The Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals to modernise the legislation which governs deer management in Scotland closes today (see here). There is a survey which is relatively easy to complete. The primary aim of the proposed legislation is to ‘ensure it is fit for purpose in the context of the biodiversity and climate crises’. The…
Month: March 2024
Following many months of speculation, the long-trailed Earba pumped storage hydro scheme proposed by Gilkes Energy for Ardverikie Estate is now the subject of a formal planning application on the Scottish Government’s Energy Consent Unit (ECU) website. Since it was first proposed, the installed capacity of the Earba scheme has doubled from 900 MW to…
On the evening of 28th February, HIE’s fully owned subsidiary Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) announced it was moving to a five day week and would not be operating on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This decision was met with disbelief by snowsports enthusiasts, particularly those who had bought season tickets, but also affected CMSL’s ability…
On Thursday the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill (WMMB) (see here for text) was passed by the Scottish Parliament. Judging from the responses of some of the main proponents and opponents of the Bill one could be fooled into thinking will usher in major changes to how grouse moors are managed. On the one hand…
In mid-February a small part of tailings stack 2 had been covered in matting. An FOI response from SEPA revealed that the LLTNPA had in December required the whole of the stack to be covered by 13th February to stop sediment entering the river system.(My apologies for lack of formatting etc in this post. It’s…
[Ed note. While I wrote about the proposed mast on Creag Dubh in a previous post (see here), this objection to the Planning Application from Dave Morris sets out a reasoned and detailed case about what is wrong with the Shared Rural Network programme and the approach they are taking to fixing the “partial…
Never, when writing my post HIE’s crumbling empire on Wednesday (see here), did I guess that Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) would have confirmed my analysis within 24 hours with this admission that the one ski resort in Scotland with natural snow, high in the Ptarmigan bowl, was inaccessible due to the lack of uplift….