Ostensibly the law governing public authorities in Scotland requires them to operate in an open and transparent manner. The Freedom of Information Act required public authorities to produce publication schemes, setting out what information they publish as a a matter of course (the idea being to reduce the need for formal requests for information), while…
Author: Nick Kempe
Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CMSL) is Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE)’s subsidiary that is responsible for operating the facilities at Cairn Gorm, including the funicular. Earlier this month saw the publication (see here) of its accounts for the year to 31st March 2023. They start with this statement signed by Peter Mearns on behalf the…
In the majority of National Parks across the world land is publicly owned but not in Scotland nor the wider UK. That might not matter so much if Scotland’s National Parks had real powers to control how land is used and traded but their current powers are limited. Just as importantly, neither the Loch Lomond…
Regular readers may or may not be surprised to hear that having helped pay to cover Balquhidder in plastic in March 2022 (see here), the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority got itself onto the shortlist for the Nature of Scotland awards on 22nd November: They didn’t win. These corporate backslapping exercises currently serve…
On 9th November, two days after Scotgold announced (see here) it had been unable to find a new investor for the Cononish goldmine and it was likely to go into administration, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) informed me their Planning Committee had noted without amendment the “annual report” on the mine….
Work by the Pitmain Estate to rebuild the River Gynack overflow, which had failed soon after it was initially constructed in 2017, appears to have been completed in August. The rationale behind the work and why it had not been re-opened by the time of the floods on Speyside in early October has not been…
I am not sure when I first saw the bright green plastic tree tubes on the left of the A82 heading north from Crianlarich but on Saturday I stopped to have a look. The site is much easier to access than previously as in 2020 the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority granted planning…
Yet another planning application for a telecommunication mast has appeared (see here), this time in the heart of Torridon on land owned by the National Trust for Scotland. This is a National Scenic Area, a Wild Land Area and the walk through from Glen Torridon to Loch Torridon one of the finest in Scotland. One…
A week ago Iain Cameron copied me into his tweet on a track on the Glenure Estate on the eastern side of Ben Sgulaird. He was right, it is monstrous. His tweet has now attracted over 65K views, an indication of the level of interest from people in what is happening to the landscape of…
I had said I would follow my post looking at the impact of BrewDog’s tree planting at Kinrara (see here) with one that looked at the impact of the new deer fences. However, having looked at further further information about BrewDog’s carbon emissions at Kinrara, it seems more important to cover that first. The carbon…
The UK Government, landowners and telecommunications masts – the landscape and environmental impacts
Who benefits from the telecommunication masts? The spate of new telecommunications masts which, as George Allan from the North East Mountain Trust explained on Monday (see here), threaten some of Scotland’s finest landscapes are intended to eliminate “total not spots”. They form part of the Shared Rural Network programme and are being funded by…
Having been blogging and trying to raise awareness about landslips for the last four years, it was great to get some wider coverage in the last week. First I was asked to speak about landslips with Craig Dalzell on Common Weal’s policy podcast (see here). I am convener of Common Weal’s Care Reform Group but…
At the start of October, almost a year after they bought the Glen Prosen Estate for £17,555,000, , Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) launched an initial consultation of what to do with the land and buildings under the banner of developing an Angus Glens Land Management Plan (see here). When I last wrote about Glen…
The accounts for Natural Assets Investment Ltd (NAIL) (see here), the zombie company which bought Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), were published at the end of September. NAIL placed CML into administration after the funicular became unsafe to operate in 2018 and was one of the parties HIE subsequently sued….
Since writing about the consequences of the extreme rainfall which fell in Cowal (see here) and Glen Kinglas (see here) on 7th October, I have been sent some further photos which provides an opportunity to add to some of the arguments I made in those posts. While I saw the extent of the extensive flooding…
Shortly after I wrote to Dr Heather Reid, the Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), questioning her decision that dealing with the potential risks at the Cononish goldmine caused by Scotgold’s financial difficulties was purely an operational matter (see here), a report on the mine appeared among the papers for…
The headwaters of the River South Esk, which flooded Brechin last week with such destructive effect, lie in Glen Doll in the Cairngorms National Park. The River South Esk then flows down Glen Clova, where it is joined by the River Prosen, before leaving the Cairngorms massif and turning in an easterly direction through Brechin…
According to BEAR Scotland, the consortium of private companies who manage trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland, around 160mm of rain fell in 36 hours around the Rest and Be Thankful two weekends ago and caused eleven landslips (see here– news release dated 11th October): “One small landslide at the Rest and be Thankful….
Living as we do on the western edge of Europe, in its windiest country notorious and one that is notorious for its wet weather, I had tended to assume that Scotland bears the brunt of the storms that cross the Atlantic. After the Met Office had issued warnings for Storm Alex at the end of…
This is the most recent official photo from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority showing the state of the Cononish goldmine. Now imagine what might have happened if 8 inches/20cm of rain had fallen on it last weekend as happened elsewhere in the west of Scotland with no workforce available to respond? Six…
While governments across the world fail to implement or row back on actions to reduce our carbon emissions and respond to climate change, CO2 fuelled hot air wreaks increasing havoc. The same heat that is causing more hurricanes in the Caribbean at the end of each summer often drives the tail end of those storms…
“Forest” = “a large area covered with trees and plants/undergrowth” Following my posts about BrewDog’s “Lost Forest” at Kinrara in February (see here) and (here), I was sent further photos showing work that had taken place in October and November last year to restore peatland and prepare the ground for tree planting. It looked terrible…
Eighty staff laid off Last week Scotgold Resources announced that the “unique package” which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) had claimed would “deliver multiple benefits for the area” and create jobs (see above) was putting the majority of its employees at the Cononish goldmine in Strath Fillan on short-term unpaid leave…
The Luibeg mast planning application Yesterday the planning application for the proposed telecommunications mast above the Luibeg bridge on the Mar Lodge estate (see here) was temporarily withdrawn by the developer “in light of recent consultation responses received“. The application was rapidly developing into a test case for plans to erect similar masts (with access tracks…
On Saturday I was involved in a demonstration organised by the Right to Roam campaign at Scots Dyke, constructed in 1552 to delineate the border between Scotland and England. As one activist straddling the border put it, this foot has a right to be here, the other one doesn’t. The differences in access laws between…