Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) has submitted a formal bid to create Scotland's third national park in Northern Perthshire.

PKC's bid highlights the work carried out last year to consult with communities, land managers, businesses and other stakeholders on what a national park within Perth and Kinross could look like; bringing together a combination of our vision and the feedback received to form a cohesive bid that we believe puts forward a very strong case.

Last year, from October until early December, the council carried out an eight-week public consultation with residents, land managers and other interested parties across Perth and Kinross to discuss our initial proposals for Tay Forest National Park.

Overall engagement levels and awareness were high, resulting in:

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• Over 350 responses to the Consultation Hub survey

• Over 160 attendees at in-person drop-in sessions

• Around 40 land managers at a dedicated in-person workshop

• 24 representatives from 19 environmental organisations at a dedicated online workshop

Key findings from the consultation indicates there is general support for the proposed national park in the local area, with 56.8% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing with the idea of their community being located in the proposed national park.

Provost Xander McDade said: "The chance to create a new national park in Northern Perthshire is an exciting opportunity to support our environment and sustainable rural communities with significant central government funding.

"We have listened to all the feedback we received during the consultation period and used it to help shape our vision; we truly believe that a Tay Forest National Park could be transformative for the local economy, environment and communities in Northern Perthshire.

"I would like to thank everyone who has participated in the consultation, and we are keen to continue our engagement particularly with those who were not supportive of the bid to understand their concerns better and how we might address those if the bid is selected. I am confident that the bid we have submitted is ambitious but deliverable and represents a huge opportunity for Northern Perthshire."