Ramar sites consultation response

Con­sulta­tion response: Ram­sar sites

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity sup­ports this move to afford equal pro­tec­tion to Ram­sar sites as European sites when assess­ing the poten­tial effects or impacts of new plans or pro­jects. Ram­sar sites with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park are all SSSI’s, Spe­cial Pro­tec­tion Areas and Spe­cial Areas of Con­ser­va­tion, and thus unaf­fected by pro­posed changes. Regard­less of this, we agree that for con­sist­ency across Scot­land and the UK, all Ram­sar sites should be treated as ​‘hab­it­ats sites’ for the pur­pose of assess­ing the effects of plans or pro­jects which may have an adverse effect on them and give them the same weight as European sites for the pur­poses of Hab­it­at Reg­u­la­tions Apprais­als. A con­sist­ent approach will sim­pli­fy the pro­cess and make it easi­er to imple­ment. This approach removes any ambi­gu­ity cre­ated by oth­er des­ig­na­tions under­pin­ning Ram­sar sites. Devel­op­ing spe­cif­ic con­ser­va­tion object­ives for the nat­ur­al fea­tures of Ram­sar sites, will provide much great­er clar­ity and will be easi­er for both stake­hold­ers and the pub­lic to understand.

How­ever, as per our pre­vi­ous response to the con­sulta­tion on the stra­tegic frame­work for biod­iversity, the Park Author­ity con­siders des­ig­nated sites, in their cur­rent format, risk being a sig­ni­fic­ant bar­ri­er to the Nation­al Park being an exem­plar of nature res­tor­a­tion and achiev­ing the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan out­come for ‘…a biod­iversity rich Nation­al Park with bet­ter func­tion­ing, bet­ter con­nec­ted and more resi­li­ent eco­sys­tems’. In review­ing des­ig­na­tion sys­tems would like to see an approach which would allow for a more mobile and adapt­ive approach to pro­tect­ing biod­iversity which allows the neces­sary change in the landscape.

Dav­id Heth­er­ing­ton 10 Feb­ru­ary 2025