Month: July 2017

July 31, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Dear Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, Pretty no, but effective yes.  These toilets had been brought in because the composting toilets – I know your Chief Executive will say, “I could have told you so” – did not work.   I don’t know why they had gone wrong but what I do know is…

July 26, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Dear Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, It was stated at your June Board Meeting that there was evidence that fewer campsites are being abandoned in the National Park since the byelaws came into force.   The Your Park consultation never analysed how many campers abandoned tents – my guesstimate is 1%  – so I…

July 25, 2017 Nick Kempe 5 comments

The “enforcement” of the camping byelaws   Over the last couple of months its become clear that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Ranger service are not referring anyone to the Procurator Fiscal for breach of the byelaws.  On the one hand this is because the byelaws are almost impossible to enforce against campervans,…

July 24, 2017 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Dear Cairngorms National Park Authority, I had come over Carn na Drochaide and Carn Liath – crossing the track which runs up the fairy glen it is true – to be faced with the track which runs up to and across the Bealach Dearg, high under the western face of Culardoch.  Besides the grouse, it…

July 20, 2017 Ross MacBeath No comments exist

An on the spot report by Mechelle Rafferty This is another report from real park users, in this case Michelle and the crew who have taken the time to record their experiences with LLTNP Camping provision at Loch Chon.  I think it’s safe to say from Mechelles comments and by the looks on the kids…

July 19, 2017 Bruce Biddulph 12 comments

By Bruce Biddulph, local resident of Balloch and amateur historian Whilst we await the first views of any precise plans that the developer has for Balloch’s Drumkinnon Woods and the west bank of the River Leven (see here) and (see here for example), we can only guess and fear what these will be. What does…

July 17, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Last week, following Rob Edwards’ article and my coverage of the collapse of the camping byelaws (see here) I was asked to do an interview for BBC Alba news.   Quite a privilege since I speak not a word of Gaelic, although I have a passing knowledge of Gaelic place names.    It should appear sometime after…

July 17, 2017 Nick Kempe 2 comments

On 7th July, an application for a new hydro scheme on the slopes of Ben More by Crianlarich, one of the highest and best known Munros, was validated on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs Planning Portal  (see here) (or if the link does not work go to http://www.lochlomond-trossachs.org/planning/planning-applications/find-an-application/ and search for application Ref 2017/0119/DET or…

July 13, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

The Corriemulzie community hydro scheme  http://braemarhydro.org.uk/scheme/, just west of Braemar on the road to Linn of Dee, provides an interesting case of how developments can go badly wrong despite the best intentions of the main players.  I first visited this scheme, which became operational last summer, in September 2016 and was horrified by what I…

July 11, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Following my post on the unlawful application of the camping byelaws to campervans (see here), Rob Edwards’ excellent article in the Sunday Herald (I have an interest!) prompted an interesting piece http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2017/07/10/wild-land/ from Mike Small which is well worth reading:   “Scotland’s divorce from nature is intimately connected to its divorce from land. But whilst we…

July 10, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

Following my posts on the Ledcharrie (see here), Coilessan  (see here) Glen Clova and Glen Prosen (see here) and (see here) hill tracks I contacted the heads of planning in both National Park Authorities to find out what they were doing about this.  The responses could not have been more different.   The Loch Lomond and…

July 7, 2017 Nick Halls 1 comment

By Nick Halls,  resident of Ardentinny This is the third in a sequence of reports (see here) and (here) on the impact of Forestry Commission Scotland practices in the Argyll Forest Park, which forms the south western part of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park.   Rhododendron ponticum, an invasive species, was apparently introduced…

July 5, 2017 Nick Kempe 5 comments

Following its new release last week (see here) announcing that it was no longer going to apply the camping byelaws to campervans and caravans in laybys, the  Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has accepted it acted unlawfully by  trying to charge campervans for staying overnight on the road network by offering refunds to…

July 4, 2017 Nick Kempe 1 comment

During a round of the Glen Prosen watershed 10 days ago, I came across a bulldozed track on the plateau at the head of the Glen which appears to be just inside the boundary of the Glen Isla Estate and therefore created by that estate.    The lack of vegetation on the surface – on what…

July 3, 2017 Nick Kempe No comments exist

The third and final section of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Partnership Plan (the official consultation (see here) closes today) is entitled “Rural Development”.  The statutory objective of the National Park is rather different, to promote sustainable use of natural resources and sustainable economic and social development of the area’s communities.  Its…

July 3, 2017 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Apologies to readers but due to problems with internet connectivity I was not able to get this post on (or next on rural development) out last week as intended.   The consultation on the National Park Partnership Plan (see here) closes today.   The LLTNPA’s visitor priorities are wrong   The second section of the Loch…