After my last post on the Glen Falloch hydro schemes, which featured the blue penstock by Derrydarroch in the photo above, I asked the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park when this penstock was going to be re-painted.   The LLTNPA had approved a plan in February that showed native trees were to  be planted on both side of this pipe which was going to be painted green (see here).  While the paper trail was not all public, I assumed the LLTNPA had told Glen Falloch Estates that all the penstock had to be re-painted to accord with their award winning guidance on Renewable Energy Developments which stated all pipes should be covered where possible and where not blend in with the landscape.   It was a bit of a shock to receive  eir-2016-043-response  earlier this week.

 

“There has been no request for this pipe to be painted as there will  be woodland planting in the vicinity which will screen the pipeline over time”

The planning section don’t even appear to be aware that they approved this landscape plan in February 2016.

Also, you can clearly see from the photo above that the tree planting, which was supposed to be on both sides of the pipe, is only on one side and will never screen the pipe from the A82 or more importantly from the West Highland Way from where the photo was taken.

 

Even worse is this response about what the LLTNPA is doing about all the other blue pipes in Glen Falloch:

So, as a National Park, are they or aren’t they going to enforce their own guidance?      I take the response to mean that the LLTNPA is not going to make any attempt to ensure that all the other blue penstock in Glen Falloch are painted an appropriate colour unless there is public uproar about this.  While the penstock contravenes the Park’s own Guidance,  I have learned from experience any guidance or policy from the Park needs to be taken with a large dose of salt as they continually break their own rules.   Whatever the status of their policies the important point is the LLTNPA’s commitment to landscape protection is so weak its not even prepared to commit to tackling blue pipe blight.  This example should make people very sceptical about the LLTNPA’s commitment to put the “special qualities” of the National Park first when considering the Flamingo Land development. The blue pipes of Glen Falloch are worthy of any theme park.

 

Earlier in the week the LLTNPA planning committee  considered its fifth planning performance report to the Scottish Government which contains two pages on hydro schemes.  The first explains how hard pressed the Park has been trying to approve a lot of hydro schemes in a short period of time (this doesn’t apply to the Falloch Schemes which were approved earlier).  Note the claim that:

 

 “a robust and rigorous approach to the monitoring of the build out phase of the hydro schemes was required in order to ensure the protection of the special qualities of the park”.  

 

The EIR Response, while listing the Park’s monitoring visits to Glen Falloch, refused to release any correspondence with the Glen Falloch Estate  so I cannot tell you at present whether this allegedly rigorous process even raised the blight of the bright blue penstock, let alone any other issues.   (I will ask for a review and remind the LLTNPA their Planning Charter commits the Park to act transparently).

 

The second extract (below) explains the LLTNPA received a Scottish Award for Quality in Planning this year for the way it has managed hydro schemes.  The primary reason for the award appears to have been for approving these hydro schemes quickily, before the Feed In Tariff subsidy changed, but it was also “for influencing the implementation of the development on the ground”.   I wonder if the judges knew about the blue penstock and all the other breaches of the LLTNPA’s planning guidance which it has allowed to happen?   Note the photo of the stone clad dam wall and the wooden fencing in the photo below and compare it to the reality (see here).  There is not a single stone clad dam wall in Glen Falloch and lots of galvanised steel.   The gap between spin and reality is yawning but what matters is that the LLTNPA is allowing a beautiful landscape to be trashed – rather like the Cairngorms National Park Authority and Natural Retreats at Cairngorm.

 

 

The other information in the EIR though is of even greater concern and I will cover that in my next post on Glen Falloch