Month: December 2016

December 29, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

This is my second post on the Bruar Hydro Scheme (see here) which I visited at the end of August.   I  am fairly confident that few of the issues identified in this post will have been remedied since my visit but would welcome more up to date photos from anyone who is in the area….

December 28, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

After the Strathy’s excellent coverage of the Save the Ciste Group’s criticisms of what is happening at Cairngorm  (see here) it was inevitable that Natural Retreats would try and suggest that they are in fact doing lots to improve the skiing experience at Cairngorm and the article above duly appeared last week.   While the work…

December 27, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

                                      Following my post (see here) on the discussion of litter at the last Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board meeting, it was good to see Peter Jack’s lead letter to the Herald.  I hope this…

December 24, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

At the Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board Meeting on 12th December Bob Ellis, the Board Member on the Local Access Forum, reported he had been to visit the Loch Chon campsite and suggested other Board Members might also visit.  Having visited last Sunday to look at the work in progress I recommend they…

December 19, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

After the two candidates for convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board had made their speeches last Monday, Cllr Fergus Wood  asked if he could put a question to the candidates.  The answer from convener Linda McKay and Governance Manager Amanda Aitkman was NO.  Cllr Fergus then gave a resigned shrug of…

December 18, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

The implementation of the camping byelaws dominated the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting last Monday, with discussion taking place across a number of different agenda items.  This is a reflection of what is happening to our National Park, its allowed all its resources and efforts to focus on one issue, and…

December 16, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

Ten days ago I raised question about how much Natural Retreats is actually investing at Cairngorm  (see here).   The question of who is responsible for investing what at Cairngorm is complicated and not easy to see from the lease between Highlands and Islands Enterprise and Natural Retreats (I am working on it).  This FOI response …

December 15, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

If you have not read it, I would commend the lecture Andy Wightman gave last week on the case for a renewal of Scottish democracy.  I am not a member of any political party, the lecture does not mention National Parks but what it says is, I believe, entirely relevant to our National Parks and…

December 14, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Most members of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority appear to have spent Monday morning in yet another “Board Briefing session” before the public Board meeting, but had they walked round the riverside area in Balloch it might have helped them inject a sense of perspective into to the discussion of camping byelaws…

December 13, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Donald Trump was in the national media at the weekend for failing to keep to the planning agreements he had made at the Menie golf course North of Aberdeen.  While this should have come as no surprise to those who have followed that saga there are similarities with how  Natural Retreats have acted at Cairngorm. …

December 12, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

I have attended all the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority meetings since April 2015, when the Board agreed to recommend camping byelaws to the Minister, and in all that time the Board has never been asked to make a choice in public about anything.   This is because everything has been decided in secret…

December 11, 2016 Nick Kempe No comments exist

On Friday Mountaineering Scotland issued a news release calling for the proposed introduction of camping byelaws on 1st March to be suspended for a year to allow for a re-think.  The story was covered in the Herald on Saturday (see here).    It is great that a recreational body (which I was closely involved with in…

December 9, 2016 Nick Kempe 2 comments

  After yesterday’s post I have been reflecting on the proposed signage that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board is being asked to approve on Monday.   The message given by the sign above is that there is a zone where camping is managed.   Nothing else.  So if you drive by in a…

December 5, 2016 Nick Kempe 1 comment

  This excellent article, about Natural Retreats’ failure to invest in Cairngorm and the possibility of a community run enterprise taking over the ski area, appeared in the Badenoch and Strathspey Advertiser last week.    While I have been in close communication with the Save the Ciste group, some of whose members have kept me…

December 1, 2016 Nick Kempe 3 comments

In 2013 the Cairngorms National Park Authority was informed about the extension and expansion of hill tracks on the Dinnet Estate owned by former CNPA Board Member Marcus Humphrey.  These works had been undertaken without planning permission by Findrack Investments Ltd who lease the shooting (both deer and grouse as far as I am aware)…