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Explora: Environment
and Resource Conservation, recreation, or both?

Moreover, all five cases involved the preservation of Because although the Countryside (Scotland) Act was
an A-listed building. The Countryside Act funding had intended to provide alternative destinations for countryside
of course to be used for the park, not the building, but motoring, and so relieve pressure on scenic locations and
it allowed other finance, whether from the owners’ own congestion on the roads leading to them, this was never really
resources or elsewhere, to be redirected from grounds a serious problem in Scotland. There were issues associated
maintenance into caring for the property. This was a with Loch Lomond, where noisy picnickers and powerboaters
significant part of Stormonth Darling’s purpose at Culzean disturbed more peace-loving visitors, but these were only
and Brodick, and it also operated in favour of the owners occasional and geographically confined, as were (at this time,
of Pollok and Chatelherault, with the park becoming at least) alleged problems of erosion in the Cairngorms and
an essential condition of the restoration of the latter. At other remote locations. Meanwhile, CCS in particular
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Haddo, much of the countryside funding went to GRC, but was under pressure to spend its allocated resources, country
this relieved the NTS of the financial burden of managing parks were understood as offering vicarious protection to
the associated parkland and allowed the endowment to be vulnerable sites, and Stormonth Darling was able to exploit
focused on the buildings. this situation very effectively, while his awareness of NLF/
This is part of the reason for NTS’s unexpected interest NHMF priorities was also very helpful.
in country parks. The legislation provided an opportunity Although the NTS’s interpretation meant vastly increased
to open up existing sites to greater numbers of visitors, and visitor numbers, the sites in question were not vulnerable,
increased revenue, while allowing the diversion of existing could handle the greater numbers, and might deflect visitors
limited resources away from grounds maintenance and away from wilderness sites – at least, that was an expectation
into building conservation. Country Park funding also to be exploited. In reality, the pressures in Scotland were
provided for important enhanced facilities in the form minimal and isolated, and opportunities to measure the
of visitor information, car parking, toilets, and catering, demand for recreation, and the effectiveness of the policy,
which in turn supported and encouraged higher levels of were missed or ignored. Moreover, the recreation being
visiting and on-site spending, and allowed the sites to align offered was essentially passive in nature, and protection for
more closely with growing visitor expectations. the ‘essential character’ of the landscapes was built into the

5. Conclusion arrangements. An organisation focused on conservation
might not have been expected to devote so much attention
Thus, in the end, NTS’s engagement in the country park to funding intended to promote recreational opportunity.
initiative was essentially driven by finance; the means However, the NTS has always had a strong emphasis on
may have varied but the endgame was the same. The NTS public access; an approach expressed at its foundation, and
approach was a pragmatic one that took account of the echoed throughout its lifetime, so there is no inconsistency
specific situation it, and other prospective partners, faced between the NTS’s role in seeking to conserve the five
at each site. It benefitted from, but also contributed to, historic properties noted here and the opening up of their
the similarly pragmatic approach adopted by the funding landscapes to large-scale recreation. That is entirely in
bodies – the local authorities, NLF/NHMF, CCS, and (to keeping with the essential premise on which the NTS was
a lesser extent) the government. It meant bending the founded, and there is no record of significant opposition to
rules, or at least interpreting them in the most favourable this approach at any of the five parks in which NTS took
way possible, and persuading others of the validity of this an interest. Unna’s rules were thus never tested by the NTS’
position, something at which Stormonth Darling emerges approach to country parks; this would come later as access
as a master, persuading the funders to accept Culzean, pressures on wilder NTS land mounted.
Haddo and especially Brodick in spite of their remoteness,
and securing NHMF support for Haddo and Chatelherault. Striking a balance between recreation and conservation
His approach to central government funding for Pollok was priorities is not merely a historical issue; much landscape
similarly radical, although unsuccessful; and his insight conservation around the world is predicated on rights
into saving the building at Chatelherault through the of access as well as preservation priorities, and much is
country park mechanism was fundamental to the rescue dependent on the funding that visitors, and visitor centres,
package. The five country parks identified here are only a generate. The NTS’s pragmatic, site-specific approach is
small part of his overall legacy as Secretary of the NTS, but thus instructive; each site has its own dynamics and an
they are nevertheless a testament to his approach and his inflexible, one-size-fits-all approach would have been less
conception of what might be possible, given a partnership likely to achieve the balance needed. The arrangements that
based on pragmatism and problem-solving, and awareness succeeded at Culzean could be modified for Brodick, but
of external funders’ priorities. proved undeliverable at Haddo; a new approach had to be

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 12 doi: 10.36922/eer.5890