Chapter 2: Profile of respondents
2.1 Overview
As described in the previous chapter, the Scottish Executive distributed a consultation paper to over 800 interested parties. 940 responses were submitted, including those from the organisations listed in Annex C.
613 of the responses analysed comprised questionnaires issued during the vehicle tour of each of the 10 candidate locations ( see Annex B). The remaining 327 responses were submitted by e-mail or in writing from individuals or organisations and outlined views on the questions posed in the consultation paper and other issues. Many summarised independent, wide-ranging local or interest-group consultations, meetings, and workshops.
Number of respondents: | 940 |
|---|
from individuals: | 769 |
|---|
from organisations: | 171 |
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| Interest Groups: | Candidate areas: |
|---|
| 1 | Individual | 1 | Argyll Islands and Coast |
| 2 | Local Authority | 2 | Ardnamurchan, Small Isles and South Skye Coast |
| 3 | Community Council | 3 | Combination of the above two |
| 4 | Fishing | 4 | North Skye Coast and Wester Ross |
| 5 | Tourism | 5 | North Uist, Sound of Harris, Harris and South Lewis |
| 6 | Conservation | 6 | Solway |
| 7 | Agriculture | 7 | Shetland |
| 8 | Other businesses | 8 | Orkney |
| 9 | Cultural Heritage | 9 | Moray Firth |
| 10 | Recreation | 10 | Firth of Clyde |
| 11 | Other | 11 | South Uist and Barra |
| | 12 | Elsewhere |
Table 2.1. Overview profile of respondents.
2.2 Principal interest
Responses were submitted by representatives covering a diverse spectrum of interests, capturing views regarding the development of a Coastal and Marine National Park proposal from a variety of perspectives. Submissions from organisations number 18% of the total set and represent a reasonably even spread of the different types of organisations. Of these, 12% were from community councils, 17% represented conservation groups, 15% business interests, 14% agriculture and fishing organisations and 12% tourism and recreation concerns (see Figure 2.1).
Figure 2.1. Percentage of responses received from organisations, by interest group.
2.3 Location
One theme emerging from the consultation was the importance of local engagement and support in developing any proposal of this complexity and scope. Where possible, respondents' postcodes or towns of residence were cross-referenced with the proposed maximum extent boundaries of the 10 candidate locations. Those respondents whose addresses were found to lie in or within 10 km of a candidate region were considered as local to that area. Consultees located within the overlap between two candidate areas were assigned to the area they lay most within.
The 23% of individual respondents and 43% of respondent organisations that do not fall into any of these categories, or have a national or international remit, were assigned as being located elsewhere. The majority of these respondents were located in Edinburgh, or from elsewhere in the UK.
31% of individual responses, and 18% of respondent organisations, were from consultees located in or near the Argyll Islands and coast candidate location (see Figure 2.2), i.e. almost twice the total number of responses from the next two most represented candidate regions (Moray Firth and Solway) combined. The effects of this pattern on the dataset, and the methods used to take account of results, are discussed in Section 3.1. The remaining candidate regions were represented by between 2% and 6% of the total number of submissions, largely reflecting the population of these regions relative to Scotland as whole.
Figure 2.2. Where do the respondents to the consultation come from? Percentage of (A) individual respondents and (B) respondent organisations based in or within 10 km of a CMNP candidate region.
Figure 2.3. Map of respondent residency by candidate region.