​Our new national park will benefit all of Scotland - Lorna Slater

​Scotland is blessed with some of the most iconic scenery and nature in the world and, with plans underway for the creation of a new national park, we will enhance it even more.

Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, Lorna Slater

There is beauty all around us. There’s always something magical about walking through Edinburgh in the evening just after the sun has come down.

A combination of our architecture and the hustle and bustle of people zig zagging their way through life creates an energy that makes you appreciate what a special place this is. People watching through steamed up cafe windows is an art form in its own right, but so too is the pleasure in knowing you can easily escape from it.

For me that can sometimes mean a walk up the Salisbury Crags or stretching my legs with a hike to Portobello Beach or a cycle through the Meadows. But this beauty isn’t confined to our capital.

In my day job as Greens Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity Minister, I get to officially open applications for communities to bid for where Scotland’s newest national park will be sited.

It means that by 2026, our two existing national parks, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs and the Cairngorms, will be joined by at least one of the many places who have already come forward saying that they want to be considered for what will be a living legacy for climate.

Among them, Largo Bay over the bridge in Fife. Berwickshire Marine Reserve just down the coast, along with the Southern Scottish Borders and Lammermuirs, all of which within commuting distance of our city, Northern Perthshire just a bit further north.

The Highlands and Islands are massively and understandably well represented with Glen Loy, Glen Affrica, Loch Awe, Lochaber, Affric to Arradale, Isle of Skye, Eilean a Cheo, Arnamurchan, Morven, Sunart and the Sound of Mull, all vying for the spot.

Just last month in preparation for this I took the train direct from Waverley through to Balloch for a visit to Loch Lomond, where I had the opportunity to meet with some of those who live and work there and who speak so fondly of it. I hope the same is true of our next park too.

Our national parks are for all of us. They will help our nation to breathe clean air, see nature restored, support biodiversity recovery, and nurture forestry and sustainable farming with all the ecological and economic benefits they bring.

All within touching distance of Edinburgh, its seven hills, rivers and parks, that nursed us through Covid, and continue to shelter us from the climate storm. Today is a good day for nature. I hope you get a chance to appreciate that on your travels too.