National Scenic Areas (NSAs) are a national landscape designation of areas that have been identified as having outstanding scenic value in a national context. The designation’s purpose is both to identify our finest scenery and to ensure its protection from inappropriate development through the planning system. They are broadly equivalent to the Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty found in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There are 40 NSAs in Scotland, mainly in remote and mountainous areas, including spectacular mountain ranges (e.g. Skye Cuillins, Ben Nevis, Glencoe), dramatic island landscapes (e.g. the Hebrides, Northern Isles) and picturesque, richly diverse scenery (e.g. Perthshire, Dumfries and Galloway). They were identified in 1978 by the Countryside Commission for Scotland (a predecessor of NatureScot) in its publication Scotland’s Scenic Heritage, and their boundaries remain unchanged today. All NSAs have been surveyed to record their special qualities that, individually or combined, make each area's scenery outstanding and justify their designation as NSAs.
