The Total Not Spot (TNS) element of the UK Government’s £500M Shared Rural Network programme is building 260 new masts to provide 4G mobile coverage in remote and uninhabited parts of Scotland. Due to complete in 2027, one of its objectives is to replace the 999 coverage currently provided by 2G when this network is…
Month: November 2024
This Saturday Page/Park architects, who are acting on behalf of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) and West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC), are holding a public “engagement event” at the pierhead in Balloch. What is now described as an “Improvement Action Plan” was, back in June, called a masterplan – as I explained…
I had always intended to include the Royal Sporting Estate at Balmoral in my series on Deer Density in the Cairngorms (see here) after a walk round the upper part of Glen Muick in May. However, I followed that up with a further Freedom of Information request on current deer numbers at Caenlochan (see here). …
What is sustainable development in Scotland’s National Parks? The case of the Bracklinn Falls bridge
This week the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced (see here) it had won international award for the replacement bridge over the Bracklinn Falls above Callander, a story which was widely covered in the media. The news release claimed that “a bridge has existed here since at least the early 18th century”…
It is now five months since my post questioning how abrdn, Akre and the Natural History Museum (NHM) had applied the Biodiversity Intactness Index to the land at Far Ralia in an attempt to demonstrate that the careless and destructive tree planting there would result in an almost miraculous improvement in nature (see here and…
On 26th January the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced its “Tarbet Visitor site” would be completely closed for 8 weeks from the 29th January as part of a £2.1m upgrade and after that the car parking area would be limited until late summer (see here). Eight months later the works were…
Following on from my post about the metal brackets being use to hold the funicular together (see here) this post takes a further look at WHY the concrete “I” beams have been disintegrating. It is now five weeks since my walk up the funicular and discussions with staff who told me the funicular would be…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), while recently oft proclaiming its concern about the collapse of nature, has appeared completely uninterested in the excellent ecological research that is taking place in its area, let alone promoting it to the general public. A recent example of this a comment made on my first…
After putting Far Ralia on the market for £12m in July (see here)at the end of September Abrdn’s Property Income Trust (APIT) announced it had reached a deal to sell all the remaining propterties it owned to GoldenTree Asset Management (see here). This post consider the implications. Far Ralia and the sale of Abrdn Property…
On 21st October the Scottish Goverment upheld WHP Telecom’s appeal against Highland Council’s refusal of planning permission for the proposed O2 phone mast on Creag Dhubh (see here). The Reporter’s decision (see here) has potentially serious implications for the number of “competing” telecommunications mast in rural areas and for the landscape. Background Under the…
While Dave Morris has discussed Brewdog in a couple of posts (see here) parkswatch has not covered how they have been managing their “Lost Forest” since the end of April (see here). I had hoped to visit Kinrara first to check on how the replacement planting for all the dead trees was going (see here)….