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Annex B Policy/ Programme Appraisal

Preparation and Implementation of National Scenic Area Management Strategies

Purpose and Intended Effect of the Measure

i) Identify the issue and objective

1. Since National Scenic Areas were first identified in 1978, and recognised of national importance for their special qualities in 1980, they have been given effect largely through the planning system. Other than relatively minor changes, such as enhanced grant rates within NSAs from the former Countryside Commission for Scotland, these areas have not been given significantly more attention or special effort over the past 25 years. Scotland's 40 NSAs have largely been dealt with as an adjunct to existing measures, and it is widely acknowledged that this approach has been ineffective.

2. Whilst at heart the legislative proposals are seeking to correct omissions that have arisen from the legislative changes instigated in previous years, the opportunity is also being taken to refresh the approach to NSAs. Central to this is the preparation and implementation of a Management Strategy that describes the special qualities of the NSA and sets out a vision for its future, provides the objectives that are to be pursued and the actions required if these are to be achieved. Both the content of the Strategy, and the process of its preparation through an open and participatory way, will provide the means for developing shared effort in support of the designation. The preparation and implementation of these Strategies will bring certain costs and benefits.

ii) Risk assessment

3. The main risk is not ensuring the long-term safeguard of the NSAs landscapes, so that they can be enjoyed by future generations, continue to underpin Scotland's important tourism industry and provide the setting for those activities important to people's well-being. Although existing regulatory and financial mechanisms will continue to function with some regard for the importance of the NSAs landscape, in the absence of a Management Strategy this will be in a vacuum without a clear statement of the area's special qualities and action required to safeguard these.

Options

i) Identify Options

4. The two options that have been identified are:

• Option 1 - do not prepare Management Strategies.
• Option 2- encourages the preparation of Management Strategies as resources allow, preferably within a prescribed timescale (five years).

5. Option 1 , the `do-nothing' option is not considered to be adequate. SNH's review of NSAs identifies the designation's limited effectiveness, and its failure to positively manage the landscape resource and adequately promote the benefits that these outstanding landscapes generate. The preparation of a Strategy document is widely recognised as an essential tool for protected areas management. Our proposals to refresh the designation's legislative provisions in the absence of a Strategy document that guides effort will not address the limitations of the designation that have been identified.

6. Option 2- action to identify and manage for the long-term the special qualities of our NSAs is overdue and early implementation of Strategies and appropriate action measures is therefore desirable. However, the costs of completion of Management Strategies within a prescribed period (say 5 years) are likely to be greater than for implementation as and when resources allow.

ii) Issues of equity or fairness

7. The preparation and implementation of NSA Management Strategies will require effort from those communities, businesses, representative bodies and local authorities that fall within the 36 NSAs outwith the National Parks (the National Park Plan will include those issues that would otherwise have been addressed by a Management Strategy). Only ten of Scotland's 32 local authorities include NSAs within their boundaries. Some local authorities will need to prepare several strategies, in particular The Highland Council (15 NSAs or part of), but also Argyll and Bute Council (7 NSAs or part of) and Perth and Kinross Council (5 NSAs or part of). As more effort and resources will be required in these authorities it is recognised that a longer timeframe is required to enable Strategies to be prepared. Subject to resources being made available, a five year period for initial preparation of the Strategies is considered an adequate time period.

Benefits

i) Identify the benefits

8. At a Scottish level several studies have illustrated the important link between the natural heritage in general and socio-economic activity, and highlighted that these benefits often arise in more economically fragile areas. The direct link between designations (in this case NSAs) and socio-economic activity is more difficult to isolate, and the analysis here therefore assumes that action for NSAs is an important component of support for the natural heritage and the benefits it brings in general. These benefits will largely arise from 'non-extractive use' of NSA landscapes which does not preclude future uses, such as recreation and tourism activities. The main socio-economic benefits arising from NSAs and Management Strategies will be:

• enhanced awareness and understanding of these landscapes amongst visitors and communities, strengthening the sense of pride and ownership communities hold for their surroundings;
• enhanced opportunities for people to experience and enjoy the landscape of the NSAs, supporting tourism and recreation visits;
• encouraging visits and activities that will contribute to people's health and sense of well-being;
• encouraging landscape management that supports certain ecosystem services such as flood prevention and carbon sequestration; and

• supporting business opportunities based on the special qualities of the NSA landscape. Action for NSAs will support jobs directly concerned with managing the landscape and the activities impacting upon it, but also jobs dependent on the products and services that these landscapes provide and the presence of a high quality environment.

9. In addition there are a range of non-use values that bring benefit to individuals and society more generally. These are values attached to NSA landscape irrespective of any use, such as bequest value (the value of conserving places for future generations to enjoy) and existence value (the value of ensuring the continued existence of a place).

10. Estimating benefits is inherently difficult in the absence of prepared Strategies that set out the specific actions to be implemented, and is further complicated by the fact that some are qualitative and do not readily lend themselves to quantification. Estimates of non-use values are not available for NSAs, but work on other natural heritage designations suggests these may exceed use values. The main benefits arising from use will arise from tourism and recreation visits. Tourism attitude surveys have consistently found that landscape/scenery is the main attraction for visitors to Scotland ⁷, in an industry that it has been estimated supports 145,000 FTE jobs of which 71,000 are dependent on the natural heritage ⁸. Estimates for those dependent on the very best landscapes identified as NSAs are not available, but will be a significant proportion of these benefits.

Costs

i) Identify the costs

11. The following estimated costs for preparing and implementing Management Strategies are based on the pilot work supported by SNH.

12. Strategy preparation costs- to prepare strategies for 32 NSAs (excluding the four in National Parks and four NSAs undertaken as part of SNH's pilot), the staff resource has been estimated at 44 person years at an annual cost (including associated support costs) of £45,000. This gives a total cost of £1.98 million.

13. On-going core costs- to support the implementation of the strategies a staff complement of 19 NSA officers covering 36 NSAs has been identified. Assuming an ongoing annual cost of £45,000, this gives an annual cost of £0.85 million.

14. Strategy implementation (potential project costs)- it is expected that a significant component of the required management effort will come through existing practices and will be supported by existing funding streams. But implementing the Strategy may require some effort to tap into or re-focus other existing funding sources, bringing new investment into NSAs with subsequent economic benefit. The scale of this will be dependent on the actions identified in the Management Strategy, and the pace at which implementation is pursued. In the absence of prepared and costed Strategies this is difficult to estimate, and the following is our best estimate of the likely range of costs:

• The scale of potential support for land managers through agri-environment type measures might be estimated by extrapolating from existing levels of support for Environmentally Sensitive Areas, whose objectives include landscape conservation (as well as wider natural and cultural heritage conservation). Applying the circa £10 million annual spend on the 14,912 square kilometres of ESA on a pro-rata basis to the NSAs 8,626 square kilometres suggests an annual cost of £5.8 million to be funded through existing mechanisms. This figure would include spend on measures to support biodiversity and cultural heritage and should be used with caution.
• The three Dumfries and Galloway NSAs have identified a set of projects covering NSA promotion, interpretation, guidance and small-scale improvements. This has identified annual spend of £40,000 for each NSA over a three year period of Heritage Lottery Fund grant. Extrapolated for 36 NSAs this gives an annual cost of £1.44 million.

ii) Costs on Local Authorities

15. The preparation of the Management Strategy will require a significant increase in effort and resources from Local Authorities. However, special grant rates are available from SNH for their preparation, including costs of employing NSA project officers, and their implementation. Further information on SNH grants can be found on their web site ( www.snh.org.uk). Nevertheless, local authorities may require to find additional funding for preparation and support of Management Strategies.

iii) Costs on businesses and individuals

16. The preparation of the Management Strategy and its implementation does not automatically impose additional costs on business, although any engagement with the process of Strategy preparation (which is to be encouraged) will incur a minimal additional cost. For many businesses it is considered this will be more than off-set by new opportunities for business to benefit from the NSA, either directly from schemes supporting the management and enhancement of the landscape, or indirectly through new or enhanced opportunities to exploit the NSA as a resource (such as new tourism initiatives).

Summary

17. Our preferred option is option 2 ideally aiming to have management strategies in place for each NSA within the next five years. Action to identify and manage for their long-term safeguard the special qualities of our NSAs is overdue and early implementation of Strategies and appropriate action measures is therefore desirable. As a fall-back, a targeted approach for introduction of Strategies would be possible if resources do not permit the 5 year target to be achieved.

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