FRUSTRATED councillors today declared themselves officially ‘undecided’ about the Galloway National Park proposal.
At a special meeting to formalise their consultation response, they voted not to support or reject the plan, but stayed on the fence.
It was a motion by Annandale North Cllr Stephen Thompson, that was carried.
Giving his thoughts, he said: “This is very hard to choose which would be the best imaginary national park
“We don’t really know what the proposition is, it is very hypothetical at this point.
“I can see the opportunities of a national park if it’s done in the way we would like it to be, but that’s not before us today.”
Seconding him, Cllr Katie Hagmann added: “I would see this much more as a scoping exercise and there will be further public consultation if this moves forward. At that point we then have much more information.”
But Cllr David Ingles was scathing about his colleagues’ inaction and pointed out that councillors agreed to support the bid in principle last year.
He said: “This is important for Galloway, for Dumfries and Galloway and this indecision by this council is tantamount to a dereliction of duty.”
The Labour group was also keen to see it move on and leader Linda Dorward said: “We need to think bigger and be much more ambitious. Let’s embrace being brave and bold and get off the fence.”
Responding to the decision, Rob Lucas, chair of The Galloway National Park Association (GNPA), said: “It’s excellent news that the council will be having a positive input into the consultation and have made it very clear that the process should continue.”
And welcoming it, the No Galloway National Park group co-founder Denise Brownlee said: “This throws a huge spanner in the works for the Scottish Government’s plan for a park in our area. It’s such significant decision and shows just how much uncertainty and unhappiness there is about the way this whole process has been conducted.”
