I have never met the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Litter Prevention Manager, Nik Turner, but since she was appointed earlier this year she has launched a number of initiatives (see here for example) and appears to have woken the Park out of its slumber. That is welcome. Many of the problems she is…
Tag: Litter
On 15th May, after climbing in Glen Coe, I stopped off to show my climbing partner the camping permit area at Inveruglas – one of several the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park has created which are not fit for purpose. Most of the permit area – like many others in the National Park –…
Every time I travelled along the A82 last year I spotted people camping in breach of the camping byelaws in the tent free zone the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has created between Inveruglas and the Falls of Falloch. The northern part of this was not included originally within the Loch Lomond West…
Its now almost a year since the Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham visited the head of Loch Long at the invitation of local MSP Jackie Baillie and local residents (see here) to see the litter problem. The local community has been organising clear-ups for years but the sheer volume of rubbish swept up by the sea was…
A couple of weeks ago I drafted an article about the disgraceful state of the Coire na Ciste Car Park. I went up there at the weekend to find it had been cleared up. The appointment of Ross Harris as interim Chief Executive of the new ski area operating company, Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd, would…
Last week I was contacted out the blue by the press to comment on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s new £40k a year Litter Manager. The Herald gave this extensive coverage (see here) – and even referred to my views in their Leader calling on the Park to take tougher action. …
“As the National Park Authority, we aren’t responsible for collecting all litter in the Park but we are working to tackle this issue across the area as best we can. We are doing this by trialling different approaches to managing litter on our own sites………………………” In May the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
On Sunday 13th I noticed a crashed or abandoned car just south of Inverarnan close to the location of another abandoned blue car which had featured in two of the earliest posts on parkswatch in 2016 (see here). These explored how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s approach to abandoned cars fitted…
The primary reason for the creation of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park was to provide a mechanism that would manage visitors better in the interests of both people and the natural environment. The National Park was envisaged as a body that would ensure that proper infrastructure was put in place to enable people…
Stephen Campbell, a keen angler, who has commented several times on parkswatch posts and like most anglers is strongly committed to conserving the natural environment sent me this photo taken at the weekend along with the comment “No Difference” and that the rubbish “had obviously been lying for a while”. The Loch Drunkie dam on…
On the surface the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is quite transparent about the complaints it receives, reporting on these to the Government through its Annual Report. Below the surface, however, there is evidence to show that the LLTNPA is covering up what is really going on. In this post I will take…
In the Battle for Scotland’s Countryside last week (see here), David Hayman presented a brief history of the struggle for access rights leading up to our access legislation and then looked at three subsequent access disputes. On first viewing, I was a bit disappointed with how these were covered: the film of David Hayman entering…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s report for Ministers on the first year of the campiing byelaws (see here) was a spin job based on assertions and half-truths rather than facts. This week I have obtained through Freedom of Information some of the facts I suggested almost six months ago should be included…
While I would love our National Parks to be litter free, when litter is getting worse everywhere in Scotland (see here), any attempt to reduce litter which does not take account of the wider context is almost certainly doomed to failure. Yet that is what the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority did…
I spent Saturday evening, along with a few hundred others at a sold out event in the Glasgow Concert Hall, listening to George Monbiot talk about his new book “Out of the Wreckage”. George’s message was that contrary to neo-liberal ideology, the vast majority of people are altruistic and will contribute to the wider good…
Following my post (see here) on why people should be sceptical about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board paper which claimed the camping permit system had been successful, I have been passed information from two readers about complaints submitted to the LLTNPA. Both concern Forest Drive and accord with what I saw…
On Friday to mark the end of the camping byelaws – you were a criminal if you pitched your tent without a permit on Saturday but from past midnight could camp in the same place scot free – Phoebe Smith has a piece on Radio 4’s “You and Yours” http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b095ptx2. (It runs from 28 mins…
By Nick Halls As a resident of Ardentinny, I routinely travel between Ardentinny and Glasgow by road. I make it a practice of stopping on Loch Lomond side to visit the camping places, for which permits are required, at Suie Field and Cuilag, situated on the shore between Inverbeg and Luss. Access to both…
Parkswatch received information that there was a strangled hare under the Coire Cas t-bar gantry (see here) and is very grateful to members of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation group who visited the site today and confirmed this (above photo, which has had coverage on twitter). Natural Retreats’ staff then turned up, presumably to check…
Thanks to Nick Halls for these photos and for information which has informed the commentary. The area around the former southern entrance to the torpedo station remains in a very poor condition with concrete barriers now replacing the plastic barriers across the broken entrance gates. The gates, which were installed to prevent vehicular access…
Contributors to Parkswatch have, over the last 15 months, regularly highlighted the failures of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority to provide basic facilities for visitors. We are not the only people who have been saying this of course but in an extremely welcome development, Luss Estates, who I understand have been trying…
By a happy coincidence, just as Dave Morris’ fine letter about how investment in the outdoors can benefit landscapes, people and the local economy appeared in the Herald, I received EIR 2017-037 Response Chemical Disposal points from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. From the sublime to the ridiculous – but its an indication…
By Ross MacBeath The new directive for Countryside Rangers – enforce the byelaws above all else. While the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park made a great hullabaloo claiming success with their byelaws on the East Loch Lomond shore, what they failed to explain was that to achieve this as yet unsubstantiated claim, they…
Parkswatch has, since the camping byelaws came into force on 1st March, documented how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Park is trying to force campers into areas totally unsuitable for camping. Relatively little coverage has been given to how the LLTNPA is managing the permit areas which are being used by campers. …
By Nick Halls In my last post (see here) on the torpedo station, I stated that the gates blocking the old main road were both locked, thereby preventing vehicles entering the area. Recently, the southern of the two gates has been burst open and badly damaged. It was ajar for a period and it…