they have the cheek to demand the council pick up the bill for all the damage caused and then whine constantly for the council to build tourist facilities and infrastructure while contributing absolutely nothing themselves.
Great video, beautiful place. Your content gets better and better. I don't think I've ever read through so many comments on a video before... Well done.
@@StephenJReid ...and I could never offer a solution to the very complex question. But bravo to you for journalism and pointing it out. Looking forward to Part II.
Great video Stephen! I’m a Galloway local and am conflicted about the proposed National Park. Galloway is one of the most beautiful places in Scotland and a true hidden gem. Part of me would prefer it to stay that way…
For me the problem is that, in the UK, we’ve completely lost sight of what a National Park should be. They were originally created for nature conservation and protection. Now the aim is clearly to gain investment for the area. Let’s be completely honest, Galloway is not an area worthy of national park status from a conservation point of view. It’s not a special area with regards to biodiversity and habitats. I would say similar about Loch Lomond & The Trossachs. The Cairngorms is the closest thing we have to a true national park but even then it is plagued by intensive management for sports shooting and heavily managed for human land use. In global terms, the UK’s national parks are an absolute laughing stock. I’m not against Galloway getting some clearly much needed investment, but I don’t think the answer to that should be by granted it national park status. It’s really time to start rethinking what national parks are meant to stand for because this is not it.
You make good points. In the U.S. I believe they have areas which are classified as wilderness and no-one is allowed to visit. I always thought national park status was to suppress development which would scar the landscape, hence one reason why locals might be against them. That in itself is not unreasonable, after all, once an area gets covered in roads, car parks and buildings it ceases to be a beautiful area forever.
Not exactly, it was the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. "An Act to make provision for National Parks and the establishment of a National Parks Commission; to confer on the Nature Conservancy and local authorities powers for the establishment and maintenance of nature reserves; to make further provision for the recording, creation, maintenance and improvement of public paths and for securing access to open country, and to amend the law relating to rights of way; to confer further powers for preserving and enhancing natural beauty; and for matters connected with the purposes aforesaid." Not just nature conservation.
As someone who lives in the area between the Cairngorms and the Nc500, it’s evident that increased tourism makes life worse for everyone that isn’t profiting from the tourists
Thanks for all the beautiful views & I enjoyed your discussion. That looks like a real treasure of a place, I've never seen it before. I live in Scotland & know exactly what you mean. I agree about the sitka spruce everywhere ( i watched that 1 first😁). After just being introduced to this question, I would be TOTALLY AGAINST the National Park idea ; it's not needed. I see far too much time & £money spent by local Councils in league with 'business people' , ruining the infrastructure of our Cities, not to make things better for locals but more expensive with £penalties & £charges invented to make profit of those poor folk who stray into a ridiculous bus lane. It's also about control as you pointed out, the locals don't need new rules. Like you, I too see an undercurrent here of something sinister. That word they throw around about r wilding is not what many imagine it to be. Enough with new controls made by a few businesses people who think attracting bus loads of tourists is an answer to helping improve this beautiful area. If changes are needed, the local Community can get action groups together. No to the big park. The W e f have a plan for this Planet that involves closing off vast swathes of land from us human beings. I say No to that too. Stay healthy & enjoy Nature 😻🏴
National Parks have never been "wild", pretty much every square inch of the UK landmass has been altered by humans. What people think of as outstanding natural beauty is not natural at all, people have no idea what a natural landscape looks like because they weren't alive before the industrial revolution.
This is very interesting and in general I’m fascinated by how people here are taking national parks. As I come from a country where we have few and where they are NP in order to protect the nature - there is lots and lots of restrictions, yes for tourists but as well residents, but these restrictions made the national parks to persevere and be what they are today - our mentality is that if those beautiful places wouldn’t be national parks people would still be going there because their beautiful and they would be destroyed by now as people would swim in the lakes (this is not allowed in national park), people would be picking up all the herbs and mushrooms (not allowed in national park), going off trail (not allowed), wild camping (not allowed) and so on all the things which ultimately for generations to come would destroy the beauty of the place….and yes there are restrictions for locals too but again to protect the nature - no waste allowed, no buildings of certain structure not complying with environment allowed, no hotels and overload of facilities close to the park - this one is an interesting one as we are fighting in Slovakia against developers who just think they can build wherever they want to in the most beautiful places and some got destroyed because of poor politics who allowed these developers in national parks what should have never happen! so the opposite narrative here people being actually against national park is just very interesting to me….dont get me wrong I love the fact that Scotland is so free going anywhere, wild camp everywhere, but I as well have seen places in Scotland - devils pulpit one of them - which are not going to survive for generations to come if there are not gonna be put restrictions for people. Very interesting debate. I can understand how tourism can push away locals and in that sense it feels as a bit bigger issue or an issue actually elsewhere than creating a national park as that itself should be for protecting nature and not really for creating touristic opportunities or letting people buy houses for rbnbs. Edited for spelling
The devils pulpit was all over facebook etc during lockdown. Spotlight attention on social media and heard mentality is the real problem. No issues before that.
Stephen, thankyou very much for this video, nice balanced views. You captured the essence of the hilly parts of the the proposed park but there is much more. The park will have a huge coastline and also covers large areas of lowland farming, the hopes and ambitions of Galloway residents are diverse and partly what is causing the entrenched views. You are very right about the opinions on the park creating an 'unholy alliance' between normally antagonistic sections of the community, that is one of the great strengths of the No Park community. This subject trumps all until it is resolved. Unlike you, I am taking sides in this debate, I think the National Park is a very bad idea for Galloway. The opposition to the park is well laid out in the No Galloway National Park Facebook page. Thankyou again.
Very aware I only covered a very small part of the area in this. I want to go back and explore the coastal areas more, it seems to have such a big variety in a small area
Thanks for a good thoughtful video. Unique in its presentation of a bikepacking trip through the beautiful landscapes that are subject to this virulent contention. Your video photography was superb. I loved your music, and I enjoyed the quality discussion. As an Australian who lived for a number of years in Scotland, fell in love with the place and seriously considered emigrating there, I am familiar with the frustrating arguments when people put forward new ideas for how Scottish society might function. I remember back to the Yes/No vote for independence from the United Kingdom. I was so disappointed when this proposition failed, and so appalled by the devious propaganda from the No campaign. Ultimately, it was that disappointing outcome that helped me decide not to pursue Scottish citizenship. It seems to me that when changes are suggested, people from the No case who are against change always manage to find the most resources to campaign with and always manage to be the louder voices. I cannot help guessing that people from the timber industry might be the ones with plenty of money to put behind the fight to stop Scotlands next national park?
Great content, I've visited the area several times including the bothy. It's always been a quiet peaceful area. Maybe a national park would bring an increase in cars and motorhomes like the NC500 has done. Not a good thing in my opinion.
Which waterfall was it you visited? It looks beautiful. I've been visiting Galloway for decades and have never been to that waterfall, but would love to visit it.
I hate were ever you go these days to have a day out in the country, the authorities want to rip you off with big parking fees. Fine have parking fees, but not 5 ponds plus charges. Its all a big rip off. If i go out in the Lakes, it cost me upwards of 10 pounds to park my car. No toilets, no nothing just a rip off.
That is the free market for you, they can charge as much as people will tolerate, and the fact that the car parks are frequently rammed full illustrates that people are willing to pay the charges.
Brilliant video, presenting the issues in an unbiased and very entertaining way. I live about an hour's drive away from Galloway, and have visited it many times. When I heard about the National Park, I had mixed feelings. The Cairngorms National Park has come in for a lot of criticism, over the way employees have been managed and the involvement of a London-based hedge fund, according to the Parkswatch blog. As far as I can see there have been some good things as a result of the NP too. My main concern would be shadowy management and the possible involvement of public-private partnerships and tenders going to distant profit-making companies.
Really loving this style of video Stephen, can't wait for the next one. We live on the doorstep of the Peak District and have seen the impact of a national park from both sides too. I really wish there was an answer that would satisfy everyone, but alas I don't think that's possible.
National Parks do not, and never have, benefitted locals. It's all down sides....vastly increased property costs, increased traffic (including the hated camper vans and their self entitled attitude,) greater controls over what you can do to your property and huge delays waiting on permission if you want to, in some cases, even change the colour of your fence. For locals the only way you will benefit is selling up what the cost of houses go up and move away.
I regularly visit Galloway, it’s the best area for mountain biking in Britain. And yes, I come in a camper van, and I pay for a campsite and I buy food in the local shops and I eat and drink in the local pubs, why am I hated so much? Not going to stop coming though, I’ve got many friends up there now, some of whom do want the NP and some who don’t. I don’t want it, hypocritical as that is.
@HiruS22 Hi. Thanks for replying. I live in D&G and absolutely love the area. I have no issue with campervans that use sites created for their use. That does bring money into the area. The problem comes with the ones that stop over wherever they like (usually clogging up car parks at beauty spots preventing others from visiting) and leave refuse behind. I regularly bike in the Leadhills area and all the way along that road are piles of bagged up rubbish. Who do they think is going to lift it? (Usually volunteer locals) and do they not realise we have foxes, badgers, stoats, pine Martins etc that will not only scatter the rubbish but possibly ingest items that may kill them. I have had occasion where I tried to stop someone emptying their chemical toilet into a small stream and got violent abuse for my troubles. The people that do this kind of thing are responsible for the increase in restrictions. Sounds like you are using the area as it should be used but, unfortunately, all campervan users are tarred with the same brush as the, as far as we can see, majority of irresponsible and self entitled ones.
Totally agree with everything you say, and I too have stopped someone (a French tourist in a rented van) from tipping out his toilet cassette at the side of the road, while parked in a passing place 🙄 I’m as frustrated as you about the behaviour of some and it annoys me that I get lumped in with them.
National Park or not, D&G is an incredibly nature-depleted landscape and, although there has been a lot done to improve that, there is still a lot of work to do. It can't just be ignored through "well we just farm in these parts so bugger off". Best place to start is the vast sitka plantations.
Indeed. Galloway is naturally devastated in reality. The view is green must be good but the reality is often large stretches of industrial landscapes (mono culture farms that only exist due tofwrtiliser), giant sitka plantations and of course, non native deer and sheep. Both sides of the argument have not stood up to explain damage that needs to be repaired. The status quo argument want to keep and increase the existing damage and the new scheme wants to build on it.
@@riveness Hill sheep farms don't fertilise hill grazing areas what are you on about? 70 inches of rain per annum acidifies soils and lime is needed for any productivity. The native farming population have rights I'd say having been there for generations.
Interesting dilemma! Perhaps there are ways to protect wildlife, rivers etc. without the need for a national park. I can see how a lot of the positives are most likely 'hopes', with no guarantee that they will in fact materialise. The rise in housing prices, second homes and so on is also not something that will bring tangible benefits for the locals, especially the youth. On the other hand, there needs to be a way to protect the area somehow, while trying to support the economy for the locals. There's no easy solution, I'm afraid; but it's important that people know both sides of the story. Thank you for sharing this video and the beautiful landscape!
National Parks just bring even more unneeded beaurocracy. Loch Lomond is still a mess with overflowing bins everywhere and neds on jetskis every sunny day
Proximity to Glasgow has meant it has always suffered from the attentions of people who use it as an alfresco drinking location. Rather than investing in ranger services, LLTNP have instead banned wild camping in honeypot locations, limiting campers to a few controlled sites, which you pay to use:in effect they have privatised some access rights. @@StephenJReid
Lovely video, despite the tough topic, really enjoyed the video. It was a nice sort of holiday travel doc, mates hanging out, with a general story to follow.
I live here. We want visitor numbers way down, not up. We don't want to become another Disneyfied bit of Scotland. We don't want more incomers, especially from down south, blowing house prices up further (because buying a home here is already nigh on impossible if you already live here, and more incomers will only blow the house prices up further instead of crashing them like we need), and businesses centered on tourism are low paid, low status, and highly seasonable and insecure, all of which is a problem when you can't buy a house to damn well live in. Here's a tip for tourists to D&G: Go to Wales instead.
Interesting so you actively really don’t want tourism at all? What are the better options for improving the local economy, are there other viable business options and potential big employers? Tech companies?
@@StephenJReid If I knew what the alternatives were, I'd be a richer woman than I am. A lot richer. I do know that tourism, even at the level it is at just not the answer. Tourism is fine in small, manageable doses, but right now it is out of control. Especially with airbnbs, and the proliferation of second and third holiday homes. Just enough tourism to keep the hotels and sites like Burrowhead in business would be fine though.
@@StephenJReidI'd say the vast majority of people who live in anywhere touristy in Scotland and are not business owners (even many of them are fed up) want tourist numbers way down. The way in which it boosts the economy is a great example of why a growing economy doesnt necessarily mean most people will be better off. To give another example, in the 18th and 19th centuries the economy of the Highlands grew wonderfully because of land use "improvements", good economy in wool and later in sport shooting... but a huge mass of the people living there were cleared from the land and lived in utter destitution. Did the economic growth do them any good?
Same arguements the world over, sadly, just listen to the exact same things the Spanish and others are complaing about - affordable housing, jobs, wages, loss of culture...then propose sustainable tourism (whatever that may be...) and you'll end up having to pick which kind of tourist you want, but it's not something you can guarantee. I wouldn't want increased tourism if I lived where you are, I've seen what happens elsewhere. With their resoning of "an uncertain future for land-based industries, especially farming" I think the proponents do have a valid point as those industries will go into decline thanks to certain policies and there's nothing to replace them with, and there's only so much investment government can make. Just to make a final point - I know the Scottish like to bring up the clearances - but they had been happening in England since Elizabethan times, our foriegn aristocracy and monarchy didn't discriminate across borders when profit was involved.
@@LoremIpsum1970 I think the Spanish are sick of our "ex pats" colonising their coast line. Can tell you're from london cos you can't see the wood through the trees, and more over don't want too.
I'm broadly neutral. Its a fabulous wilderness, and most people have no idea it exists (but I do, I've walked it, end to end, and not with all that fancy kit, either, just a backpack and good boots. In those days I recorded my findings with a pencil, in a notebook - none of these drones or expensive cameras. ) Broadly speaking I'd go with a local referendum on it - its up to locals to decide on the pros and cons, not us outsiders.
@@StephenJReid I've been following your channel for years. I enjoy all the videos particularly mourne camping and these documentary type. You gave me the inspiration to do my 1st solo wild camp. It ended up a disaster but it didnt put me off lol. Im still at it. You deserve the recognition and I hope you can keep doing them mate 👍
I absolutely love this video my friend. I live in Northern Ireland too. Love this video from start to finish. Keep these types of videos comming my friend 😊
Just to be clear. I personally am not taking sides here. As an outsider I can see it from both perspectives. I visited as a tourist so a NP would prob benefit me. But I’m also from a place that has had similar issues to Galloway.
This story fascinated me though and I’ve tried to present the arguments from both sides as presented publicly online.
you did a great job of balancing.
Some utterly hideous, unfounded and non-researched quotes in your piece. The elected council of D&G proposed the National Park, it's supported by the elected councils of South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire. It has cross-party support, councils who have changed in party leadership when it was proposed in 2016 still support it in 2024. Scotland's elected Government have always supported it.
Some farmers posting utter BS don't.
I live in Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park and would say that on balance, the planning protection afforded by the authority is a positive thing. The irony of tourists to an area questioning the impact of tourism on that area isn’t lost on me. The main challenges as I see them currently are that the National Park planners are somewhat neutered by the ability of whoever’s in government to overturn decisions for political reasons, and for timber producers (especially FLS) to pretty much ignore whatever the aims and objectives of a National Park are, and continue to stifle biodiversity with great swathes of Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock. Tourism is going to happen in anywhere that’s reasonably marketed (see the chaos of the NC500 - no National Park influence there…
@@F50 And we all know Councillors, councils and Government all have the interest of the people at heart don't we.
Until "National parks" are just about environmental protection and not about socially cleansing vast swathes of countryside to make them refugia for the urban rich, to escape the cities once they've earned their 30 pieces, then no sane British person should want one anywhere near them.
Love Galloway stop talking about it or people will start coming 😂
Sshhhh😂
Yes, this!
As someone who lives in North Wales, near Eryri (Snowdonia)... I completely relate to the residents. It is truly a nightmare living in this area during the tourist season. The infrastructure just doesn't exist here to support all these people. It was a similar situation growing up on the Llyn Peninsula. The only "benefit" we saw as residents was very poorly paid summer jobs. Now there is no housing in the area, a huge percentage of the houses have been converted into holiday homes. As a Welsh-speaking area, the damage to the local language and culture has been massive. The only way is to tax tourists, ban airbnb, and invest in infrastructure in these areas... especially public transport!
Not to distract too much from the spirit of the point you're making, but it's not that there's no housing in the area, it's just that the value for money is so poor. Appearances are deceiving, and there is no shodtage of know-it-all pompous middle class holiday-home owners here who think they know everything by having a quick browse on Rightmove. To get a half decent house that doesn't have serious issues with it, you need to pay at least 150k, and I've seen poor ones up to around 185k as well. So that's not a jump of £0 to £50k for a first time buyer. It's a jump from £0 to 150k just to buy somewhere highly problematic (like issues with knotweed), or tiny or noisy. In light of that, many will just give up and move away. People like to say 'but it's cheap compared to the South -East'....yes, but there's no use telling us that. We don't want to live in the South-East, and it's cheaper here for a reason, such as being a much more rural area, in comparison.
I was born and raised in Dumfries and Galloway (though I am currently in Glasgow for university) and, honestly, tourism is just not the way for the region to flourish. There are already plenty of places to go throughout the region, but it would not resolve the key issues that have made younger people (including me) look elsewhere. The whole area is beautiful, and the small village communities (like the one I lived in) are truly a great place to grow up, but as you mentioned at the beginning there are very fundamental problems with the way the whole region is governed and managed.
Even if jobs were to appear in the national park, it would not solve the fact that it would likely take hours to travel back and forth due to the lack of available bus routes for younger people, meaning that everyone would have to depend upon vehicle even more to get to work meaning more stress on the already dilapidated road network and even more parking that would take away from the natural landscape. I cannot speak as much for places further west, but Dumfries as an urban centre is horrible for job opportunities and provides nothing more than low-level work, charity shops, and government jobs that do not make nearly enough to compete with the Central Belt. I, myself, am studying to go into journalism and while there is some local and village-ran gazettes, they have no competition with Glasgow or Edinburgh and I expect it to be the same across many other industries.
Our region needs investment, but not for a forest park. Tourism is a vital part of our economy, but it should not define it and it certainly hasn't helped us so far. We need actual jobs, actual careers, and actual industries to be able to grow and bring more people to move into the area (not setting up holiday homes or summer homes). If they actually figure out something, I personally would love to come back to my home. I just do not see a long-term future living in Dumfries and Galloway.
What industries can compete with the cheap factories in other parts of the world? There's a limited pool of customers for high end niche industries. With the declining local population there is less demand for many future focused industries like schools and more demand for relatively cheap service based industries for the aging population. There's an increased need for medical professionals too but doctors in particular haven't been trained in enough numbers to meet demand.
@@damionkeeling3103 The main one I can think of, though mind you I am not in this industry, would be renewable energy. We are on the coast, we are crisscrossed with valleys, and we already have companies operating in the region. Wind power production in particular could be expanded greatly, and we are already geographically closer to England where most energy will end up going anywho. We already have educational facilities for rural skills, but we could expand and adapt them to allow for an entirely in-region education in fields that support energy production.
I doubt that we would ever be able to be self-sufficient, and will likely depend on the rest of Scotland and the UK for financial support but we can at least give back some of it so we can expand public facilities.
Isn't the fact that there isn't enough medical professionals proof that there still is a demand for educational facilities?
Well said. My parents best friends lived in a small holding near Kirkgunzeon, between Dumfries and Dalbeattie and we used to spend holidays there. The area just couldn't contain tourisim. The infrastructure is very (*very*) basic - it's setup for farming and forestry. There are very little joined up routes for walking / cycling / etc, so tourists would just tramp around willynilly and annoy the f*** out of locals for zero benefit!
I live over on the east side of dumfriesshire and yeah it feels like all the recourses are used to make the centre better and ignore rural problems. Need refund small business and get public transport up and running
National parks should be about protecting nature. Not a cover for bringing in a huge lot of tourists who'll walk and wear down the nature there.
Yes this...
Yes, but if they're doing it for free anyways, why not make some money out of it. It's not like Scotland has much more to offer.
I agree. But I bet in their small print there’s something about making an area a valuable amenity for the public. Facilities and transport will no doubt ask be included in that.
What nature? The Galloway's have a tiny percentage of the wildlife/ nature it could have. There are large parts of the area without trees (bare in mind it's called a forest), large parts covered in plantation conifers and a small percentage that has deciduous woodland. If a NP status turns that on it's head, I'm all for it.
@@stephenrobinson3280 The more native deciduous the better down there.
The underlying issue nobody is talking about is the wealth divide. There's a big gap between the richest and poorest in this county. The rich are in favour because it doesn't negatively impact them and they might even get some additional income. The rest of us will be worse off. Even the most major road, the A75, is not fit for purpose with the current level of traffic and tourism. Someone died in a fatal accident outside of our village literally a few days ago.
The only conceivable net gain will be jobs - but they will be low-paid hospitality jobs that nobody wants to do anyway. It won't stop young people leaving the area. The additional funding for conservation will be needed to offset the destruction of habitats necessary to support the influx of tourists (yay more car parking for ugly motorhomes!).
I'm not a NIMBY either, I'm a 24 year old who moved here. I am all for positive change but I don't believe this is positive change. Ultimately I would probably benefit, my house would likely increase in value and my village is outside of the proposed NP area so no planning restrictions.
Yeah, I drive the 75 for work, and it is stupid that Springholm and Crocketford have not been bypassed the way CD and G-Fleet have been. It should be dualled all the way from the 74 to Stranraer. And the Cuckoobridge and Bloomfield roundabouts at Dumfries already should have trafficlight controls at peak hours. How many more people are gonna have to die?
@@rhisands2063
Absolutely this 👌
I drive on the A75 maybe a dozen times each year, entering from the border at Gretna and usually turning off for Loch Ken or somewhere around Newton Stewart to get into the GFP. Sometimes I'll drive the full length to Stranraer. I will encounter the issues that you highlight and understand just how frustrating it will be for you as a regular commuter.
I'm not looking forward to driving it with all of the extra traffic and towed along caravans that the national park status will bring.
It's obviously going to be downright frustrating for you and your commute, plus a few % longer in time!
@jr-hr2mw
Very well observed and said 👏, I agree with each of your comments.
The new businesses that will inevitably pop-up are often owned by non-local entrepreneurs wanting low-cost labour.
I have a few more opinions about the effect on this particular area myself but I've just learned of this 'proposal' and so I'd best calm down before I continue typing 🙄
Here's hoping common sense prevails, I've seen far too many beautiful areas ruined by such 'forward thinking' ...🙄🤞
Well said 🏴
Hospital jobs cos the put u in hospital. Weathers shite in Galloway. No one will come.
Once again a precious habitat full of non native trees 😢 Scotland is turning into a Sitka forestry base. A national park should be natural to the land, the forests should reflect this.
Next video about this 🙂
@@StephenJReid Great, cause this is a huge issue. A lot of the landscapes you showed in the video look pretty on the face of it, but actually, they are ecological deserts of sitka spruce and stipped hillside for farming. I think places like Glen Affric are what Scotland _should_ look like.
On the issue of the new NP - from a conservation POV I am totally for it, but also think without protections on issues of home ownership and locals being forced out, we have a huge problem. It's not an issue exclusive to Galloway though. It's common throughout Scotland on the NC500, the Islands, and in the Lomond and Trossachs NP. We need to make second home ownership much too expensive to be desirable. Good video!
agreed. The damn Sitka spruce is an invasive weed, that smothers and ruins everything it touches.
What about all the land cleared of forest for farming, barren scared land, stretching as far as the eye can see, is that natural no, it's all man-made.
@@Domini_k Yes, and it had its uses, way back when, just as we mined coal and burned it for domestic heating, but time moves on.
Property prices go through the roof. locals get squeezed out.
Maybe the UK need to take a leaf out of Norway's book and force the rich to move permanently to popular areas if they build a second home there.
@@1983samwise There has been some legislation on that. People with a second home are charged double council tax now. Probably still not enough. www.gov.scot/news/council-tax-on-second-homes/
...as has been happening all over the U.K for decades....remember Norman Tebbit?
It's already been happening for years.
I live in the area and it's not mainly about housing. People leave because there are no jobs, or they leave for university. They actually go to areas where housing is more expensive. There is currently a range of empty affordable houses on the market in Stranraer.
I live in Glasgow and rented a holiday cottage for my mum and I for a week in New Galloway a beautiful friendly village. We were stunned to learn on a row of 12 cottages only 3 belonged to and were lived in by local residents. It's not right and a national park would make this worse.
Yet you rented one. You might not have known before you went, so no offence. But no one without money can afford to buy such a house, and renters/airbnb make that an absolute. The damage, in any case, is already being done. A NP will only make everything worse. Just look at the Lake District in England - some weekends you literally queue for many miles just to get in! The footpaths can be seen from space, and the prices of homes and rentals is off the charts. I remember the Lakes before the masses arrived, I loved it. Yes I am old! Does D+G really want this...
@@bobphillips2188 I didnt know and I never use airbnb and go to owners directly who lived in the next village. For such a small place I didnt expect there to be so many holiday homes. I hope the NP dosent happen and I agree its awful about the Lake District.
This happens and has been happening for years without NPs. I'm not sure NPs is the issue here. Taxing second homes needs to happen and more community control over their own land. NPs surely should be about protecting nature and the community's place in it?
As someone who's worked and lived in both forest parks and a national park I see absolutely no benefit in a D&G national park.
The scenery and wildlife has existed perfectly fine for decades as a forest park.
The only reason organisations want it to be a national park is corporate greed , the wildlife and land owners , predominantly Forest and Land Scotland just see pound signs for their own budgets.
I've worked for them and they are purely money driven , the guys doing the practical work on the ground do a great job though.
I say leave the area alone , I love visiting D&G the way it is.
What would solve the local issues though? I’ve seen some say that doing nothing will lead to the death of the community anyway.
@@StephenJReid there has been years of neglect and archaic planning and much of the area is stuck in a time warp because of the restrictions of 'conservation', what we need is to encourage investment to bring in meaningful employment, entrepreneurs, etc. but without an upgrade to the A75 and A77 this will never happen and these roads will certainly not be upgraded if we become a national park. So we want change, just the right sort of change which benefit communities, especially our young people.
"Purely money driven."
There are two types of groups that propose things: those doing it for money, and those doing it for purely benevolent purposes. The latter groups almost never have the influence to make things get done, so if something seems like a legitimate possibility you can be almost certain it's backed by money-grubbers.
The A75 & A77 need improved but new built roads & bypasses soon fill up with more vehicles & then you're back to square one.
@@ElizabethHitschmann "encourage investment" how?
Hello from America. That countryside is beautiful, but it's perfect as it is.
50 years ago when I was younger, there was a cave that the indigenous people used, here in Nebraska. The new settlers who moved in enjoyed exploring, and as a child my family came as well, the g. grandchildren of those settlers. It was just a dirt footpath up to its location on a ridge of the forest. Very beautiful!
The state got hold of it, and now there is a wooden pathway with stairs and railings that get one almost there, as you're not allowed to go into the cave and explore anymore. It wasn't very deep or dangerous, but it was cool inside, as caves are. It just isn't the same.
Galloway has been trashed by large scale industrial forestry. Strange choice for a national park.
To an outsider it might look 'perfect', but here's a bit of local knowledge - Scotland is an ecological disaster area where most of our species have gone extinct or are close to it. The land is largely owned by a small number of aristocrats and forestry corporations who exclude the local people from having a say. That's why folk are so hostile to the idea of a national park - they see it as more of the same problems they already have, but instead of existing landowners it's outsiders changing how everything works. Better the devil you know.
Same in the UK generally, and Scotland in particular. I know places where almost no one used to go. Now, thanks to 'improvements', such places are now busy-fit-to-burst. The Faery Pools on Skye eg. Once a faint track, now a major seen-from-space 'footpath', complete with overpriced car park just off the skinny little single track road. It's on everyone's To Do list, Skye businesses love it, everyone else who lives there, not so much. I will never go back there now, it is too depressing, you will never be able to see such places alone again. Most people aren't even what we might call walkers, and most views are taken through the screen of a 'device'. Truly sad. One of my favourite places in NW Scotland, my home patch, is now a rubbish dump for people 'Doing the North Coast 500'. This is not a national park, any of it, but people making youtube videos, saying You MUST See This Place! are kinda trashing it for the rest of us. Sad, just sad. Many people only come the once, maybe twice. But by popularising the remoter, yet still accessible, tracts of land and coast that were once stunning, they are being reduced to muddy, obviously heavily visited places which have lost their feeling of solitude. There really isn't anywhere left in the UK to despoil now. I am getting on now, and I am glad, and privileged, to have known many a remote spot (always on foot, over trackless terrain mostly, although easier routes are clearly available...) and have camped and seen no one. While I am not a Nimby man, it is still sad to lose any sense of quiet and relative remoteness. I have seen cubic metre dump bags, full of people's crap, miles from any road, waiting to be picked up by helicopter! I have dug complete tents, deliberately collapsed and buried, from the sand!! I found a gas stove, left because the gas ran out... This is like music festivals now, tons of cheap camping gear abandoned, so cheap it is 'easier' just to leave it behind. These things I will never understand. (There is a tiny cave near me, virtually unknown even to locals until someone 'discovered it'. Soon someone will claim ownership and start charging for entrance, I just know it)
You do such a great service in shining a spotlight on the issues affecting the areas you visit. Most of the ‘outdoor community’ use the environment to showcase their videos but really don’t want to involve themselves with the issues affecting it. Your ‘outsider’ perspective contributes to the debate and airs the opposing views, and doesn’t detract from the beautiful filming and ace humour 😊
Thanks, trying to find the balance. I always find I enjoy places more when I'm aware of some of the local stories
Great video Stephen. I can sympathise with the residents of the area as someone who lives next to the Burren national park. The infrastructure just does not support the numbers of tourists who arrive and it makes life hell for local. As well as that it really does not help the local economy outside of hospitality primarily. My father had an outdoor shop and we very rarely had tourists stop at the shop other than to maybe use the toilet. Its a complex issue. As an environmental scientist and ecologist, I'd love to see more protection areas for wildlife and habitats, but looking at Galloway, it looks like 90% of the habitat is non native forestry!
Close 86% are non-native. Kinda ironic for a “National Park”.
Do you think not being a National Park would decrease tourist numbers to the Burren? I thought as it was on the Wild Atlantic Way that would be enough to drive people to the area.
I’m curious as I’m planning on making a video there fairly soon.
You could use that argument about the Wicklow National Park
Looking at Galloway, it really reminded me of Connemara. As you've highlighted Michael, this kind of "development" brings with it a lot of negatives, I was specifically reminded of the local property prices inflating beyond the means of the locals which leads to empty holiday homes and a the locals being priced out. I hope the interests of the local community in Galloway are paramount.
Sorry but this stinks of a government that hasn't got a clue what its doing. Industry is what is required to bring stability to Scotland but our current leadership are just a bunch of wasters asset stripping the whole of the UK!
@StephenJReid I think that the Wild Atlantic way is probably more of a source of traffic problems particularly than the Burren National Park yes. It's sort of a compounding effect of a national park with no infrastructure to support the numbers visiting it, as well as a highly travelled route (WAW) bisecting it. I do like how there is little infrastructure in the actual burren national park to maintain the integrity of the landscape, but particularly along the wild Atlantic way portion of the Burren there needs to be serious infrastructure or policy changes. I'm surprised there aren't more fatal accidents within the area given the huge coach buses on small rural roads. Another big problem is locals can't get the bus anywhere from my hometown as it's usually full from tourists who board in either Galway city or Ennis!
First some context. None of the existing National Parks in Scotland or the rest of the are true national parks, under the accepted international definition (which is land owned by the nation primarily for nature conservation). What we have in the UK are effectively tourism management zones, and they tend to be much bigger areas (of what are essentially managed landscapes) than a true national parks as you would have in the USA. The two national parks in Scotland were essentially chosen on the basis of Frank Fraser Darling's 1950s landscape report for the UK government , but Westminster never found time or inclination to pass the legislation to create Scottish nat parks,, so it was not until the early 2000s that the Scottish Parliament belatedly created Loch Lomond & Trossachs and the Cairngorm National Parks. However, by that time, Loch Lomond & the Trossachs had largely been covered in thousands of acres of sitka spruce, and the Cairngorms had been significantly overgrazed by another 50 years of too many sheep and deer, and both had been adversely affected by inappropriate and/or poorly planned tourism developments. Meanwhile, an area further west, and I am not saying the name, with some remnant caledonian pine forests, was being quietly and sensitively managed by the Forestry Commission Scotland, such that the forests recovered, expanded and became an outstanding landscape asset, ironically worthy of genuine national park status (in line with the American model). But thankfully it was never identified as a potential for National Park status (even though it's mostly already owned by the state, it's too small for the UK's tourism management zone model), and the area has remained as a forest park, with a little tourism but not too much. And therein lies the lesson. If I lived in Galloway, I'd probably be against the National Park, because even though the status can bring extra revenue and some potential good, there's already too much public sector in Scotland, and frankly most people in it are numpties and don't achieve much except jobs for themselves and their pals. And the National Park status will also bring negatives. (And if it ain't broke, don't fix it - some parts of Galloway do look very attractive - for example there much more decidious natural and semi-natural forest than I thought there was). Also lack of affordable housing and opportunitites for young people are common to all of rural Scotland, policies to address these problems should be applied across the country, not just in areas which have some nice forests and hills.
Very true. Eryri in Wales is mostly privatlely owned, managed farmland.
Some good points but your about "too much public sector"... surely there's too much land in the hand of too few private individuals. More community control should be the answer.
@@seonaidh8810 - Not as simple as that. Some of the best managed land (for nature / conservation) in the Highlands is privately owned. And that doesn't cost taxpayers anything, and leaves public money for other good causes. If some very wealthy Dutch or Danish people want to invest in our landscapes then let them. Yes community control is the ideal, but dos not always work out, or realise potential. I was involved in a community land project, which after 20 years has effectively restored 1000 acres of overgrazed heather into an young and expanding native woodland, all good. But the trustees all focus on just the flora and fauna, and are against pretty much anything else. To my disapointment, they even let the Woodland Trust plant trees in an area which would have been great location for a future affordable house or two. There's no point in having land just for nice scenery and nature, it has to be for people to live and work two.
it wouyld be great if they used the revenue to buy back privately owned land in Scotland and return that to the people of Scotland , and then plant loads of native species
As a Cornishman I can tell you for certain that the tourist trade will destroy what little you have left if you let it take root. Almost guarantees you'll have to leave your home.
That national park is a terrible idea. How does adding roads and carparks while increasing foot traffic protect natural habitat?
Eco-tourism is not generally a bad thing for wildlife when compared with other land uses. Intensive sheep grazing, water system alteration and industrial forestry are what destroyed our natural habitats. Conservation is increasingly regarded as a failed strategy - in order to increase natural habitats you need to change land uses. And that means you need nature to make money. When landowners realise that natural landscapes can make them more money than intensive farming then you'll see nature flourish, as happened in the Knepp estate in England for example.
As regards whether a national park is the best way to do that, that is another question.
Are there any National Parks in Cornwall? I can't remember. I do totally agree with you, but as said in response to another comment the problem isn't National Park status, I think that's the misnomer here, it's lack of protection of high tourism areas for locals and those loving in the area, lack of building of affordable houses, of investment in the local economy over the years, and basically a free for all. If that was all in place and you could convince those that housing affordability, jobs, infrastructure (roads, GPs, schools, police if the local population increases) wouldn't be an impact and you had access to all the new and improved (and well maintained) local facilities would be easily accessed by you as the local population many that oppose this wouldn't be opposing it. As it is this isn't in place so I'm not surprised there's opposition and probably quite rightly so.
Just another way for the rich from down south who buy up homes in the hills to bypass scotlands right to roam laws . They are systematically doing this all over Scotland and then saying its private land , taking away our right to roam our right to camp our right to fish and they are doing it all over Scotland. Massive areas getting blocked off from our people for a selected few rich people who either have bank loads of money and stay in these houses 1 week a year . Its the same where i live , 4 masdive country houses bought up by lawers etc from london with masive ammounts of land , signs put all over the country shutting off roads with private land and no through roads and these houses are empty for atleast 10 months of the year . How do i know this , because my mate cuts the grass for them all and the houses are empty most of the year .
Yep… landgrab👀
One key issue here has been the GNP not advising those who seem for it that they're for it for totally misinformed reasons. One huge one is people think it will stop windfarms when scottish governement have updated policy to state its needed and will be welcomed within the boundaries.
The boundary itself is another huge reason it's not fixed at any point they can change it as they desire that's before even looking at the fact they've cut Dalbeattie in half.
People seem to think it will being all these jobs which yes hospitality jobs will increase but they're seasonal and min wage so how are these people to afford the increased cost of accommodation if they can find it. Whole towns in other NPs are classes as being dark in winter because there's no locals left and tourists and 2nd homes don't visit in the off season. So who goes to these hospitality businesses then? Only so many will ever survive or thrive if all there is are hospitality businesses.
Our infrastructure is on its knees with the A75 closed 5 days over the last 6 weeks due to accidents which have cause not only chaos locally but other accidents on B roads which have had to take ferry traffic. Our hospital is on its knees with a delayed discharge crisis between the average age already rising and projected to rise further if our young all leave being priced out where do you think the carers come from?
Accommodation is a huge issue we can't even get new Dr's accommodation and we desperately need them to come. Long term rentals are fast changing to holiday let's and Air B&Bs. These seasonal min wage jobs won't afford folk mortgages here so where do people live.
Ask yourselves why Naturescot who cowrote the bid are now acting as reporter in the process and why scotgov won't give residents a referendum? Why all previous events of engagement prior to the bid being sent were at certain establishments and ticketed with selected people invited? Less than 0.5% of the residents were actually engaged with for a view and this was used to say the region wanted it.
We have so many local groups who do an amazing job and could do so much better without a board of over paid people take control of planning in the region and have no thought for the region itself. Ask yourselves as a region of high deprivation who benefits? I cant say many affording days out in the NP and our transport doesnt afford people options to get there.
This simply benefits those already benefiting while the locals will pay the price of this glorified experiment by scotgov
I only watched a minute of the video and was already suspecting everything you just confirmed. Government at all levels is acting in this manner. It's entirely predictable at this point. Give people the illusion of choice, make them believe they're getting a good deal, and then shaft them all the way. And the fact that they're ploughing ahead with this and ignoring all the local's concerns is, once again, par for the course.
@@CristiNeagu We have a word for it in the English language although our superiors deftly avoid its use: Corruption. Corruption is alive and well in the UK and anyone who says otherwise is in on it or living under a rock.
@@entropybear5847 No, this isn't just corruption, it's something bigger. Corruption is when individuals cheat others for their own benefit. This seems like a concerted effort. It looks like a large scale agenda being pushed, aided by corruption.
The area is very run down with little infrastructure I thought when visited last year. Needs investment injections and more job and improving facilities, etc.
@@Nate1975 What it needs is for the people living there to be encouraged to do the kinds of things they're already doing. Whether they're farmers or craftsmen or whatever. The government should support local businesses instead of replacing them with large corporations.
Well this was such a gem of a video. Not just because my in-laws live in the D&G and I had no idea about the national park prospectus, but also because of the outdoor adventure you and your friends went on to bring us this story. We have long enjoyed how quiet this area of Scotland is compared to the more ‘conventional’ visitor haunts, and thus have been able to spend our outdoor time in relatively low numbers even in peak season. Superb Stephen!
Galloway is not a playground - it's a living, working area of small communities. The N.P. proposal is a vainglorious gravy train of an ill considered concept that could be thrust upon the residents - more rules and regulations, red tapes, restrictions, by laws, etc - more layers of bureaucracy. If the money and will is there for this "project" then why not invest in Galloway as it is? Over-tourism is a blight on the planet, not just Scotland. Go back and watch the video again and imagine nose to tail vans, campers, huge motor homes, cars, hikers. They would all expect "facilities" - and providing those would destroy the very thing that they purport to come for. The vast majority of jobs created would be seasonal - you can't pay a mortgage on a seasonal wage even if you thought you might be able to afford one of the local houses with prices greatly inflated just by the misfortune of having the N.P. name tag. I would like to see Galloway tourism left as it is, and more investment that would directly benefit local people for their schools, housing, roads, environment, young peoples' prospects etc. I've lived in the Stewartry and now live in Wigtownshire; it's a very beautiful area, but you can't eat the landscape. As I said, it's not a playground.
I live in Dumfries, and Galloway is definitely my playground. I would rather not share it with too many others though.
You've just described the Cairngorm National Park to a tee...What happened here would happen there too, try and avoid NP status at all costs.... (It's mad- you can live in a town area no different to a central belt area but yet not have permitted development rights to put up a shed without "asking" the NP AND THE COUNCIL! Housing is at crisis levels now, the Air B'N'B is declining and properties are coming back on the market, but most of these will be bought up by corporate buyers so it does nothing for the poor locals doing all the service industry jobs)
That's usually the case with National Parks
An idea is only ever pushed on for profit, absolutely NO BUSINESS of any description, comes up with an idea on this scale for nothing or for the "good" of the locals. 😢
What investment would you like to see to create new industry and thus new jobs. Give some concrete examples
What I remember most about childhood holidays in Galloway is the similarity to the problems of the Highlands. Large land owners holding far too much sway over resources and everybody's lives. At both ends of the country, it is necessary to move from that archaic model to something that functions properly and sustainably on both social and economic plains.
I agree what you say but giving even more power to an incompetently managed bureaucracy is not the solution, you may find the same landowners having sway over the national park.
Galloway and the Highlands are not the same- different history and different relationship between the estates and the wider population. We don’t need the highlands’ grievances and politics forced onto us.
I’ve been visiting this area for 30 years as my wife’s family live here. It’s always been an unknown gem by many in the UK. The area seems to be doing alright without national park status. Plenty of tourists throughout the year. I say leave it alone and I believe locals feel the same. Great video Stephen and great reporting combined with the beauty and majesty of this area. Thanks.
Encouraging tourism will only push out locals and leave countless homes as holiday lets, which are vacant half the year. I come from Carmarthenshire, but had to move to Cardiff for work, which is what about 50% of the people I went to school with did. The difference between Galloway and where im from is that, although naturally beautiful, Carmarthenshire was ravaged by industrialisation, even so due to the rural vibe and relatively low house prices, people from england have flocked over en mass. The pretty coastal villages have been gutted and are now >50% airbnb lets, and even the cheaper, ex mining villages have gone from being 100% welsh speaking communities when i was a kid, to now mostly english. I used to be able to go to the local pub or shop and speak welsh, now everywhere i go everyone has an english accent, and it's happened in the span of about 15 years. This isn't an anti english rant either, it's just really depressing that larger, overarching economic forces and a historic lack of investment in rural communities (particularly in Wales, Scotland, cornwall, devon etc) is leading to the homogenisation of UK culture, and i think our various unique and ancient cultures is honestly one of the best things we have in the UK, amd we should celebrate...
Absolutely well said.
Spot on mate. I don't have any issues with the English but I sick of england/london ruining everything for their own benefit.
Yep, time to buy up all the houses and open AirBNBs! I guess if you don't want things to ever change, you should become a living museum, go for protected indiginous rights... but anything you've said can be applied to most parts of the Western World from Europe to the US. Similar sentiments are being voiced in Spain for instance.
@@jjskn93 I live in London, what benefit am I getting from any of this? Most of the kids I grew up with in my English village moved to eiher London or Manchester for work and better opportunites, that's not unusual, you go where the work is not the other way round.
Hate to break this to you but "the homogenisation of UK culture" and stand based on ethno-nationalism is now an unwinnable and politically toxic debate. I should know, I'm English and everything about my culture has been either supressed or erased from education and society over the last few decades. FFS we can't even ask to have a national holiday or fly our own flag without being labeled. Then again I live in a country run by the foreigners of the aristocracy and monarchy.
Your videos are absolutely brilliant at the moment. I'm really enjoying all this different subjects in local areas that don't get widespread publicity. Keep them coming. 👍
Thanks Thomas 🙂 any thoughts on the National park?
I live in Dalmellington, just on the outskirts of the Galloway Forrest
Our local loch is loch doon, well known around here but to others it’s not as known.
It’s generally a well kept area and an absolute hidden gem really.
Things have changed over the last few years as posters were placed in Glasgow train station amongst other places, now more known and as times went on the place has become very busy on nice weather days with visitors from all over.
The outdoors are for everyone without a doubt but when people come from all over and leave rubbish everywhere, scorched ground with campfires and just generally become a nuisance, then ask anyone around here and they would categorically tell you it ain’t worth it.
Living and working in the northern Lake District which I can confirm it is collapsing. A living hell in the summer. A small example, public toilets at Buttermere had to be closed as there was no one to clean them, because no local can afford to live here, so there’s no one local to do the work. There needs to be at least 200% council tax on Airbnbs and holiday homes with the money raised spent in the region. They need to make places to live in and visit. It is worth noting that the increase in the UK’s population from 59 million to 69 million in the last 10 years or so has to be a factor.
I fell in love with the Lake District 30 years ago, I now hate the chintzy place it’s become, please don’t let that happen to Galloway, you live in a beautiful place, with wonderful people, why risk that?
Go to the cheviots/Northumberland national park. There’s pretty much nothing for tourism apart from kielder. There’s some hidden gems in the valleys
@@gyalsnextman4725 I know it well! Lovely part of the country and still full of wonderful local people!
Why thank you kindly sir . Scotland welcomes all visit Scotland 🏴
Lakes are awful compared to DnG❤
@@gyalsnextman4725the scenery isn’t nearly as dramatic or beautiful there though. All the forests as well seem to be pine plantations as well very few deciduous woodland unlike the Lake District
This is where I live and work. I have yet to speak to any local who thinks the park is a good idea. I think of the lake district and the North Coast 500 and would rather we stayed as we are, quiet, understated, relaxed, beautiful..... than imported all those problems. Have you been to the lake district? The place is a nightmare......
Lake District has been a tourist spot for over a hundred years, though. Ditto Snowdonia. Cairngorms and Northumberland might be truer comparisons to Galloway, if visitor numbers are already low?
Cornwall has been ruined with holiday homes pricing locals out of nice safe places to live.
NC500 and Cornwall are both not national parks.
As someone who moved into the Galloway area almost twenty years ago one thing that wasn't mentioned and is a huge problem whether the national park goes ahead or not is our totally inadequate roads infrastructure. Most incoming traffic will use the A75 which runs from Gretna all the way to the west coast, although it's designated as a Euroroute it is known locally as the goat track. Much of the heavy freight traffic to and from the Cairnryan port linking us to Ireland and Northern Ireland uses this road, it has very little dual carriageway over it's 100 mile length and decent, safe overtaking places are few. When it is closed, as it often is, due to accidents, fallen trees and road works diversion routes can often add hours to a journey. This must be addressed before any new traffic is produced as it will be by a national park. (The A77 running from Cairnryan to Glasgow is no better)
Yeah I’ve been stuck on it several times it’s a horrible road
Indeed the roads are not great
And the few roads in between are already decaying into the peaty verges. But there's a reason why there are few roads - there are relatively few places and people! Duh. That's why I LOVE IT! Nobody except people who already have enough money to be able to increase the size of their business will benefit, while grants for start ups or for locals to improve a small operation, which may or may not succeed, might not lead to anybody's improved situation, while such grants might still have to be paid back. Just wait for the bankruptcies to come a year or two after Parkmagedon. Where are all the extra houses going to come from for a start? Oh yeah, either by building more small boxes, tacked on small village fringes, to 'appease' the locals on benefits (for whom there will be no new full time jobs with a NP, and no improved transport infrastructure - read buses), or houses that most of us could only dream of. Probably for people who will buy them as holiday homes, empty most of the year, or rented via airbnb, thus pushing house prices way beyond anything locals could ever aspire to. An blah blah blah.
The question of national parks is always tricky.
I used to live and work in Madagascar. Immediately in front of the lodge and dive shop was a natural area where green turtles lived and ate. There was a debate about whether to make it a recognised park. That would add protection, money for the local community and a recognition of its ecological importance. On the other hand, the area was relatively unknown so the turtles were mostly left alone with not many tourists visiting. If it was a national park, visitor numbers would increase, potentially to a level where the turtles would leave.
It’s often not an easy decision about the best approach. As with Galloway, there were people from the same background on opposite sides. Inertia has prevailed so far and it hasn’t yet got protected status.
I understand the reluctance to the plans because, as somebody from Northumberland, I've seen a real change to the wilder places which are now filled with people. It's great that people get out and enjoy the wilder places but for people who care for the land seeing more and more people arriving, using the resources, then leaving can be hard. Local housing can be all bought up for holiday accommodation and AirBnBs, small areas which aren't designed for a lot of people can be overwhelmed, and often the local community doesn't see a huge amount of the tourist money anyway because it often goes to wealthy landowners. Also I wonder if people feel that this is being done *to* them rather than *for* them and for locals in an area which doesn't necessarily have a lot of prospects for young people it can be hard to trust large organisations who really haven't done a lot for them so far but are promising that they definitely will.
I get it, I do. I don't live there although I do know from my own small home village how tourism affects the local way of life and it's a very hard balance to get right. My hope is that any plans that do go ahead protect the land, benefit the locals, and find sustainable and low-impact ways of allowing people to experience a truly special part of the world.
A very thought provoking video that really gets you thinking one way then the other about the benefits or impacts of introducing a National Park to the Area.
The reasons for and against the NP both have positives within them. I did as the video goes on I tended too think the NP would be a bad idea, more than a positive one.
The Points against it raised. More Houses being bought as second homes, and the affect that that has on house prices. That then stops the locals from being able to buy a home where they were born. Which will also impact the rental market, with the same results, and youngster moving away.
We have seen it here in Norfolk, in the village were I live the Big House was for sale during Covid for £1.2 million. It has only just come back on the market and the asking price is £4.2 million. ( I honesty can't see how it has had so much value added to it in 4 years) Our own house had more that doubled in value. My kids will not be able to afford to buy their own home until we pass away.
We have a lot of second homes that are only used for a few weeks of the year, then they are left empty the rest of they year. We don't often see the owners either. One home is well looked after and it has never had a car parked in the drive as it is empty. We have had 2 houses sell of over a million each and they are still empty.
I don't tend to mind Holiday Cottages as much, as they are a lesser of the two evils as the phrase goes, because they still drive up house prices and rents, but when they are occupied their visitors do at least contribute to the local economy. As we tend to spend a little bit more when on holiday than we do when staying at home.
That is from what I have seen myself without a National Park being added to the mix. Will look forward to the next part of the video.
thanks Simon
A national park would be somewhere that you would think is full of wildlife, nature, a remote and biodiverse location where the natural world comes first. Now name one National Park in the UK that is this and isn't an overgrazed ecological deadzone that is mostly covered in animal-agriculture. The Cairngorms are trying to change this but is only at the start of it's journey.
Nowhere in the UK is like this, every square inch of the country has been used/exploited by humans. The Scottish highlands is not a natural landscape, if it were it would be covered in forests to an altitude of 600m but the industrial revolution and the aluminum industry destroyed almost all of the forest cover, with only a few localised patches around which survived.
Adam did you sneak a peek at my next video?
@@StephenJReid i make wildlife and adventure documentaries and as you mentioned it you showed animals :) and it's one of the main reasons i am vegan. Looking forward to it.
That's what you would expect of a NP, but with a main Euro route (well this is what it is supposed to be, but after years of neglect, it is not fit for purpose) running through it carrying 1.5 million HGVs per year hardly equating to a remote and biodiverse location
@@KelpandFern it only focus on one aspect, but I'm working on a more detailed video covering a similar topic in Ireland but in more detail.
Another great video, mate. Loving the recent move into more story-esque content. I hope your AWT gets a good bump and the algodrithm shows your channel some love.
Oh, you got a sponsor...Congrats sir...Keep going... Wow, this video is a total vibe! The visuals are incredible, and the music is perfect. It made me feel so relaxed and inspired. Definitely adding this to my playlist!😄😍
This is a really interesting topic. I think there’s a good argument on both sides, it all comes down to how it’s implemented. Look at what’s happened in Loch Lomond and Cornwall for example, where it was poorly managed. Loads of restrictions due to poor facilities and big volumes of people.
Galloway Forest is like the Forest of Dean 25+ years ago, similar demographic, employment issues and mining history. I feel the FD has been well rejuvenated. Why can’t GF have this model, all the benefits of the NP without the restrictions of the NP and naming.
You can’t beat a good bike packing trip, keep it up.
It does seem that a huge amount of the issues come down to car parking and access in general once somewhere becomes popular.
I keep going back and forth on whether or not I think it’s a good idea. It’s one of those things that will take decades to really show its true worth or otherwise
What happened in Loch Lomond in the Trossachs?
@@kirsteneasdale5707 Between March and September, there are now camping management byelaws that mean you can't camp without a permit in specific parts of the park. The National Park don’t provide facilities such as toilets or bins in many of the popular spots either. Poor management and banning clamping down. Instead of progressive ideas and solutions.
I will admit that there are some idiots who ruin it for everyone, so we have to make it easy.
@@kirsteneasdale5707 Flamingoland.
@@rhisands2063 We won!! Though, it's depressing that the Scottish Government are so keen to build a resort in the national park, at least the plans have again been rejected.
I go to the solway coast every year in Dumfries and Galloway, for some late season birdwatching, and I am always amazed at the number of existing caravan parks and golf courses! So somebody must be visiting! But in November it's gloriously free of people and packed with overwintering birds
Very good video, raises lots of talking points. We.'ve been visiting this area for over 20 years and I'd hate to see it over commercialised and spoilt.
Great video Stephen! Thank you for making this excellent, well researched video and raising awareness about the National Park plans in Galloway. As someone from the area, it’s definitely a divisive topic.
Thanks Ruth 🙂
Galloway is amazing just as it is. Because it is quiet, peacefull and not overun with tourists. The lake district has become an outdoor theme park, rammed with more people than it can handle. Don't let Galloway be ruined too.
Tourism isn’t the answer. There are so many misconceptions about tourism - that it brings huge economic benefits for local people, that economies in rural beauty spots depend on it entirely and so on. The fact is that most jobs in tourism are within the hospitality industry meaning part-time, minimum wage and seasonal. People cannot survive on hospitality jobs alone. Meanwhile property prices get pushed up and many holiday let owners live outside the area and just enjoy raking in money. Long term rentals virtually disappear and housing in general becomes scarce and expensive. Infrastructure struggles to cope with visitor numbers (take it from someone who went to A&E with an infection here in north Wales during the school hols and had to wait 15 hours).
Tourism isn’t the answer
Spot on. Last time I went on zoopla and put in "Scottish Highlands" - 6 properties for rent in an area the size of Belgium. Put Scottish Highlands into airbnb and there are thousands upon thousands. Utterly broken.
Another great entertaining and informative video! This is a tough subject. I grew up in an area that was (in the decade before I was born) turned into a National Lakeshore and I can definitely see both sides. Places I used to enjoy as a kid are now packed with tourists every summer, and quite a few of them do not respect this place I call home whatsoever. But on the other hand, I am glad that the area will now remain undeveloped and available for future generations to enjoy.
Thanks Josh. Yeah really hard to know what is really best
All depends how it’s done. The NC 500 is an example of how not to do it. Promote a single track road in the far north of Scotland as a road trip destination; provide no extra accommodation or public toilets and allow the road to get destroyed. Galloway Forest is a large area of non native commercial forestry with pretty low ecological value. It is changing now and would benefit from the injection of funding NP status would provide, but put in the infrastructure first. I would suggest preventing vehicle access to the forestry dirt roads to encourage human-powered travel. That would eliminate the neds at a stroke…
the suggested National park area is many times bigger than the forest itself, extends right to the coast and includes towns and villages. I showed a map at the start but perhaps didn't make that clear
Most of them already are blocked for vehicle access. A lot of car parks have been bouldered due to issues with "wild camping". It doesn't stop them as certain areas have to be left accessible. It was horrendous during lockdown.
A lot of the plantations have been cleared for the massive windfarms which initially promised that very same infrastructure and jobs. All it has done has increased HGV traffic thundering through villages thanks to the roads that were widened. None of the other promises have been met and we pay some of the highest standing charges which they "give" us back in grants from the huge constraint payments they earn each year.
I can see the resistance, just look at the Fairy Pools on Skye, the Car Park there now compared to 30 years ago Is an eye sore. Over tourism is a problem 😢
I went to Skye a few years ago and I was actually disgusted by the people at the Fairy Pools. People literally queueing up in their best bikinis to jump in the water for 30 seconds to get a pictures for their Instagram. Sad and pathetic I wanted to vomit in my mouth.
The way you narrate your videos is simply amazing i gotta say, watched your video about the reservoir test digs in Ireland the last night, was an instant subscribe.
Keep up the great videos
many more people always put stress on wildlife without exception . the gentle atmosphere is ruined if a million more tourists descend and to cater for this, widening roads, destroying hedges and carparks on natural land. i agree outside companies and holiday homes will destroy the place like in other tourist towns. leave it alone.
I’ve felt for a while now that both the UK and Scottish Governments should, at the very least, come up with a plan to ensure that people living in our national parks actually see some of the tourist income-this absolutely should not apply to second home owners. It’s the least we can do for those who’ve had to deal with the pressures of living in such popular areas. And this isn’t just a Scottish issue either-it’s happening in Cornwall, Wales, Northern Ireland, and all across Europe, the US, and beyond.
I absolutely love our national parks in Scotland and the world-class landscapes we’re lucky to have. I regularly go bikepacking and wild camping, but I’m fully aware that the needs of the locals should always come first.
Of course, there should be significant investment in better roads and public transport, but that’s just scratching the surface. The real issue is how we support young people in these areas. I don’t have all the answers, but those who want to stay should, at the very least, have the realistic opportunity to earn a national average salary as a minimum.
It’s unfortunate, but many people who grew up in cities often overlook or dismiss the experiences of rural young people.
I own a second home - but it isn't what you might think. I bought it for my son , who has a disability, and is not able to own his own home due to that reason. If he did, he would lose his benefits. I did not make these rules, but I have to work around them.
Having lived & worked in the Lake District, the locals in Galloway have good reason to be worried. I first lived there in the early 90s, and none of the problems that were apparent then have ever been properly addressed. Moved back in 2018 & over tourism was 100x worse. I moved away again in the end because I couldn't afford to live close enough to my job in Central Lakes to make commuting to a low paid job viable, much as I was happy to do that work to be able to live near the mountains. Windermere is horribly polluted, roads are grid locked most of the year & there's nothing for local young people. Even if they're happy working in the tourism industry finding a home is difficult even with local occupancy clauses which are too little too late. Communities have been decimated & the national park is little more than a theme park. Post covid fly camping is a massive problem, as is a general disrespect for the area and it's people from the new breed of scummy visitors who wouldn't have thought of going there before. Galloway will be in for the same unless measures are put in place at the start to prevent the problems encountered by other national parks, but c'mon what are the chances of that happening?!
Social media plays a big role . People who don’t care for nature or mountains come to the Lakes now just for Instagram pictures then dump all their gear . It’s disgusting
Planning is bureaucratic in a national park, I want to build a small room extension to replace an ageing ugly porch. Anywhere else this is permitted development, in national park I have to go through full planning which includes significant cost and architect fees. Anywhere else in the country a conservatory/building company could build an room for you cheaply with minimum fuss.
It's not for the environment, it's to price the likes of you out.
A properly environmental national parks would be smaller, uglier more convoluted borders, and any wider policy would be designed specifically to stop social cleansing of the human environment in the area.
A new NP is the wealthy elite publicly announcing that your rural area is now earmarked for gentrification.
@@entropybear5847 even under gentrification a society needs regular people to live there because if they don't then the gentry also suffer....
@@garycroft8213 Feudal serfdom, doffing the cap, clearances to the 4th industrial revolution digital satanic mills in 15 minute surveillance ghettos they call cities .... aye this 100 year blip in human history with a "middle class" is over right enough....
As someone familiar with American National Parks, and a belief in the big promises/little results of government-I’d vote no. The massive amount of tourists will over run the budget-minded bureaucrats minimal facilities. Overflowing pit toilets, garbage, graffiti, and much more. Trails will become overcrowded crowded, wildlife will be impacted, people will simply not follow rules and on and on. And once it starts to become popular, housing prices will skyrocket. Those young people won’t be able to afford to live there. Neither will senior citizens because the tax rate will also soar. People who’ve lived there for generations have to sell out. Developers will be frothing at the mouth to throw up substandard housing that will look like crap in 10 years. Just ask Montanans. Tourism is a double-edged sword.
Are there any positives to National Parks?
@@StephenJReid everything which is outlined in GNPA's bid can be achieved without Galloway becoming a NP, in fact, if the money which has been earmarked for this was spent on the current parks and communities, it would achieve far more. Given that they were not honest in their bid (they stated that they had extensive community support, yet only quoted a poll from 430 people), makes one question every other claims they make, and you were right, it reads like a marketing brochure. If the bid had been presented as a business plan, it would have been turned down without a second thought, yet here we are.
I live in NW Scotland, in a wee village. We have one or two shops, one or two hotels, and one or two pubs/cafes. Sadly, someone (I was going to say idiot, but then I thought, nah, gave the man/woman a chance) came up with the 'North Coast 500'. To those who make money from it, great. To the rest of us it means roads littered with campervans - of all sizes, and driver abilities - with new signs going up regularly saying 'Don't park here overnight'. The wording is deliberately, somehow, more aggressive than 'No overnight Parking'. And while locals agree it will reduce rubbish, mess, and the emptying of chemical loos/piles of excrement in those places, it only pushes some campervanners to push things further by finding any small area they can to spend overnight, causing damage to vegetation and creating further eyesores. There is not, by a country mile, enough space in the few campsites in a huge area (Wester Ross in my case, vast area, just one long road with a handful of side roads, single track one and all), and many people feel the prices charged are too high when spaces are available. Maybe after paying £1,000+ a week to rent one, or having bought one, people feel they've already paid out enough, thanks. So some of them park, quite legally, even thus far, in whatever small space they can. Fine. But PLEASE take all your s--t and other rubbish home ffs! However, the negatively worded signs to not clutter viewpoints and other large-ish areas with campers just remind the locals that we are, in a sense, under siege during the summer, which can make things 'interesting'... I regularly hear tourists in the few shops here say that 'They haven't got such-and-such here' that they could get in a Tesco or Lidl somewhere. Duh. Village, maybe 600 full-time residents, tripled in summer. The shops can't become three times bigger just to suit the visitors. The feelings of negativity felt by many locals daily in summer are something we - who get nothing from it, financially or socially or anyhow - have to live with, while we watch the people 'Doing the NC500' come and go from the multitude of airbnbs that have pushed house prices up, and the hotels where the people are even more well heeled, with their sports/supercar car convoys, massive motorbikes (often with massive riders wearing massive clothing, always keeping their crash helmets on so you can hardly communicate with them. Try getting past one in the very narrow aisle of a small village shop. They are often rude, even arrogant. Good luck! I'm not sure why they are even here. Oh yes, the NC500, the road in particular) and coach parties, which all splurge back onto our poor roads each morning. Thing is, by October we 'get the place back', more or less. The hotels close for the winter, as do many other places, with the basic shops and maybe one cafe remaining open (until next spring anyway. Nice, thank you! There is no pub to go to now, so us locals stay at home. So, most - 80%? - businesses here have to make 12 months' income in 6, so the prices they charge are not attractive to locals in summer anyway. However, most people who live here do so, or did so originally, because it is - for which read used to be - quiet. Poor D+G should national park status be forced upon them. Why can't people be left to find their own adventures? Is imagination completely dead? I visit areas I look into, I look at maps (paper ones preferably, something most people don't even possess anymore, let alone know how to read), and usually go because they look empty, NO hordes of day trippers or airbnb renters swarming the roads or byways. Please, let's not ruin one of the last pleasantly quiet backwaters (which doesn't mean 'opportunity to increase tourism and local misery', thanks) in Scotland, and please don't post youtube 'You really must visit this area' videos! NC500 videos extolling the wonders of northern Scotland just add to the masses who 'Do' areas both popular and 'upcoming popular' and turn them into places with a bipolar twist. Why National Parks anyway? By 2050 all of Scotland will be one big national park, and then what... Yes, find your own adventures, from your own head, but don't advertise it online! Please. But I know, too little, too late.
What amazes me is how a claim to protect wildlife and environment always does the opposite. More visitors just damages both.
Thank you for the video and nice to see a balance of views presented. I live and work in galloway and feel really in the dark about how the process keeps just rolling without any real information and lack of chance to get facts so just down about how divisive this is becoming locally. My personal experience of growing up and living in other national parks means am against it happening but sadly feel the whole thing is just creating unnecessary turmoil and distracting from actual improvements so whatever happens the damage has been done.
I grew up in Ayrshire. Galloway was my stomping ground as a teen. Love the place.
Been staring at it over the sea all my life. Can’t believe it took me until this year to actually properly visit. Feel like I need to explore the coastal area next
All my mum's family is from near port patrick , all my dad's family is from Ayr.... They had to move to get jobs, that was in the 60s... me and my brother are from Glasgow....
@@littlegrandadoutdoors I was born in Glasgow which is where my Dad's family is from. Rottenrow hospital. I was brought up in Ayrshire though in Prestwick.
@@BrokenBackMountains did you know we share the same name?? Only mine is an yours being en.... if we do ever meet up that could be confusing for others...
@@littlegrandadoutdoorsyeah it would be 😅
I understand where the locals are coming from, I live close to the Peak District and it's absolutely full of tourists which naturally means a lot of houses there are air Bnbs etc, I understand it brings in a lot of money but the increase in people actually going to these national parks will always do more damage then any conservation can be promised
i did notice a lot of trail erosion in popular places when I was in the Peak District
The Scottish government gave local authorities powers to license on short term let's. So in theory, they can either ban it, or limit numbers to what's perceived to be sustainable.
Of course them doing the right thing, is not a given. And it won't stop people commuting in or wild camping
Perhaps those against a National Park would be happy to have Flamingo Land there, now that the planning in the National Park where I live, have stopped this development (thank goodness)?
I would be interested to know what the ordinary folk who live in Galloway think? Not just what the large landowners and farmers think.
The ordinary folk are very active on the facebooks groups.
I think you will find many of us signed your petitions and support your fight.
Fantastic video! We've walked the Southern Upland Way and the Galloway forest is our favourite part. As a Scot who lives in Dorset I hear the same arguments anytime the local council announce anything that 0.5% of the community think is a great idea. There is a lot of distrust of every area government/councils/associations etc and I don't blame anyone about it. Someone is always leading decisions with their own interest at heart. To use a word 'locals' to define a group in Scotland is not always what you think it is. As a Belfast man I think you will get my meaning. Loving these videos ATB 👍
Enjoyed this Stephen, certainly made me question why I've never made the short trip from Belfast to explore Galloway, although I've still yet to make the most of the Mournes!
I can see both sides of the argument you explored in the video; I find myself coming down somewhere in the middle, the objective above all should be conservation and nature renewal. such initiatives can provide jobs, maintain the beauty of the area for those living there and visitors, without the massive 'Come and Holiday here!' that comes with being a national park.
Fact is, the more advertised a place is to potential holidaymakers, the more visitors you are going to get who are underprepared and/or unthinking (fly camping etc).
I doubt the locals are wholly against visitors to their beautiful home, they just don't want to see an increase in those who don't show it the respect it deserves.
Yeah I feel somewhere in the middle too. And a lot of the locals welcome tourists as long as they are actually spending in the area. I personally found the locals to be very friendly.
My favorite thing about your videos is the subject matter! You explore such a wide variety of stories :) I have fond memories as a child of going to the Cairngorms on a sunny day and swimming in a lake :) Quite a bit North from where you were but beautiful as only Scotland can be as well. My family moved to Ireland when I was about 7 in 1988 but I still have many memories of the beautiful landscapes :)
Thanks 🙂 I need a proper visit to the Cairngorms, only drove through once coming home
Just look at the state of the other National Parks. Thanks Steve😊
On AirBnB - my old house in Auchencairn is an AirBnB - Auchencairn is a very small village and, up until the mid-80's, could support 2 village shops, a pub, a hotel, and a nice wee community .... by the 90's that had changed!
Really cool and interesting video! Great storytelling and editing:)
In terms of the national park, there’s no doubt the area needs help with its economy. It would be nice to find a balance to protect the residents and farmers, whilst preventing over tourism. Perhaps a permit system like in the US limiting numbers, and then making sure lasting infrastructure is built and not just gravel poured down for car parks and roads. To me it seems like an incredibly fine balance between ensuring the area develops as it deserves to, without taking away the cleanliness and untouched beauty as well the lives of the residents already there. I’m not from the area so I don’t really know, but I hope that the trustee board opens up more and changes the plan as needed, rather than making it an identity and party politics issue
Balance is the perfect word for what’s required here. The area has a lot to offer that hopefully could change things positively for the locals. The challenge is how.
Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park is probably the reason people are against it. Due to visitors leaving a mess, supposedly, wild camping is basically banned. You can rent a lodge though or buy a permit. Trying to build new houses in the area or basically do any development at all is apparently virtually impossible. There was a big fuss about how the park is managed in the news a few years ago.
Wind Farms and mining…? (Guessing that’s in the next video).
I live in Galloway, everywhere you went are places I visit often, and several have a wind farm threat hanging over them.
I know there were plans for mining near Glen Trool, not sure what happened to that.
Great video, carefully thought out and presented for such a divisive subject. Thank you for that.
There are also many many people here who simply don’t know if it’s a good idea or not.
I fear deeply for this area 😢
Is the main objection to wind farms that they spoil the look of the landscape or other issues too?
There have been a few attempts in Northern Ireland for gold mines in beautiful areas that got strongly resisted
@@StephenJReidwind farms can kill and disturb birds, especially if placed along migratory routes or hunting grounds. Their construction can also have negative impacts as they need large concrete foundations which can lead to drainage and run off from bogs.
In the Republic they're often placed in ecologically sensitive areas without proper assessments done
The mining I understand, less so the windfarm objections.. Certainly beats building a power plant.
National park status would eliminate any "threat" from wind farms.. and mines.
Just needs to be managed well.
As a DG resident, I don't mind the windfarms. Better them than another spruce forestry plantation.
@@rhisands2063 I have thoughts on the spruce in the next video
I live in the New Forest National park. My experience is skewed because It’s on the south coast and encompasses both Lymington and Beaulieu. The whole area is a house price hot spot. I understand why the locals don’t want it, house prices were are crazy to begin with now with short term rentals they are worse. New young families are so priced out it’s beyond a joke. The new Forest park authority is shutting car parks to preserve the park wildlife, and are shutting areas of the park to the public. Forestry England regularly close paths and bridal ways for logging activity for months at a time. Public events have been cancelled for the sake of the environment, the roads are clogged with tourists and jobs are still seasonal. Worse of all the park needs to be considered for developments 30 miles away - parking for new housing has been scaled back because of the potential impact of the park from all of the new visitors. National parks are a great idea, but empowering an authority with such unchecked power was a huge error.
I agree with the locals, let tourism take over and they gain another level of permissions and have contractors run through the area, once they advertise and take land to build on to sell for holiday homes..just putting Galloway on the map here on UA-cam is probably the best solution for the area, the rest will creep in slowly afterwards
1:34 'That lot' on the map had me in a crinkle 😂
managed to offend at least once person 🤣 When I'm next in England I'll just have to label Scotland as "Barbarians" for balance
In part the push back is no doubt nimbyism which you always get in these circumstances, not writing off peoples concerns solely as that alone though. I live in Ayrshire and used to head down to a certain beach on the coast near Dalbeatie which was an absolutely beautiful and unspoiled spot for power-kiting, got friendly with most of the locals there who were happy to have a few people know about the place... but were always quite protective about it being "their spot" and not wanting it over run with people, which I can understand. A bit like any community or group of people who have something special and don't want an influx of outsiders ruining their fun. It's a double edged sword and there really is no simple solution. Enjoyed your video and glad you and your friends enjoyed the visit. Haste ye back.
I think it's more the way it's been done and the fact that it will add untold amounts of bureaucracy. That is true of farmers who in a recent poll returned 78% against a NP.
There are no guaranteed financial benefits of having a NP unless you are one of those elected to the oversight committee.
It is unlikely to bring the proposed infrastructure benefits, the main one being upgrades to the trunk roads, as the Scottish government are against any improvements in this area and have consistently ignored the region, apart from trying to cover every inch in turbines which earn massive constraint payments, around £230m last year, set to double as capacity is also set to double in line with net zero targets. Imagine how much good that money could have done. We are given a very small proportion of those payments back in community funding as a gesture.
Glentrol itself is at risk from three proposed sites. Not just the 100m turbines as exist in much of Ayrshire, but monstrosities of between 200-250m tall. On both sides of the village. Imagine what that will do to the surrounding area of Merrick and Loch Trool.
Ha, I remember seeing that lodge in another of your videos and you planning to come back to it some day.
Fun watching the lore develop!
Its the same old story - a handful of businessmen want to monetise the beauty of an area. The tourists come in big numbers spend lots of money but ultimately ruin what was so special in the first place.
And if its anything like the NC500 they have the cheek to demand the council pick up the bill for all the damage caused and then whine constantly for the council to build tourist facilities and infrastructure while contributing absolutely nothing themselves.
Bingo
Bingo
Great video, beautiful place. Your content gets better and better. I don't think I've ever read through so many comments on a video before... Well done.
A lot of people feeling strongly about this one!
@@StephenJReid ...and I could never offer a solution to the very complex question. But bravo to you for journalism and pointing it out. Looking forward to Part II.
from the past few years i have discovered to never trust those in power.
Great video Stephen! I’m a Galloway local and am conflicted about the proposed National Park. Galloway is one of the most beautiful places in Scotland and a true hidden gem. Part of me would prefer it to stay that way…
Thanks Sam. Any ideas what might help Galloway thrive again?
For me the problem is that, in the UK, we’ve completely lost sight of what a National Park should be. They were originally created for nature conservation and protection. Now the aim is clearly to gain investment for the area. Let’s be completely honest, Galloway is not an area worthy of national park status from a conservation point of view. It’s not a special area with regards to biodiversity and habitats. I would say similar about Loch Lomond & The Trossachs. The Cairngorms is the closest thing we have to a true national park but even then it is plagued by intensive management for sports shooting and heavily managed for human land use. In global terms, the UK’s national parks are an absolute laughing stock. I’m not against Galloway getting some clearly much needed investment, but I don’t think the answer to that should be by granted it national park status. It’s really time to start rethinking what national parks are meant to stand for because this is not it.
You make good points. In the U.S. I believe they have areas which are classified as wilderness and no-one is allowed to visit. I always thought national park status was to suppress development which would scar the landscape, hence one reason why locals might be against them. That in itself is not unreasonable, after all, once an area gets covered in roads, car parks and buildings it ceases to be a beautiful area forever.
Not exactly, it was the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. "An Act to make provision for National Parks and the establishment of a National Parks Commission; to confer on the Nature Conservancy and local authorities powers for the establishment and maintenance of nature reserves; to make further provision for the recording, creation, maintenance and improvement of public paths and for securing access to open country, and to amend the law relating to rights of way; to confer further powers for preserving and enhancing natural beauty; and for matters connected with the purposes aforesaid." Not just nature conservation.
Excellent video friend thank you and please keep the great videos coming. From Scotland 😊
thanks Iain
As someone who lives in the area between the Cairngorms and the Nc500, it’s evident that increased tourism makes life worse for everyone that isn’t profiting from the tourists
Thanks for all the beautiful views & I enjoyed your discussion. That looks like a real treasure of a place, I've never seen it before.
I live in Scotland & know exactly what you mean. I agree about the sitka spruce everywhere ( i watched that 1 first😁).
After just being introduced to this question, I would be TOTALLY AGAINST the National Park idea ; it's not needed.
I see far too much time & £money spent by local Councils in league with 'business people' , ruining the infrastructure of our Cities, not to make things better for locals but more expensive with £penalties & £charges invented to make profit of those poor folk who stray into a ridiculous bus lane.
It's also about control as you pointed out, the locals don't need new rules. Like you, I too see an undercurrent here of something sinister. That word they throw around about r wilding is not what many imagine it to be.
Enough with new controls made by a few businesses people who think attracting bus loads of tourists is an answer to helping improve this beautiful area.
If changes are needed, the local Community can get action groups together. No to the big park.
The W e f have a plan for this Planet that involves closing off vast swathes of land from us human beings. I say No to that too.
Stay healthy & enjoy Nature 😻🏴
I actually avoid National Parks owing to their inevitable tourist influx. Wild suddenly becomes occupied.
National Parks have never been "wild", pretty much every square inch of the UK landmass has been altered by humans. What people think of as outstanding natural beauty is not natural at all, people have no idea what a natural landscape looks like because they weren't alive before the industrial revolution.
This is very interesting and in general I’m fascinated by how people here are taking national parks. As I come from a country where we have few and where they are NP in order to protect the nature - there is lots and lots of restrictions, yes for tourists but as well residents, but these restrictions made the national parks to persevere and be what they are today - our mentality is that if those beautiful places wouldn’t be national parks people would still be going there because their beautiful and they would be destroyed by now as people would swim in the lakes (this is not allowed in national park), people would be picking up all the herbs and mushrooms (not allowed in national park), going off trail (not allowed), wild camping (not allowed) and so on all the things which ultimately for generations to come would destroy the beauty of the place….and yes there are restrictions for locals too but again to protect the nature - no waste allowed, no buildings of certain structure not complying with environment allowed, no hotels and overload of facilities close to the park - this one is an interesting one as we are fighting in Slovakia against developers who just think they can build wherever they want to in the most beautiful places and some got destroyed because of poor politics who allowed these developers in national parks what should have never happen! so the opposite narrative here people being actually against national park is just very interesting to me….dont get me wrong I love the fact that Scotland is so free going anywhere, wild camp everywhere, but I as well have seen places in Scotland - devils pulpit one of them - which are not going to survive for generations to come if there are not gonna be put restrictions for people. Very interesting debate. I can understand how tourism can push away locals and in that sense it feels as a bit bigger issue or an issue actually elsewhere than creating a national park as that itself should be for protecting nature and not really for creating touristic opportunities or letting people buy houses for rbnbs. Edited for spelling
The devils pulpit was all over facebook etc during lockdown. Spotlight attention on social media and heard mentality is the real problem. No issues before that.
Stephen, thankyou very much for this video, nice balanced views. You captured the essence of the hilly parts of the the proposed park but there is much more. The park will have a huge coastline and also covers large areas of lowland farming, the hopes and ambitions of Galloway residents are diverse and partly what is causing the entrenched views. You are very right about the opinions on the park creating an 'unholy alliance' between normally antagonistic sections of the community, that is one of the great strengths of the No Park community. This subject trumps all until it is resolved.
Unlike you, I am taking sides in this debate, I think the National Park is a very bad idea for Galloway. The opposition to the park is well laid out in the No Galloway National Park Facebook page.
Thankyou again.
Very aware I only covered a very small part of the area in this. I want to go back and explore the coastal areas more, it seems to have such a big variety in a small area
Thanks for a good thoughtful video. Unique in its presentation of a bikepacking trip through the beautiful landscapes that are subject to this virulent contention. Your video photography was superb. I loved your music, and I enjoyed the quality discussion. As an Australian who lived for a number of years in Scotland, fell in love with the place and seriously considered emigrating there, I am familiar with the frustrating arguments when people put forward new ideas for how Scottish society might function. I remember back to the Yes/No vote for independence from the United Kingdom. I was so disappointed when this proposition failed, and so appalled by the devious propaganda from the No campaign. Ultimately, it was that disappointing outcome that helped me decide not to pursue Scottish citizenship. It seems to me that when changes are suggested, people from the No case who are against change always manage to find the most resources to campaign with and always manage to be the louder voices. I cannot help guessing that people from the timber industry might be the ones with plenty of money to put behind the fight to stop Scotlands next national park?
Great content, I've visited the area several times including the bothy. It's always been a quiet peaceful area. Maybe a national park would bring an increase in cars and motorhomes like the NC500 has done. Not a good thing in my opinion.
Yeah it was quiet when I was there in June too although been told there are areas that get jam packed
Which waterfall was it you visited? It looks beautiful. I've been visiting Galloway for decades and have never been to that waterfall, but would love to visit it.
Trust issues you say?
I can't imagine why
I’m detecting sarcasm 😂 any insights? Are you a local?
Great video. Well explained and fantastic editing. Really enjoyed your take on this area.
I hate were ever you go these days to have a day out in the country, the authorities want to rip you off with big parking fees. Fine have parking fees, but not 5 ponds plus charges. Its all a big rip off. If i go out in the Lakes, it cost me upwards of 10 pounds to park my car. No toilets, no nothing just a rip off.
The Parking Costs in the Lakes are eye watering, especially coming from somewhere that used to charge 20p per hour
That is the free market for you, they can charge as much as people will tolerate, and the fact that the car parks are frequently rammed full illustrates that people are willing to pay the charges.
Brilliant video, presenting the issues in an unbiased and very entertaining way. I live about an hour's drive away from Galloway, and have visited it many times. When I heard about the National Park, I had mixed feelings. The Cairngorms National Park has come in for a lot of criticism, over the way employees have been managed and the involvement of a London-based hedge fund, according to the Parkswatch blog. As far as I can see there have been some good things as a result of the NP too. My main concern would be shadowy management and the possible involvement of public-private partnerships and tenders going to distant profit-making companies.
Follow the money and find out what private equity groups are involved with this.
Any info on this or just a guess?
Really loving this style of video Stephen, can't wait for the next one.
We live on the doorstep of the Peak District and have seen the impact of a national park from both sides too.
I really wish there was an answer that would satisfy everyone, but alas I don't think that's possible.
National Parks do not, and never have, benefitted locals. It's all down sides....vastly increased property costs, increased traffic (including the hated camper vans and their self entitled attitude,) greater controls over what you can do to your property and huge delays waiting on permission if you want to, in some cases, even change the colour of your fence.
For locals the only way you will benefit is selling up what the cost of houses go up and move away.
I regularly visit Galloway, it’s the best area for mountain biking in Britain. And yes, I come in a camper van, and I pay for a campsite and I buy food in the local shops and I eat and drink in the local pubs, why am I hated so much? Not going to stop coming though, I’ve got many friends up there now, some of whom do want the NP and some who don’t. I don’t want it, hypocritical as that is.
@HiruS22 Hi. Thanks for replying. I live in D&G and absolutely love the area. I have no issue with campervans that use sites created for their use. That does bring money into the area. The problem comes with the ones that stop over wherever they like (usually clogging up car parks at beauty spots preventing others from visiting) and leave refuse behind. I regularly bike in the Leadhills area and all the way along that road are piles of bagged up rubbish. Who do they think is going to lift it? (Usually volunteer locals) and do they not realise we have foxes, badgers, stoats, pine Martins etc that will not only scatter the rubbish but possibly ingest items that may kill them.
I have had occasion where I tried to stop someone emptying their chemical toilet into a small stream and got violent abuse for my troubles. The people that do this kind of thing are responsible for the increase in restrictions.
Sounds like you are using the area as it should be used but, unfortunately, all campervan users are tarred with the same brush as the, as far as we can see, majority of irresponsible and self entitled ones.
Totally agree with everything you say, and I too have stopped someone (a French tourist in a rented van) from tipping out his toilet cassette at the side of the road, while parked in a passing place 🙄 I’m as frustrated as you about the behaviour of some and it annoys me that I get lumped in with them.
Really appreciated your video, you did a good job of presenting the issues and a balanced perspective. Thank you.
National Park or not, D&G is an incredibly nature-depleted landscape and, although there has been a lot done to improve that, there is still a lot of work to do. It can't just be ignored through "well we just farm in these parts so bugger off". Best place to start is the vast sitka plantations.
I take a bit of a look at this in a future video
Indeed. Galloway is naturally devastated in reality. The view is green must be good but the reality is often large stretches of industrial landscapes (mono culture farms that only exist due tofwrtiliser), giant sitka plantations and of course, non native deer and sheep.
Both sides of the argument have not stood up to explain damage that needs to be repaired.
The status quo argument want to keep and increase the existing damage and the new scheme wants to build on it.
@@riveness Hill sheep farms don't fertilise hill grazing areas what are you on about? 70 inches of rain per annum acidifies soils and lime is needed for any productivity. The native farming population have rights I'd say having been there for generations.
@auldfouter8661 I didn't claim that they did, though certainly many do with nitrogen fertilisers. They are also amoung the least productive.
Interesting dilemma! Perhaps there are ways to protect wildlife, rivers etc. without the need for a national park. I can see how a lot of the positives are most likely 'hopes', with no guarantee that they will in fact materialise. The rise in housing prices, second homes and so on is also not something that will bring tangible benefits for the locals, especially the youth. On the other hand, there needs to be a way to protect the area somehow, while trying to support the economy for the locals. There's no easy solution, I'm afraid; but it's important that people know both sides of the story.
Thank you for sharing this video and the beautiful landscape!
National Parks just bring even more unneeded beaurocracy. Loch Lomond is still a mess with overflowing bins everywhere and neds on jetskis every sunny day
What was it like before the National park came along? A lot quieter? I assumed the closeness to Glasgow would have meant it was always busy
Proximity to Glasgow has meant it has always suffered from the attentions of people who use it as an alfresco drinking location. Rather than investing in ranger services, LLTNP have instead banned wild camping in honeypot locations, limiting campers to a few controlled sites, which you pay to use:in effect they have privatised some access rights.
@@StephenJReid
Lovely video, despite the tough topic, really enjoyed the video. It was a nice sort of holiday travel doc, mates hanging out, with a general story to follow.
I live here. We want visitor numbers way down, not up. We don't want to become another Disneyfied bit of Scotland. We don't want more incomers, especially from down south, blowing house prices up further (because buying a home here is already nigh on impossible if you already live here, and more incomers will only blow the house prices up further instead of crashing them like we need), and businesses centered on tourism are low paid, low status, and highly seasonable and insecure, all of which is a problem when you can't buy a house to damn well live in. Here's a tip for tourists to D&G: Go to Wales instead.
Interesting so you actively really don’t want tourism at all? What are the better options for improving the local economy, are there other viable business options and potential big employers? Tech companies?
@@StephenJReid If I knew what the alternatives were, I'd be a richer woman than I am. A lot richer. I do know that tourism, even at the level it is at just not the answer. Tourism is fine in small, manageable doses, but right now it is out of control. Especially with airbnbs, and the proliferation of second and third holiday homes. Just enough tourism to keep the hotels and sites like Burrowhead in business would be fine though.
@@StephenJReidI'd say the vast majority of people who live in anywhere touristy in Scotland and are not business owners (even many of them are fed up) want tourist numbers way down. The way in which it boosts the economy is a great example of why a growing economy doesnt necessarily mean most people will be better off. To give another example, in the 18th and 19th centuries the economy of the Highlands grew wonderfully because of land use "improvements", good economy in wool and later in sport shooting... but a huge mass of the people living there were cleared from the land and lived in utter destitution. Did the economic growth do them any good?
Same arguements the world over, sadly, just listen to the exact same things the Spanish and others are complaing about - affordable housing, jobs, wages, loss of culture...then propose sustainable tourism (whatever that may be...) and you'll end up having to pick which kind of tourist you want, but it's not something you can guarantee. I wouldn't want increased tourism if I lived where you are, I've seen what happens elsewhere. With their resoning of "an uncertain future for land-based industries, especially farming" I think the proponents do have a valid point as those industries will go into decline thanks to certain policies and there's nothing to replace them with, and there's only so much investment government can make. Just to make a final point - I know the Scottish like to bring up the clearances - but they had been happening in England since Elizabethan times, our foriegn aristocracy and monarchy didn't discriminate across borders when profit was involved.
@@LoremIpsum1970 I think the Spanish are sick of our "ex pats" colonising their coast line. Can tell you're from london cos you can't see the wood through the trees, and more over don't want too.
I'm broadly neutral. Its a fabulous wilderness, and most people have no idea it exists (but I do, I've walked it, end to end, and not with all that fancy kit, either, just a backpack and good boots. In those days I recorded my findings with a pencil, in a notebook - none of these drones or expensive cameras. )
Broadly speaking I'd go with a local referendum on it - its up to locals to decide on the pros and cons, not us outsiders.
Stunning filming, was good to speak to you. Looks like you had a good time in the forest.
No Galloway National Park
Thanks Denise 🙂
Amazing video Stephen! Thanks for bringing the joy, fun and humour to hiking, all while educating us on important topics too!
Another banger from Stephen. Love this type of content
Thanks Graeme, prep for this one for a bit last minute as I only came across this story a week before we went.
@@StephenJReid I've been following your channel for years. I enjoy all the videos particularly mourne camping and these documentary type. You gave me the inspiration to do my 1st solo wild camp. It ended up a disaster but it didnt put me off lol. Im still at it. You deserve the recognition and I hope you can keep doing them mate 👍
Every first solo camp should be a disaster 😂 it’s character building. Thanks for watching Graeme 🙂
I absolutely love this video my friend. I live in Northern Ireland too. Love this video from start to finish. Keep these types of videos comming my friend 😊