Five months ago I blogged about the fly tipping which had been left for months by Loch Iubhair in Glen Dochart and commented that I hoped the Park’s new Litter Prevention Manager would help to address the issues (see here). In the last three weeks Dave Morris twice visited the parking and picnic area, which…
The night before going on holiday a couple of weeks ago, I was on the Question and Answer Panel organised by Patagonia following the showing of their fantastic film Blue Heart in Edinburgh (see here for film – 45 mins). The discussion (a podcast of the event is being produced) focused on the similarities and…
Following my two posts on the proposed Mountain Coaster (see here) and (here) , I will take a look at the financial and environmental aspects of the proposed new uplift at Cairngorm as outlined in the SE Group report of November 2018 (see here). I will use the same kind of format as the Mountain Coaster…
I have never met the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Litter Prevention Manager, Nik Turner, but since she was appointed earlier this year she has launched a number of initiatives (see here for example) and appears to have woken the Park out of its slumber. That is welcome. Many of the problems she is…
The Snowfactory at the top of the Coire Cas Carpark is 8m tall and stands sentinel to HIE’s bureaucratic mismanagement at Cairn Gorm. A snowfactory trial was undertaken at CairnGorm during the winter of 2017/18. That was a direct response to the Aviemore Business Association exhorting the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for HIE, Fergus Ewing…
This is a picture of the Fiacaill ridge in Coire Cas which is being proposed as the new site for the Mountain Coaster, an idea which is, I am reliably informed, already attracting a lot of interest, and not in a positive way. The second photo is a close up of the same area showing…
After my visit to the Keltie Water hydro scheme at the beginning of May (see here), I complained to the Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, James Stuart, about the Park’s continued failure to address the mess left by a development which they had nominated for a Scottish Planning Quality Award. …
[Update 5/7/19: following publication of this post HIE’s subsidiary Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd appear to have backtracked, having announced the ATV experience will be limited to the road up the Ptarmigan and is unlikely to take place more than once a month (see here). That appears a tacit admission that their original proposal was contrary…
“A mountain coaster is a massive source of income but has to be implemented by the community”. This was part of a Facebook post on Sunday 23/06/2019, the claim being that the business plan proposed by the Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust (A&GCT) and the SE Group showed a good profit could be made from…
The last thing I was expecting when I was writing on Tuesday about the democratic deficits in our planning system (see here) was for West Dunbartonshire Council to vote unanimously to oppose the Flamingo Land development, but that is what they did at their Council meeting last night. Tories, SNP, Labour and Community Party Councillors…
On Monday the Green MSP, Alison Johnstone, launched a public consultation on a Members Bill to introduce a ban on fox hunting and further restrict the killing of mountain and brown hares (see here). The Bill is partly in response to the failure of the Scottish Government to respond adequately to Lord Bonomy’s report into…
Democracy and the planning system – the National Park, West Dunbartonshire Council and Flamingo Land
I was honoured to be on the platform last night for the Save Loch Lomond meeting in Balloch about the proposed Flamingo Land Development…… along with five elected politicians. There were some great contributions which you can view on Independence Live (here). Flamingo Land, Scottish Enterprise and local SNP politicians, possibly in thrall to the SNP…
After the criticisms in my last post about the way the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is being managed (see here), its good to be able to report that the Park’s management have got something right. At today’s Planning Committeethey are recommending that the Planning Application from the Wards Estate for a function…
On 19/02/2019 I applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise, under a Freedom of Information request, for the ADAC Structures report into the Condition of the Funicular Railway from November 2015, (see here – 6.5MB file). I subsequently received this on May Bank holiday Monday, 06/05/2019, at 09.31. This was five days after the Big Breakfast…
The public accountability of our Public Authorities has, over the last twenty years, been reduced to a thread. Part of the reason for this is that journalists are, with a few honourable exceptions, no longer employed to report on what our Public Authorities are up to. The days of the media regularly reporting on Board…
After my post on The Scottish Planning Bill, hill tracks and our National Parks a reader sent in what appears to be a standard letter which SNP MSPs have been sending to constituents who have lobbied them. With Andy Wightman’s amendments to bring most hill roads into the planning system due to be debated in…
On 15th May, after climbing in Glen Coe, I stopped off to show my climbing partner the camping permit area at Inveruglas – one of several the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park has created which are not fit for purpose. Most of the permit area – like many others in the National Park –…
Scottish Enterprise’s decision to make a joint planning application with Flamingo Land at Balloch, with a view to selling off the publicly owned gateway to the National Park for private profit, is looking increasingly foolhardy. First Scottish Enterprise included the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, the body that has to decide the planning…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Trees and Woodland Strategy (3) – where are the trees?
The public consultation on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Trees and Woodland Strategy closes today (to respond go here). Following my posts about how the absence of any plans in ths strategy means that the management of “productive” conifer forests is unlikely to change (see here) and the missed opportunities for native woodland…
Audit Scotland has at long last decided to take a look at Highland and Island Enterprise’s management of Cairn Gorm (see here) as part of their annual audit process. The areas for investigation have been identified with staff, which gives little cause for confidence, and focuses on risk from the narrow perspective of an annual…
Background The Planning Bill, which is about to be considered again by the Scottish Parliament, originated as a response to developers who claimed that the Planning System was an impediment to “economic development”. The real explanation for why developments can take a long time to materialise lies in most developments being driven first and foremost…
On Monday the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority re-advertised (see here) the Flamingo Land Planning Application and announced a new statutory 28 period for the public to respond. The reason for this is that Ian Cowan, the consultant commissioned by Ross Greer and the Greens whose work has been financed by a crowdfunding…
Last week (see here) I argued that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Trees and Woodlands Strategy is not a strategy at all because it contains no plans for how it intends to achieve its proposed vision and objectives. In effect its simply a vision with some guidance for landowners, including Scottish Ministers who,…
The compulsory parking charge scheme at Cairn Gorm, introduced by Natural Retreats in June 2018 was dropped in September of that year (see here). There was no point in continuing to make parking charges compulsory when the Funicular failed and the number of tourist visits crashed. The number of skiers who visited Cairn Gorm last…
The consultation (see here) on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s draft woodland and trees strategy, which is intended to set the strategic direction for forestry in the National Park for the next 20 years, closes on Monday. At the LLTNPA Board Meeting in March, which agreed the consultation, it was revealed that the Strategy…