Had this appeared three days earlier I might have thought this was an April fool except the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) doesn’t do humour. There were lots of comments like the one above (see here) on this announcement but such feedback, which shows what the public really think, is never publicly reported by the Park Chief Executive, Gordon Watson, to his board. It would be interesting to know how many LLTNPA board members ever look at the public comments on its Facebook page – they should be shocked.
In July 2019 the LLTNPA announced (see here) that with the help of £500k from the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund it was improving visitor facilities, including toilets, on the West Shore of Loch Lomond at: Luss, Tarbet (where the motorhome toilet disposal point has since been moved!); and Inveruglas where improvements were also being made to the car park. The news release stated:
“Modernising facilities at these key sites will help to provide a world class experience that matches the expectations of people coming to Scotland’s first National Park”;
while Mr Watson was quoted as saying:
“While people primarily visit for the scenery and recreation opportunities on offer, things like high quality toilets, parking, campervan facilities and bins can make a huge difference to a visitor’s overall experience”.
The news release also announced that Inveruglas would effectively be closed for most of Septmeber and October to enable the work to be done. Given the LLTNPA’s record of delivering infrastructure projects I was pleasantly surprised to find the new 24 hour toilets in place and working in January 2020 just before the Covid pandemic.
So how it that just five years later the LLTNPAis having to close BOTH sets of toilets at Inveruglas for “the visitor season” – in parkspeak that means until 30th September – to accommodate essential infrastructure upgrades”? It seems that the toilets were not as “high quality” as Mr Watson claimed. Is this another example of an infrastructure upgrade that has gone badly wrong(see here) or was it that the LLTNPA failed to maintain the toilets just as they failed to maintain the scenic viewing tower (An Ceann Mor) at Inveruglas (see here) ? That too is currently closed for repairs.
Each time I have been to Inveruglas in the last couple of years the new toilets have been locked which suggests they may have only worked for a short period. Not value for money – one wonders if the funders, VisitScotland, have ever been informed?
Whatever the explanation for the closure, these apparently essential infrastructure works were NOT reported to the LLTNPA Board meeting at the start of March. The Annual Operational Plan for 2025/6, contains a list of infrastructure upgrades and refers to work at Tarbet and Falls of Falloch on west Loch Lomond but makes no mention of Inveruglas:
The Joint Response Visitor Management Plan for 2025, designed to “reduce visitor-related pressures on the environment, people who live and work in the National Park and visitors” doesn’t mention the closure either but basically repeats what is in the AOP:
It is not just the toilets at Inveruglas that have been closed but the camping permit area and overnight use of the car park by campervans and motorhomes too (whether or not they have their own internal toilet):
Coupled with the nearby Tarbet Isle camping permit area, which appears to have been closed because Forest and Land Scotland has failed to clear the area of windblown trees (see here), this represents a significant reduction in camping provision on west Loch Lomond.
Despite this, LLTNPA staff have not even attempted to provide any alternatives. Even if the entire plumbing at Inveruglas has gone down the pan all that would be needed to cater for day visitors and campers would be a couple of mobile toilets and a stand pipe.
Back in 2019 and the first closure for work on the toilets the LLTNPA recognised that: “closures during the latter half of the summer season are not ideal, but in order to maximise the external funding available for this project, all work requires to be carried out within this timeframe”. Now, the works are to take a whole season and no temporary facilities have been arranged to fill the gap.
The LLTNPA’s claims five years ago that their work at Inveruglas would provide a “world class experience” now lies in tatters. The sad truth is the LLTNPA is not only totally incompetent but their senior staff don’t care one iota for ordinary visitors – wherever they come from. This won’t change until there is an independent review into the failure of Scotland’s two existing National Parks.
I stopped at Inveruglas for a pee a few weeks ago on my way to walk some of the Crianlarich Munros and saw the toilets were closed ‘until further notice’. The notice on the door said the nearest toilets are in Crianlarich but they too were closed for repairs due to blocked pipes. For folk heading north, to be told now that the nearest toilets are 20 minutes back in the opposite direction is not very helpful.
Inveruglas is a stop-off for the loch cruises and I can’t help but feel sorry for the cruise passengers who may need to use a toilet before they rejoin their coaches. It cannot leave a good impression on them.
The management of the Park is an absolute disgrace and shows no signs of improving.
How does it take all year to do up a public kharzi anyway, and if their financial setup means it can only be done during the visitor season, then that setup is not fit for purpose.
I wonder if the issue is vandalism? Years ago I asked the vopos at Balloch if something could be done about boats obviously moored semi permanantly to the extremely limited visitor pontoon at Inveruglas, the reply; “We don’t go beyond the islands”. That was around the time someone stole the bog door.
Of course if their policy is in fact to discourage use of the park by non high spending visitors, the actions as described in this post would be entirely consistent.
Time was, when on our way north from the M74 and the road from Dover.. this small car park could provide a pleasant outlook on the loch, tidy clean loos while enjoying a light snack or a cup of coffee. Then as years passed we noticed that the small place, upgraded at huge public cost had become a scheduled loo stop for tour coaches, (who need not have been permitted access to it at all,) The consquence resulted in to queues round the block for such limited facilities. This made stopping there futile. Closure of the cafe at Inveruglas soon removed that commecial imperative anyway. So on we would go for another 3/4 hour to Tyndrum.
At Tyndrum private enterprise has, for well over 50 years now, demonstrated exactly how to provide a great deal of local employment and cater for the needs of the many hundreds of thousands in cars who use this route each season. The parking there is adequate for coaches too. But the hotel also works to serve their needs.
It is quite clear that if the LLTNP board is still somehow trying to justify employing anyone at all to oversee tourism facilities such as car parks and toilet facilities, they could save the cost of all that employment. The present regime achieves absolutely nothing of any value, neither for the Park, definitely not for the local communities, nor indeed for the People who flock to tour Scotland bringing their holiday spending money.
The LLTNP have a very fast RIB 700 horsepower boat for emergencies with nice cabin, value over £700,000 – maybe it could be made available as an emergency loo upon demand from those in need. With all the power and speed it can be on location in minutes, just call and ask, its owned by the public /tax payer so they can not say no. It might then be useful before it gets closed too.