Or you can download, section by section, the Revised Draft Management Strategy, by clicking on the links in the Current Documents section to the right.
In September 1997, The Scottish Office asked Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) to review Scotland’s national landscape designation, the National Scenic Area (NSA).
As part of its advice on improving the effectiveness of the NSA designation, SNH proposed the preparation of a Management Strategy for each NSA.
SNH recognised that further work was required to develop thinking and guidance on ‘model’ Strategies. The Highland Council and Scottish Natural Heritage therefore co-operated by the temporary appointment of an NSA Officer to develop a Management Strategy for the Wester Ross NSA as one of two pilot projects to inform this wider thinking and future guidance.
What is a National Scenic Area?
- There are 40 National Scenic Areas (NSA) in Scotland and they were identified in 1978 by the Countryside Commission for Scotland and protected through the local authority planning system in the early 1980s.
- They are "....areas of land and water which represent the very best of Scotland’s renowned scenery. They are of such outstanding natural beauty and amenity that they should be safe guarded and enhanced as part of the national heritage."
- Wester Ross NSA at 145 300 hectares is the largest NSA.
What is a Management Strategy?
Within the NSA the aim is to manage change arising from development and land management decisions which protect the outstanding natural beauty while allowing for the social and economic needs of communities.
- Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) was asked to offer advice to the Government on the future direction for National Scenic areas and this advice, given in 1999, included the recommendation that management strategies be prepared for each NSA.
- Wester Ross is one of the first NSAs to begin preparing a strategy as a pilot for SNH in partnership with The Highland Council. The other NSAs that are taking part in this pilot are the three NSAs in Dumfries and Galloway (the Fleet Valley, East Stewarty Coast and Nith Estuary) which between them cover an area of 20,000 hectares.
- The Management Strategy will:
- identify in more detail those qualities in and related to the landscape that make the area worthy of National Scenic Area designation
- offer objectives for conserving these qualities
- identify those forces that can affect these scenic qualities
- identify the opportunities for the management and enhancement of the main features
- state clearly ways through which change could be managed
- set out a strategy identifying actions required, resources needed and who is responsible or who can influence change.
How will the management strategy be prepared?
The Highland Council in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage employed a Project Officer from February 2001 to September 2002 to co-ordinate the preparation of the strategy. A Steering Group was established over this period to help manage the process. It is hoped that the Wester Ross NSA management strategy will be prepared with a high level of community participation and influence and will reflect the aspirations of those living and working in the area as well as those that come to enjoy it.
A draft management strategy was prepared in May 2002 and consultation took place over the period May to July 2002. Following this, the latest revised version is available as an attachment to this site (see top of page). The strategy has been considered by various groups and agencies and whilst, for example, it was accepted by SNH in November 2002, it had not been fully accepted by The Highland Council. This is set out in more detail in the preface of the Revised Draft Management Strategy.