Safeguarding Scotland’s Water Environment

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity 14 The Square Grant­own-on-Spey PH26 3HG T: 01479 873 535

03 March 2026

SEPA Angus Smith Build­ing Unit 6 4 Park­lands Aven­ue Euro­cent­ral Holytown North Lanark­shire ML1 4WQ

Ref: Safe­guard­ing Scotland’s Water Envir­on­ment Consultation

The Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity (CNPA) wel­comes the oppor­tun­ity to con­trib­ute to this con­sulta­tion at a time when pres­sures on Scotland’s water envir­on­ment are intensi­fy­ing and becom­ing increas­ingly inter­con­nec­ted. Cli­mate adapt­a­tion, water scarcity, biod­iversity loss, dif­fuse pol­lu­tion, hydro­mor­pho­lo­gic­al change are already neg­at­ively impact­ing the people and wild­life liv­ing with­in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

The Nation­al Park has a sig­ni­fic­ant role to play in deliv­er­ing the ambi­tions of Scot­tish Gov­ern­ment in a coordin­ated place-based approach that cuts across policy, them­at­ic and reg­u­lat­ory bound­ar­ies. Ambi­tions in the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP) for integ­rated catch­ment man­age­ment deliv­er­ing mul­tiple bene­fits for biod­iversity, cli­mate resi­li­ence and socio-eco­nom­ic bene­fit align very well with the pri­or­it­ies in RBMP 4 and we would like to see a RBMP frame­work that enables innov­a­tion in the Nation­al Park, tri­al­ling solu­tions to some of the most press­ing issues facing Scot­land as a whole.

The Park Author­ity and part­ners are cur­rently devel­op­ing the NPPP 2027 – 2032 which will describe the stra­tegic object­ives for water resource man­age­ment in the Nation­al Park.

This is a key oppor­tun­ity to strengthen align­ment across nation­al policy and place-based deliv­ery. RBMP 4 is a key source of evid­ence and dir­ec­tion for under­stand­ing pres­sures on the water envir­on­ment in the Nation­al Park, pri­or­it­ising action, and coordin­at­ing deliv­ery across part­ners. It is crit­ic­al that the RBMP and the next NPPP devel­op in tandem.

The Park Author­ity pro­motes an innov­at­ive, place-based approach to improv­ing the water envir­on­ment with plans to integ­rate land­scape-scale eco­sys­tem res­tor­a­tion, reversal of biod­iversity decline, nature-based solu­tions to the impacts of cli­mate change, col­lab­or­at­ive deliv­ery mod­els, and blen­ded fund­ing approaches.

To sup­port this approach, we would like to see RBMP 4 con­tain a clear emphas­is on:

• place-based, catch­ment resi­li­ence pro­pos­als and action;
• updated approaches to water scarcity and prioritisation;
• water as a found­a­tion for sus­tain­able eco­nom­ic development;
• require­ments for key­stone and flag­ship spe­cies such as Atlantic sal­mon and fresh­wa­ter pearl mus­sel integ­rated into targets;
• nature res­tor­a­tion and blue-green infra­struc­ture high­lighted as tools for cli­mate adapt­a­tion and biod­iversity recovery;
• con­sid­er­a­tion of ​‘smooth­ing the flow’ incor­por­ated with­in the EIA scope for mater­i­al land­scape-scale pro­jects; and
• sup­port for secure, long-term fund­ing neces­sary to achieve land­scape-scale change

Yours sin­cerely

ANDY FORD Dir­ect­or of Nature and Cli­mate Change