There will be no new National Park in Galloway. The Scottish government rejected the idea, allegedly based on as many as two-thirds of the population being against it. Like the Brexit vote of 2016, I fell on the wrong side. I thought having a National Park here had far more benefits than downsides, but it appears the people of my fair county would rather our future be in the lap of the gods rather than be regenerated with positives and little negative.
The negatives appears to be landowners being against it and incomers complaining about the extra traffic, much of which will go past their houses on the way to the park rather than them actually being in it. The No campaign was headed by two English women who hated the idea of their quiet village - The Gatehouse of Fleet - being inundated with more tourists. The NIMBYs have won, there is no other way to describe it.
Oddly enough, like Brexit, there are post decision recriminations. The No campaigners are trying desperately to move on from the decision, shutting down post decision debate and claiming they and others now need to be campaigning for more money to pay for the much needed upgrade to our infrastructure. The irony here is the Scottish and British governments have done fuck all to regenerate this region and there's nothing to suggest that's going to change. There have been campaigns to improve or upgrade the A75 since before we moved here and yet nothing has been done. The even bigger irony is that the majority of development money given to our half of the county has come from Wind Farms, something many of the NO campaigners also don't want in their back yards.
The thing is it has come to light that the White Paper on Galloway's NP status has a section that states very clearly that Galloway has been earmarked for further green energy expansion and the NP would be able to ensure this goes through smoothly. This is being bandied around by people opposing the NP as the best reason in the world for us not having a NP, but they fail to see that with no NP this will happen anyway, probably quicker and in greater numbers. Galloway is going to become the renewable energy centre of the UK and as a result things like the A75 will be upgraded, to handle the movement of huge wind turbines and all that bulky equipment. Yet, there is even more irony, because if our landscape is to be 'blighted' by turbines and solar farms, it's probably not going to on anyone's list as a potential holiday destination. There isn't going to be a need for new businesses to start up because there isn't going to be extra tourism bringing jobs and opportunities for the average person. The decay which many have seen over the last five years - since COVID - will not be arrested, it will simply gain more traction.
Oh and there won't be any job creation - renewable energy is a specialised thing; there will be some labouring jobs until that work is finished then most of the employees will visit the area as and when necessary. We don't even use the electricity these places generate; it's sold to Europe. Your area won't be developed and all the money it generates will go into someone else's pockets. Well done.
Our community pub is currently bucking the economic trend, but take a wander through Newton Stewart and have your mind blown at how many businesses are up for sale or are just empty buildings now. In the eight years I've lived in Wigtown, we have seen our bank go and then the three in Newton Stewart. Our Post Office closed down and so many small businesses have packed up or have opening times that suit the owners' rather than the customer. The bus service has gone from being superb to being something of a joke and we have a cottage hospital less than seven miles from here that has not been functioning since before COVID and is unlikely to reopen as a hospital, meaning that Dumfries is the closest proper hospital and that's over 50 miles away and distance prohibitive (There is one in Stranraer, but that doesn't do much). I'm not saying that being granted National Park status would have changed things, but I can say with 100% certainty that there would have to have been investment in the area and the area's infrastructure which won't be happening now.
The successful No campaigners will point at things like the South West Scotland Investment Grant system or the South of Scotland Enterprise which both have piddly budgets; the former has £10 million to spend - about enough to pay for a mile of A75 improvements, while the other doesn't tell you how much it has to spend but is designed to help small businesses and start ups. I have not spoken to any one - not a single person - who has seen anything given to improve the area from either grant source and that's because piddling amounts of money cannot do anything to improve the area. These are almost smoke screen organisations, used to deflect criticism yet doing absolutely nothing for the region they were designed to aid.
So, the Galloway region is again at the mercy of Wind Farm grants and renewable energy giveaways. The ironic problem here is that if you've been given a grant you can't really use it to help develop the area you live in. If I was given money to improve my (hypothetical) business, I couldn't organise an event to raise money for another local charity or project in need of fundraising, because it would fall out of the remit I would be given on how to use my grant money.
It seems the people of Galloway have been conned into believing that a National Park would bring nothing but bad things to our area, but do not seem able to see that not having one gives us no protection from rampant renewable energy placements and won't bring any money into the area - one which desperately needs to be a) improved and b) recognised as an isolated area in need of support. In five years time the people of Galloway will see just what a horrendous decision it was not granting this area protected status was...
