In my original post with this title (see here) I referred to “the demolition of other viable uplift”. This led at least one person to assume that Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) were currently considering the demolition of other tows on the mountain. That was not my intention, I was…
The relaxation of travel restrictions on outdoor recreation and the Lomond & Trossachs National Park
Nicola Sturgeon’s announcement last week that the restrictions on travel within Scotland for outdoor recreation would be relaxed on 16th April, ten days earlier than scheduled, took most people by surprise. The legal restrictions on travel which were first introduced on 27th November remain in place, meaning that you still can only travel outside your…
Over the years there has been a lot of criticism of the positioning of the “mid-station” loading area and the increase in travel time, and hence delays, when it is in use, but this post takes a look at a couple of aspects that as far as I know have never been discussed. Why was…
After its Board Meeting, which approved a large increase of expenditure on visitor management (see here), the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority held a pre-season Stakeholder Briefing Session on 26th March to tell people about their plans “to manage visitor pressures when lockdown restrictions begin to ease”. Too late for genuine consultation, it…
In 2014 the Land Reform Review Group published its report, the land of Scotland and the Common Good (see here). This contained a short section on access rights which concluded that generally they were working well: Since then, access rights have been challenged as never before, with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority leading…
This post takes a further look (see here) at the Scottish Government’s continued unfair restrictions on people’s right to travel for outdoor recreation and why they have been able to get away with this. The change in the Stay at Home “rule” Both the UK and Scottish Governments have muddied the differences between “law” and…
In August 2019 the Glen Ample Estate submitted a Prior Notification to widen a section of the core path through the glen for forestry purposes. The core path forms part of the popular walking route from Loch Lubnaig to Beinn Each and the Munro, Stuc a Chroin. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
Since the involvement of Highlands and Islands Enterprise HIE) with the Cairngorm ski resort and the construction of the funicular railway, the mountain business and its skier/ boarder capacity has gone downhill faster than G.B’s olympic skiers ever did. The folly is continuing with HIE deciding to have the funicular repaired at any cost and,…
The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authorities (NPAs) were both awarded significant increases in funding in the Scottish Government’s budget (see here), a significant turn-around in fortunes. In September the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) reported a significant hole in their finances, with a projected deficit – after yet…
The Scottish Government has been promoting the FACTS message about how to stay safe during Covid since last July. Nicola Sturgeon repeats them on an almost daily basis at the end of her Covid briefings. The advice is perfectly reasonable, even if the differences in the risks of catching Covid-19 indoors from outdoors is only…
A month ago I obtained the Cairngorm Mountain Business Plan 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2023, along with Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s operational agreement with Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd, their fully owned subsidiary responsible for the plan, through Freedom of Information requests. Both documents are heavily redacted (sorry still too many MB in size…
A story in the Daily Record last week, about how a bride and groom who found their wedding venue at Balloch abandoned (see here), provides further evidence of the disastrous consequences of the National Park Authority’s commercialisation policy and its murky relationship with David Moulsdale, the founder of Optical Express. The wedding venue was located…
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which introduced access rights, also gave Scotland Local Authorities and National Parks new powers and duties as “Access Authorities”. Section 25 required Access Authorities to set up one or more Local Access Forums (LAFs) to advise on the exercise of access rights in their area and to help resolve…
Following my post on the air pollution caused by muirburn (see here), I have been sent a number of photos by readers expressing concern about the levels of destruction that have been caused by muirburn these last two weeks, both inside and outside the Cairngorms National Park. In the case above, the people concerned had…
There is a case for using car park charges as an income stream to invest in visitor infrastructure and also to encourage people to visit by public transport, but that is not what is happening in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Instead, our public authorities have embarked on an unprincipled free-for-all extortion racket…
It’s the height of the muirburn season and the clear blue skies at the start of the month helped highlight the folly as the Cairngorms National Park was dotted with plumes of smoke. The pollution caused by muirburn doesn’t just release carbon into the atmosphere, it reduces air quality and harms the health of people…
It’s now four years since I wrote about the potential for landscape scale conservation (see here) and the problem of bulldozed tracks (see here) on the Dinnet Estate. I have been meaning to explore the area further ever since so I was pleased recently to be sent some photos of the way the land…
Ten days ago the Green MSP, Ross Greer, issued a news release (see here) after being informed by Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, that Scottish Enterprise “will not be a co-applicant in the planning process” with Flamingo Land for their proposed new development at Balloch. The story was picked up a couple…
This post takes a further look (see here) at the ongoing mismanagement of health and safety at Cairn Gorm. After concerns about the safety of the lift infrastructure at Cairngorm Mountain were raised by a member of the public in 2018 the Health & Safety Executive (H&SE) visited and issued three Improvement Notices. The Inspectors (“they”)…
I was not expecting the Scottish Government to relax the current “rules” on Outdoor Recreation when Nicola Sturgeon made her announcement in the Scottish Parliament last week and I was right. While P 1-3 children will be allowed back to school this week, a welcome move but one which has some risks (there is now…
Whether you know Dave or have never come across him, the 10 minute video produced by the Fort William Mountain Film festival (see here), much of which is set in the Cairngorms National Park, should be an inspiration for anyone concerned about the natural environment and access to nature. It shows just what can be…
I was warned before being sent some photos of deer carcasses from Kinveachy in the Cairngorms National Park so, if you at all sensitive or squeamish, either steel yourself or don’t scroll down. The mass disposal of red deer carcases, however, gets to the heart of our muddled relationship with the natural world and understanding…
The Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park Authority – is there anybody there for outdoor recreation?
Most people I know who are working at home are getting more work done there than if they had the distractions of the office. This has also been claimed in the press to be the case. But in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) it appears that during the Covid crisis much…
This post takes a critical look at the implications that the Scottish Land Commission’s “Legislative proposals to address the impact of Scotland’s concentration of land ownership”, published on 4th February (see here), has for our National Parks in the light of the purchase of the Kinrara estate on Speyside the week before. The sale…
The planning system in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park is so bad that normally it can be difficult to laugh. But regular readers might just enjoy this tale of an application to install a glorified tap at the back of the toilet block at Rowardennan…………….. The story, I believe, begins in 2018 when…