Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
Unsafe levels of faecal bacteria were recorded at dozens of Scotland’s best beaches this summer. Swimmers and paddlers could be at risk, but officials insist water quality remains high.
Private landowners related to the former Conservative Scottish Secretary, Alister Jack, have been accused of covertly backing a campaign to block plans for a new national park in Galloway.
The Ferret can reveal that the website for the No Galloway National Park campaign gave the email of Jack’s brother James, who owns seven estates, for queries about privacy policy. But the email address was altered after we started making inquiries earlier this month.
The campaign website was also made by an IT company run by Jack’s daughter, Emily, and her husband, Baron Sweerts De Landas Wyborgh, who owns an estate in Galloway.
Pro-national park campaigners claimed that support from Jack’s family had been “concealed”. They demanded to know who was funding the no campaign, including the hiring of a hard-hitting PR company.
The Scottish Greens argued that a park could bring £10m a year into the area. It would be “very disappointing” if this was stopped by a campaign that “appears to be anything but grassroots”, they said.
No Galloway National Park, however, insisted that it was “a grassroots movement which is funded by private donations”. It had attracted support from “all parts” of Dumfries and Galloway, a spokesperson said.
Scotland’s first two national parks were established at Loch Lomond and The Trossachs in 2002 and the Cairngorms in 2003. In July 2024 the Scottish Government proposed Galloway as the nation’s third, and a public consultation is now underway and due to end on 14 February 2025.
The park’s aim would be “to conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area”. The government’s wildlife agency, NatureScot, has suggested it could cover three different areas across Galloway and South Ayrshire, ranging from 1,559 to 4,177 square kilometres.
A park was initially proposed in 2017 by the Galloway National Park Association, which was set up by local people. But it is opposed by the National Farmers Union in Scotland and Scottish Land and Estates, which represents landowners.
The No Galloway National Park (NGNP) campaign was launched at a public meeting in Gatehouse of Fleet on 6 August 2024. Fronted by two local people, Denise Brownlee and Liz Hitschmann, it hired the Glasgow and London-based PR agency, Media House International, headed by former Scottish Sun editor, Jack Irvine.
Media House has since issued a series of high-profile news releases on behalf of NGNP attacking the proposed park. One, on 3 October 2024, accused pro-park campaigners of “dirty tricks” by tearing down banners and blocking social media messages.
According to the NGNP website, the group is composed of “passionate locals who care about Galloway and understand our community’s needs”. It does not say where its funding comes from.
It adds: “We do not believe a national park is the way to support sustainable development. We are from different backgrounds, but we are not political activists and have never campaigned on an issue like this before.”
Until December 2024, the NGNP website’s privacy policy page referred any queries to “james@dornells.com”. This is the email address of James Pringle Jack, the brother of Alister Jack.
The email address was deleted from the website after The Ferret first asked about the hiring of Media House. It was replaced by the campaign’s generic address, info@nogallowaynationalpark.org.
According to Who Owns Scotland, James Jack is the owner of three large estates near Castle Douglas in Dumfries and Galloway: the 734-hectare Dornells estate, the 916-hectare Hensol estate and 273-hectare Overlaggan Farm. He owns four other commercial forestry and farming estates in Ayrshire, Kintyre and Skye.
He is also a member of the limited liability partnership which owns the 4,567-hectare Annandale Estate, near Moffat. The Ferret reported in January 2024 that the estate had breached the rules for rural subsidies 17 times between 2018 and 2022.
Jamie Mann
The NGNP website also says that it was built by Corona IT, a digital support company based in Dumfries and Carlisle. According to Companies House, the company’s directors are Alister Jack’s daughter, Emily Ann Jack, and her husband, Dutch aristocrat, Arthur Andre Adolphe, Baron Sweerts De Landas Wyborgh, who owns Auchenbrack estate in Galloway.
Action to Protect Rural Scotland said it was “concerning” to learn that NGNP was backed by landowners related to Alister Jack. “This support appears to be concealed, and not made clear on the website or by the no campaign,” said the group’s director, Dr Kat Jones.
“To find that this campaign, which bills itself as grassroots, is being backed by major landowning interests, puts the whole campaign in a new context and begs the question of where it is finding the money to employ a major PR company who are evidently doing a huge amount of work on their behalf.”
Jones demanded more transparency. “The owners of estates in the south of Scotland or, indeed, anywhere else, are entitled to make their views on a national park for Galloway known,” she told The Ferret.
“However the public deserve that this is done in a transparent way, and, where messaging and campaigning is funded by major landowning interests, this should be made clear.”
According to the Galloway National Park Association, there was “no hint” of a campaign against a national park for the first seven years the issue was being discussed in Galloway.
“Then, within days of the minister’s announcement, a fully fledged no campaign emerged, complete with social media then professionally designed website, brand management and abundant resources,” said the association’s chair, Rob Lucas.
He also suspected that “much of the drive and funding for the no campaign is from outside the potential national park area.” The NGNP Facebook page includes messages from opponents of national parks in Loch Lomond, the Cairngorms and elsewhere.
According to the Scottish Greens, a national park would bring £10m a year into Galloway, creating jobs and developing infrastructure for locals and tourists. “The campaign to bring a national park to Galloway was led by volunteers in the area,” said party co-leader and former minister, Lorna Slater MSP.
“It would be very disappointing if this opportunity for the future of Galloway was missed, because of the work of a no campaign that hasn’t been clear about its funding and appears to be anything but grassroots.”
Media House provided The Ferret with a statement from No Galloway National Park. “The No Galloway National Park campaign is a grassroots movement which is funded by private donation and has attracted a wide range of support from all parts of Dumfries and Galloway,” said a spokesperson.
It declined to say more. James Jack, Emily Jack, Baron Sweerts De Landas Wyborgh and Alister Jack did not respond to requests to comment.
Cover image thanks to iStock/creativenaturemedia.
Hundreds of protected areas are under pressure from Scotland’s massive deer herd. Most agree deer numbers must be controlled to protect the environment, but are split on what should be done.
Edinburgh University students were “interrogated” by police at their desks over posters featuring Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, prompting dozens to complain.
Unsafe levels of faecal bacteria were recorded at dozens of Scotland’s best beaches this summer. Swimmers and paddlers could be at risk, but officials insist water quality remains high.
Footage of farmed trout suffocating, haemorrhaging, and being beaten with batons in a slaughterhouse has prompted an official complaint to a government regulator.
