On 27th April, the same day the above article appeared in the Strathie about felling at Curr Wood, on Speyside, SNH’s latest post on Scotland’s Nature popped into my inbox https://scotlandsnature.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/time-to-celebrate-bugs-in-the-cairngorms-national-park/. And guess what bug featured? One so rare that …………….it only occurs at a single location in the National Park, Curr Wood………….shome mistake surely!…
On Wednesday evening I went to have another look at the northern section of the access track which had been created for the construction of the Beauly Denny powerline and which was due to be restored last year (see here). Its situated on the east side of the A9 behind the tree shelter belt and…
By Ross MacBeath The new directive for Countryside Rangers – enforce the byelaws above all else. While the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park made a great hullabaloo claiming success with their byelaws on the East Loch Lomond shore, what they failed to explain was that to achieve this as yet unsubstantiated claim, they…
After Highland and Island’s Enterprise announcement that they had agreed a new masterplan for Cairngorm, along with a £4m loan to Natural Retreats (see here), I asked HIE for a copy of the masterplan and any associated plans for the proposal- such as a business plan providing evidence for the proposals: HIE Response “At the…
By Ross MacBeath It is now clear that much of camping provision intended as replacements for camping by our loch shores banned under the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Byelaws is little more than a collection of undesirable areas with little or nothing to offer families or groups of visitors as a camping…
At the beginning of April, Flamingo Land (see here for most recent post and links) asked the Loch Lomond and National Park Authority whether an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) would be needed for its proposed development at Balloch (see here) The response of the LLTNPA on 13th April (see here) was that a full EIA…
On Wednesday, James Stuart, new convener of the National Park had an agenda piece in the Herald to promote the consultation on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park draft plan (see here). It included a commitment to engage properly recreational organisations – a implicit indictment of the way the LLTNPA bludgeoned through its camping…
Parkswatch has, since the camping byelaws came into force on 1st March, documented how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Park is trying to force campers into areas totally unsuitable for camping. Relatively little coverage has been given to how the LLTNPA is managing the permit areas which are being used by campers. …
First impressions count for a lot – I think “utter contempt” would describe what I thought on first viewing this site. That’s the utter contempt shown to visitors by the LLTNPA. They have the gall to suggest that this constitutes a replacement camping place to those now banned to visitors on our loch shores. Quite…
The General Election and National Parks Had this been been published when originally intended it would have been issued to subscribers at about the same time as the general election was announced yesterday! In the world of newspapers, radio and TV I guess the post would have been scrapped. I will persist! However, its…
By Nick Halls In my last post (see here) on the torpedo station, I stated that the gates blocking the old main road were both locked, thereby preventing vehicles entering the area. Recently, the southern of the two gates has been burst open and badly damaged. It was ajar for a period and it…
By Ross MacBeath What differentiates a campsite from wild camping? Most people would say at the very least the existence of services such as the provision of drinking water and toilets. The evidence from my visits to Loch Chon the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority cannot even provide a reliable water supply for…
Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s news release on 12th April (see here) on its latest plans for Cairn Gorm – or “CairnGorm Mountain” in marketing speak – was widely taken up by the press. HIE must be delighted there was so little critical coverage but their announcement raises a number of serious questions. The truth…
By Ross MacBeath Three Lochs Forest Drive Camping Permit Zone M Following my visit to Forest Drive and posts on Zone B and Zone C, I thought I would cover zone M at the other end of Forest Drive because there was actually a family camping there when I visited on the 10th of April…
The Munro Society has started to monitor hydro schemes – a very welcome development – and my thanks to Derek Sime who sent parkswatch a number of photos of the Keltie Water Hydro Scheme, situated between Callander and Stuc a Chroin. While the Keltie Water forms the eastern boundary of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs…
At the beginning of March Councillor Fergus Wood, owner of Ledard Farm and a member of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, submitted a planning application to develop a small camp and chalet park on the shore of Loch Ard. Some of the documents associated with the application were published on the LLTNPA…
By Nick Halls Following the post about the planning blight at the site of the former torpedo factory and range on Loch Long (see here), I went to take a look for myself. I wanted to take a look at the impact of the gates that have blocked off the old road and check if…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority Board is meeting on Friday to discuss and approve its new Partnership Plan, the overarching Plan which guides what it will do over the next five years (see here for the 60 page plan and supporting documents). The LLTNPA’s announcement about this can be read (here). Its positive the Board…
Camping byelaw 10 and 11 provides for exemptions from the camping byelaws in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Camping byelaw 10 is for land (e.g campsites) and byelaw 11 for people. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has used byelaw 11 to set up permit areas within the camping management…
By Ross MacBeath On the 13th March at the Board Meeting at the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park HQ in Balloch, the Your Park update report (see here) stated the “Loch Chon campsite is on course for completion and handover………….for 1st March” . At the end of the meeting, in what appeared to…
The sale of the Tulchan Estate, which straddles the northern boundary of the Cairngorms National Park, was announced last week (see here). The estate, or rather Tulchan Sporting Estates Ltd which Leon Litchfield, the previous owner, set up as the vehicle to own it soon after he purchased the estate in 1993, was bought by…
The planning application for social housing at Balmaha on a site designated as Ancient Woodland raises some major issue (see here) which I hope to return to before it is considered by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs Planning Committee. Meantime, in order to understand the application, it needs to be considered within the wider context…
By Ross MacBeath Camping Forest Drive Zone B – 19th March 2017 Nothing more than Viewpoints pretending to be camping pitches. This Forestry Commission map above details the path (green dots) through what is now Permit Zone ‘B’. It doesn’t refer to any camping locations, but hosts three viewpoints. With the lack of any…
By Save the Cairngorms Campaign In 2014, the CNPA gave planning approval for what is, in effect, a new town of 1500 houses in the National Park. The site on the east side of the River Spey opposite Aviemore, is owned by John Grant of Rothiemurchus and is land of high conservation and landscape value. This…
Back in November I submitted an FOI request to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority intended to enforce the proposed camping byelaws: “all information relating to any intention to prosecute whether internal, discussions or communications with the police, procurator fiscal, Forestry commissioner anyone else who might be involved in enforcing the byelaws.”…