Two weeks ago, when I was in Glen Clova, I went to take a closer look at some of the tracks I had seen while doing a round of the Glen Prosen skyline (see here). This post takes a further look at what has been happening. None of the five tracks featured here appears on…
Until a couple of days ago, there was NO information on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority website about Board or Committee Meetings this year, no dates, nothing. I had written to the LLTNPA about this a couple of weeks ago, only to be reminded that the October 2017 Board Meeting had agreed…
The Scottish Government’s Planning Bill and the CNPA response In December, the Scottish Government published its Planning Bill and this is now going through Parliament and will be considered this month by the Local Government Committee. While in the Memorandum accompanying the Planning Bill the Scottish Government clearly states “The purpose of planning is to…
Following my post on what is going on behind the scenes at Scotgold Resources (see here), this post will take a further look at the landscape and wild land impacts of their proposals for storing waste extracted from the mine and their response to the objections made by myself and Mountaineering Scotland (see here). The…
Last weekend was the first time I had visited Glen Clova for several years. The public road up the glen terminates at a Forestry Commission (paying) car park and visitor centre. In contrast to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, which has installed gates across car parks which it then locks, the public are…
On 19th January I received a very welcome email from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Access Team updating me on signs I had reported to the National Park Authority for contravening the access legislation over the last two and a half years. I will explain why this is the first communication I have…
I was alerted to Scottish Natural Heritage’s consultation on the Corrie Fee National Nature Reserve “We want to hear your views on our proposed management and any additional ideas you would like us to consider” through Mountaineering Scotland news (see here). The consultation (see here for draft management plan and excellent history) is open until…
Further evidence of the political power of landowners in our National Parks was revealed yesterday when Kate Forbes, the SNH MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, held a reception for the Gift of Grouse http://www.giftofgrouse.com/ at the Scottish Parliament. This was preceded by an excellent post from Raptor Persecution Scotland (see here) lambasting the claims…
23rd January was the fifteenth anniversary of the passing of the Land Reform Act which enshrined access rights in laws. Behind the legislation was a recognition that any problem in the countryside which was associated with people taking access to land, from burgling houses to dogs being out of control and worrying sheep, was already…
The four aims set out by the National Parks (Scotland) Act 2000: To conserve and enhance the natural and cultural heritage of the area. To promote sustainable use of the natural resources of the area. To promote understanding and enjoyment (including enjoyment in the form of recreation) of the special qualities of the area by…
This post explores considers very recent developments in what is going on at Cairngorm Mountain, following earlier posts (see here), how this is symptomatic of wider ills in how companies are allowed to operate and the implications for the proposed development at the Ptarmigan. Unfortunately being in a National Park offers no immunity to this…
On 7th December, the same day that Bill Stephen’s objection to the Cononish goldmine planning application was published (see here), Scotgold Resources lodged an Addendum to their Environmental Statement, a document which in turn included another five 5 addenda of its own. A a few days later, on 13th December, they lodged a response to…
The snow, last weekend, nicely brought out the relief around the Cononish gold mine but also covered up its visual impact, with the waste bags covered by snow. The photo shows, I believe, that what I stated in my last post (see here) on Cononish was correct: “The Wild Land Assessment contained in the…
I have been aware of the Beachen Court housing development at Grantown for some time. I believe it illustrates many of the fundamental issues facing the Cairngorms National Park Authority in respect to housing and planning, some of which it is currently consulting on in its Main Issues Report (see here). The area, previously flower…
The consequences of outsourcing what used to be publicly provided services has been much in the news with the Carillion collapse. This should serve as a warning to Scotland’s Enterprise agencies operating within our National Park, with Highlands and Enterprise proposing to lend public money Cairngorm Mountain Ltd – owned by a company…
Returning from a great day on the hill yesterday, I stopped at Inverarnan at the head of Loch Lomond to have a look at the Eagle Falls. I wanted to check how much ice had formed. While on past experience the temperatures we have had over the last ten days would not have been cold…
Prompted by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s refusal this week to provide me with a list of the research they have commissioned in the last five years, I have been checking the contracts they have awarded from the Scotland Contracts portal (see here). While this did not reveal much about what research…
I had not personally visited Coire na Ciste since HIE found £267k for a clear-up at Cairngorm (see here) in which they removed the ski infastructure there without any consultation. Having been sent the above photo (used with permission) I wish I had. The half removed unmarked infrastructure is an obvious hazard which could…
Last week, nine months after Highlands and Island Enterprise launched its so called masterplan for Cairngorm (see here), the Strathy announced the date of the pre-planning consultation event on the proposals to revamp the Ptarmigan near the summit of the hill. At the same time it also broke the news that the Scottish Ski Club,…
Following last week’s post on the undergrounding of powerlines in Glen Tromie (see here), in which there was a photo showing how they had blighted the Speyside Way extension, Peter Crane from the Cairngorms National Park Authority sent me a photo of how it looks now, after the powerlines have been removed. Thank you Peter….
If you have not heard it, most of Saturday’s episode of BBC Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme (see here) was devoted to Scotland’s access legislation as it approaches its fifteenth anniversary. If you want to understand the amazing story of how our access rights were secured – and in this case “our” really does…
While the Beauly Denny has been a blot on the landscape, as a consequence of the visual impact of the pylons and the poor restoration of ground around (covered in my last post (here)), elsewhere in the National Park a very different approach is being taken. The powerline infrastructure is being modernised but to the…
Over the last year Parkswatch has featured a number of posts about the destruction of the landscape at Drumochter, including: the unrestored Beauly Denny construction track between Dalnaspidal and Drumochter (see here); the failure of Scottish and Southern Electric to restore the ground at Drumochter as required by the Beauly Denny planning consent from the…
I start with a belief that how the land in our National Parks is managed is central to what they do. Currently I have an appeal being investigated by the Scottish Information Commissioner about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s refusal to provide me or to make public any information from the land management…
Following the split of the US and UK parts of Natural Retreats, the company that ran Cairngorm Mountain, and the transfer of the UK part of the operation to the UK Great Travel Company Ltd (see here) further re-organisation of the group of companies controlled by hedge fund manager David Michael Gorton is continuing. While…