Tag: Minister Environment

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…

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 19, 2023 Nick Kempe No comments exist

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has long argued ((see here) that muirburn helps prevent devastating wildfires when the truth is that it is muirburn that has devastated nature across large swathes of Scotland. The fact that Fire and Rescue Scotland has chosen to invest resources in teaching gamekeepers how to “safely apply fire” suggests that they…

April 12, 2019 Nick Kempe 1 comment

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…

April 8, 2019 Nick Kempe 3 comments

Scotland has fewer democratically elected representatives and a more centralised system of government than anywhere else in Europe, including England (see here) and (here).  More and more power is exercised directly by the Scottish Government, .  While the Scottish Parliament has, since it was set up, reviewed or created a number of new Public Authorities,…

March 29, 2019 Nick Kempe 2 comments

I’d like to apologise to readers for reporting that all four cases the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority reported to the Procurator Fiscal last year involved campervans. The LLTNPA is now claiming that none of the cases involve campervans and, if that is the case, it has implications both for my post yesterday…

March 1, 2019 Nick Kempe 3 comments

[The original section of this post that dealt with the enforcement of byelaws against campervans contained faulty information, based on that originally supplied by the LLTNPA, and has been corrected (see here)]. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s camping byelaws come back into effect today within the four camping management zones in the…

February 26, 2019 Nick Kempe 2 comments

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…

September 17, 2018 Nick Kempe 1 comment

Following my post on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s war on campers (see here). I submitted an FOI request asking for the LLTNPA to explain reasons the Loch Achray campsite had not been opened (it was due to open in March 2018) and to make this public.  On 10th September I received…

June 7, 2018 Nick Kempe 8 comments

Scotland’s own “Windrush” problem? Following my post on parkswatch and the GDPR (see here) this post takes a look at the civil liberties and governance issues which have been created by the Loch Lomond and Trossach’s National Park Authority’s collection and processing of data under the camping byelaws, itself the outcome of the byelaw enforcement…

May 11, 2018 Nick Kempe 3 comments

Yesterday nominations opened for elections to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board, the only scheduled local elections for Scotland this year.  (The next Cairngorms National Park Authority direct elections will be in 2019).   One third of the board of each of our National Park Authorities is made up of members directly elected…

March 19, 2018 Nick Kempe 2 comments

The day of my post about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority becoming a camping management authority (see here), the article above appeared in the Herald.  Proof, if you want, that what I said is not the whole story and a reminder – if one is needed after the Cononish gold mine decision…

January 31, 2018 Nick Kempe 2 comments

23rd January was the fifteenth anniversary of the passing of the Land Reform Act which enshrined access rights in laws.  Behind the legislation was a recognition that any problem in the countryside which was associated with people taking access to land, from burgling houses to dogs being out of control and worrying sheep, was already…