The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 requires byelaws to be reviewed every ten years. Currently, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) is secretly preparing a review of the camping bye laws, which prompted the creation of this blog, prior to a public consultation later this year. The review should start with some facts.

On 26th January 2016 the then Minister responsible for National Parks, Aileen Mcleod, approved the the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) camping byelaws (see here for her letter).   Ms McLeod, however, also delayed the implementation of the byelaws for a year, until 1st March 2017.  This was  to give more time to the LLTNPA (which had  spent over two years secretly planning the byelaws see here) to increase camping provision in the National Park:

Ten years later on 24th January 2026, I submitted a Freedom of Information request to the LLTNPA asking how many camping and campervan places they had provided in 2024.  The LLTNPA’s response EIR 2026-003 Response shows that not only have they failed to deliver on their commitment to increase the number of camping places after the initial 300, but they appear to have actually reduced the number of places people can lawfully camp with a camping permit.

As I pointed out in 2020 (see here) the LLTNPA resorted to jiggery-pokery to claim they had delivered 327 low cost camping places in their Annual Report to Scottish Ministers for 2019, a claim they repeated in the three year review of the camping management byelaws in March 2020:

Twenty-seven campervan places were included compared to the 30 claimed for last year.  This was  despite the LLTNPA’s original intention to ban campervans from stopping off overnight in laybys in the camping management zones proving unenforceable because everyone has a legal stop off overnight in a vehicle by the side of a public road (see here).  In 2020 the 27 campervan places were shown to be over and above those required to meet the 300 target.

Of the campsites included in the 300 target, Loch Chon now offers 26 places, Loch Achray 17 and Sallochy 20.  The nine places at the Cabin on Loch Lubnaig (see here) and the camping area at Rowardennan no longer exist.  That means there are now a total of 63 “low cost” places offered by the LLTNPA in the camping management zones on top of the 182 permits on offer last year, a grand total of 245.  This is  55 places LESS than the target set by Scottish Ministers 10 years ago.

The LLTNPA’s campsites, however, only open on 1st April, whereas the byelaws come into effect on 1st March.  This means that this month the LLTNPA has fallen 118 places short of the minimum target set by Scottish Ministers:

Along with these campsites, no less than thirteen camping permit areas on Forest Drive are currently closed.  These were created by FLS to enable the LLTNPA to reach their target, albeit several are unfit for camping (see here).

In summary it appears that at present the LLTNPA is now offering under half the minimum number of camping and camping permit places it promised Scottish Ministers it would deliver 10 years ago.  Has the current responsible Minister, Mairi Gougeon, been told by the LLTNPA and here civil servants?

If the public consultation on the review of the camping byelaws is to be worth anything it would start with these facts, explore why the LLTNPA has failed to deliver its promises and then examine in detail the consequences.  I am fairly confident that this won’t happen but, meantime, a few more Freedom of Information requests to establish what LLTNPA staff and board members have been doing behind the scenes to manipulate the consultation process won’t come amiss.