Following my post (see here) on how the Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS) are cashing in on Cashel , Andy Wightman wrote a fine follow up piece on the Cashel estate and the post war labour government. This filled in some of the historical gaps and demonstrated how the public ownership of land was once…
Month: July 2024
On 10th July Mitie, acting on behalf of Three, who are working for Digital Mobile Spectrum Ltd, who report to the Big Four mobile operators which include Three submitted a planning application to erect a 22.5m telecommunications mast by Ryvoan bothy (see here for planning papers). A week earlier David Craig explained on parkswatch (see…
The basic elements of the the scandal concerning abrdn’s proposed sale the Far Ralia estate in the Cairngorms National Park are very simple. Having bought the land now known as the Far Ralia estate for a reported £7.5m in September 2021, Abrdn are now trying to dispose of it for £12m having in the intervening…
After first hearing about the native woodland scheme at Muckrach I submitted a Freedom of Information request to Scottish Forestry (SF) for its contract with Calthorpe Estates, the family trust which owns the land, and any reports from inspection visits. Just like when the BrewDog Lost Forest disaster become apparent (see here), it turns out…
On 16th July the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) issued a news release (see here) stating its board had agreed a date, Monday 16th September, to take a decision on the (Mark III) version (see here) of the Flamingo Land Planning Application. This post will argue that the content of the news release…
Following my post on the disastrous new section of road at Muckrach (see here), the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) informed me that they weren’t aware of the work but were now looking into it. I then heard from another source that the CNPA were due to meet with Savills, who oversaw the whole Muckrach…
On 10th June I wrote to Dr Heather Reid, the Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) asking for a recording of the Board Meeting which took place that day. That request followed a discussion which, in my view, raises yet more serious concerns about the LLTNPA’s handling of the Flamingo…
On election day, 4th July, after the anaemic campaigns of the major parties, it was good to see some real politics being given prominence in the Herald and to be reminded of the time when the Scottish Parliament was prepared to introduce radical new laws. The royal family, the Scottish establishment and access rights…
When James Watt, sometime chief executive of the beer company BrewDog, speaks about tree planting in the Highlands, he reminds me of unpleasant landowners of the past. In his latest attempt at defending BrewDog’s disastrous planting efforts on their Kinrara estate near Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park, Watt did not mince his words when…
Last Friday the Cashel Forest Trust, set up by the Royal Scottish Forestry Society (RSFS), announced they had put their property at Cashel on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond on the market at offers over £4,085,000 for the whole or as five separate lots. Goldcrest’s brochure (see here) claims this is an “opportunity…
Despite a huge budget, hubris threatens to make the Shared Rural Network (SRN) a wasted opportunity for rural communities with inadequate mobile coverage. Without bothering to ask communities what was needed, the SRN set itself this target: To bring 4G coverage, from at least one operator, to 95%of UK land area. To achieve this area…
On 28th June Raptor Persecution UK published a press release from Police Scotland appealing for information after a goshawk nest near Loch Gynack on the Pitmain Estate had been abandoned, apparently after a shot gun attack (see here). While no-one has yet been charged, this post will argue this was an “incident” waiting to happen…