Month: September 2016

September 30, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

In May 2015 Natural Retreats were granted planning permission to Highland Council to replace the “floating” top wheel of the West Wall poma lift with a fixed wheel and to extend the run by 40m subject to certain conditions.   The Cairngorms National Park Authority, in their wisdom, did not  call in this application unlike the…

September 29, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Following my last post (see here) on Natural Retreats, they have now started further work to re-locate the return wheel at the top of the West Wall poma lift.   Suffice to say just now (I hope to do a further post tomorrow with photos of what has been going on) that the creation of a building…

September 28, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

  Following my post questioning  the Cairngorms National Park Authority assertion that grouse moors bring much needed employment to the National Park see here, on Sunday I went for a walk round the western half of the Dinnet estate via the summit of Morven.  My main intention was to look at the unlawful hill tracks…

September 27, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

The proposed Flamingo Land development of the west riverside side at Balloch was covered by  an interesting article in the Sunday Herald (and I say that not just because I was quoted in it) which made links between the proposed camping ban and the proposed development.  Ultimately this is about what National Parks are for…

September 26, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

Today, the LLTNPA will decide its planning application to itself for a campsite at Loch Chon.  There are now 54 documents associated with this proposal and I hope the members of the Planning Committee read the objections as well as the Committee Report.   There are several  issues about the campsite which are very relevant…

September 24, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Raptor Persecution Scotland picked up  (see here) on a Cairngorms blog piece and article in the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald by Peter Argyle, Convener of the the Cairngorms National Park Authority.   I believe Peter’s contribution is very welcome and its very refreshing that as Convener of the National Park he seems prepared to engage…

September 22, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

By coincidence, the above article appeared in the Sunday Herald (in their towns supplement) just a few days after Flamingo Land had been announced as the preferred developer for the west riverside site at Balloch (see here).    The contrast between what Kevin Stewart is saying and what Scottish Enterprise announced is stark: The “solution”…

September 21, 2016 Nick Kempe 4 comments

If you have passed up or down the A82 this summer you may have noticed Lochs and Glens buses parked overnight in the Inveruglas car park – I have several times.   This is one of the car parks where the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority want to introduce parking charges which will be…

September 20, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

A petition to the Scottish Government to stop the Flamingo Land development on the west riverside site at Balloch has been set up by George McMillan (see here).  A number of signatories have made comments which show that people care deeply about our National Parks and believe they should be about protecting the landscape and…

September 18, 2016 Nick Kempe 6 comments

Balmoral was in the news twice over the last week, first for a grouse shoot and second because Prince Charles collided with a deer when driving on the estate (see Mirror). Raptor Persecution Scotland provided some excellent critical commentary on the use of soldiers as beaters on the grouse moor but most of the media…

September 17, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

As part of its programme to upgrade the cabling at Cairngorm, funded by Highlands and Enterprise, Natural Retreats started work on the Coire na Ciste t-bar late August/September (see here for the earlier work on cabling of the car park tow).    Now this work did not require planning permission because Highland Council had judged…

September 16, 2016 Nick Kempe 7 comments

On Wednesday, Scottish Enterprise announced that it had appointed Flamingo Land Ltd, which runs a holiday resort, theme park and zoo in North Yorkshire, as the “preferred developer” for the 20 hectare site it owns on the west bank of the River Leven in Balloch  (see here). The development, billed as the “Iconic Leisure Resort…

September 13, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Herald readers will be aware that there has been an ongoing correspondence in that paper about the performance of the Scottish Government and there was an interesting letter yesterday which claimed there was NO evidence of poor governance under the SNP.   I was tempted to write and offer what has been going on at Loch…

September 7, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Raptor Persecution Scotland published yesterday a list of over 60 illegal raptor persecution incidents since the Cairngorms National Park was created  https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2016/09/06/the-illegal-killing-of-birds-of-prey-in-the-cairngorms-national-park/ and are promising a further piece on how the Cairngorms National Park Authority has so far failed to address the issue.  The list is likely to be the tip of iceberg but is…

September 5, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

“As part of the plans which will come into effect for the 2017 season, feasibility work is already well advanced at Loch Chon in The Trossachs on land managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland. It is proposed that the picturesque site at Loch Chon will accommodate 30 tent pitches alongside facilities including a fresh water supply,…