December 8, 2023 Nick Kempe 5 comments

The Scottish Government’s consultation on “Tackling the Nature Emergency: Scotland’s Strategic Framework for Biodiversity” (see here), which was launched in September and includes proposals to reform Scotland’s National Parks, closes on 14th December. To date I have only considered the Scottish Government’s undemocratic proposal to increase Ministerial control over appointments to National Park board appointments…

December 4, 2023 Nick Kempe 6 comments

In a recent post on the proposed telecommunications mast at the western end of Loch Mullardoch (see here), I criticised the organisations which have rightly formed a coalition agains  the Shared Rural Network programme for not campaigning hard enough to protect  Scotland’s finest wild land from descretation. Those organisations – I am a member of…

November 30, 2023 Nick Kempe 3 comments

Ostensibly the law governing public authorities in Scotland requires them to operate in an open and transparent manner.  The Freedom of Information Act required public authorities to produce publication schemes, setting out what information they publish as a a matter of course (the idea being to reduce the need for formal requests for information), while…

November 28, 2023 Nick Kempe 2 comments

Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CMSL) is Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s subsidiary that is responsible for operating  the facilities at Cairn Gorm, including the funicular. Earlier this month saw the publication (see here) of its accounts for the year to 31st March 2023. They start with this statement signed by Peter Mearns on behalf the…

November 23, 2023 Nick Kempe 4 comments

On 9th November, two days after Scotgold announced (see here) it had been unable to find a new investor for the Cononish goldmine and it was likely to go into administration, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) informed me their Planning Committee had noted without amendment the “annual report” on the mine….

November 11, 2023 Nick Kempe 7 comments

I had said I would follow my post looking at the impact of BrewDog’s tree planting at Kinrara (see here) with one that looked at the impact of the new deer fences.  However, having looked at further further information about BrewDog’s carbon emissions at Kinrara, it seems more important to cover that first. The carbon…

November 9, 2023 Nick Kempe 7 comments

Who benefits from the telecommunication masts?   The spate of new telecommunications masts which, as George Allan from the North East Mountain Trust explained on Monday (see here), threaten some of Scotland’s finest landscapes are intended to eliminate “total not spots”.  They form part of the Shared Rural Network programme and are being  funded by…

November 6, 2023 George Allan 12 comments

  Planning applications are coming in thick and fast for 25 metre communications masts in remote hill country in Scotland as part of the UK Government’s Digital Connectivity Programme – the Shared Rural Network. Some appear to have almost no public benefit and are proposed for Scotland’s finest landscapes. Anyone for near to the Falls…

November 5, 2023 Nick Kempe 4 comments

At the start of October, almost a year after they bought the Glen Prosen Estate for £17,555,000,  , Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) launched an initial consultation of what to do with the land and buildings under the banner of developing an Angus Glens Land Management Plan (see here). When I last wrote about Glen…

November 3, 2023 Nick Kempe 3 comments

The accounts for Natural Assets Investment Ltd (NAIL) (see here), the zombie company which bought Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), were published at the end of September.  NAIL placed CML into administration after the funicular became unsafe to operate in 2018 and was one of the parties HIE subsequently sued….

November 1, 2023 Dave Morris 4 comments

The recent report from Cairngorms Connect (see here), which explained the last 30 years experience of rewilding on the western slopes of the Cairngorms massif, was covered in the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald (“Fences are “no answer in Forests””) and attracted two letters in responses from Basil Dunlop and myself – see below. The information…