Tag: Governance

February 24, 2024 Nick Kempe 3 comments

On 24th November Pitcher Partners, a company based in Western Australia, were appointed administrators for Scotgold Resources and its subsidiaries which operate in Scotland, SGZ Cononish, which operates the Cononish goldmine and its exploratory company SGZ Grampian.  Two weeks ago a reader pointed me to information about two meetings Pitcher Partners held with creditors of…

February 5, 2024 Nick Kempe 3 comments

There appears to have been no public news about what has been happening at the Cononish goldmine since its owner, Scotgold Resources, went into administration on 24th November.  Following my post of 18th December (see here), which described some of the pollutions incidents that had taken place earlier this year and my efforts to bring…

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….

September 20, 2023 Nick Kempe 7 comments

Scotland National Parks and the Scottish Government If you want to understand why Scotland’s National Parks have achieved so little in the 20 years since they were created, you need look no further than successive Scottish Governments, both the Ministers responsible and the civil servants that have supported them. Instead of encouraging and empowering our…

August 11, 2023 Nick Kempe 5 comments

A month ago the Scottish Government advertised the position on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board vacated by the former Convener, James Stuart, at the end of January.  No hurry there! The deadline for applications was Monday and the advert has since been removed from the public appointments website but the…

July 17, 2023 Nick Kempe 2 comments

The consultation on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) 2024-29 has been live since 26th April and closes on Wednesday. There have been few responses so far through the online platform “commonplace” (see here) despite the LLTNPA’s attempts to frame the new plan as having a pivotal…

February 17, 2023 Nick Kempe 1 comment

The Scottish Government is currently advertising for six new board members for the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) (see here) and a new chair for Scottish Natural Heritage/Nature Scot (see here).   Further changes in the composition of the CNPA Board are pending with Local Member elections due next month and with the Convener, Xander…

January 31, 2023 Nick Kempe 8 comments

In my second post on the byelaw review, issued yesterday morning (see here), I included data on boat registrations supplied by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) in response to a Freedom of Information request in June 2021.  Having spent several hours checking the claims made about jet skis in the Review…