On 21st October the Scottish Goverment upheld WHP Telecom’s appeal against Highland Council’s refusal of planning permission for the proposed O2 phone mast on Creag Dhubh (see here). The Reporter’s decision (see here) has potentially serious implications for the number of “competing” telecommunications mast in rural areas and for the landscape. Background Under the…
Category: Cairngorms
While Dave Morris has discussed Brewdog in a couple of posts (see here) parkswatch has not covered how they have been managing their “Lost Forest” since the end of April (see here). I had hoped to visit Kinrara first to check on how the replacement planting for all the dead trees was going (see here)….
On Friday 04/10/2024, prompted by HIE’s announcements about the timecale for the “snagging works” being carried out and paid for by Balfour Beatty (see here), I took a walk up to the passing loop of the funicular accompanied by two friends. Following what I had written last December (see here) I expected to see changes/ repairs…
Importance of the pinewoods. Forestry policy, private and public landowners and deer management will be under scrutiny next week at the native pinewoods conference in Fort William (28/29 Oct see here). This post examines what needs to happen to save our ancient Caledonian pinewoods and who might lead the way. The future of our Caledonian…
Alan Brattey in his post of 18/12/2023 (see here) described the various claims Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CM(S)L) had made about the funicular’s return to service for last year’s snowsport season. It never did and it is still not operating. On 04/10/2024 accompanied by two friends I had a…
On 30th September the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) and NatureScot launched a five year Emergency Plan for Capercaillie (see here) claiming it as “the most comprehensive plan of its kind ever produced for this iconic bird”. We have now moved from the Capercaillie Life Project 2002-07 to the Capercaillie Framework, launched in 2013, to…
Between the 11th July and 12th August – the statutory minimum period the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) allows the public to comment on planning applications – c530 individual objections were published on the CNPA planning portal objecting to the proposed telecommunications mast at Ryvoan. Since 12th August the CNPA has published NO further objections,…
Yesterday Raptor Persecution UK reported that a peregrine had been found shot in Glen Esk, around Tarfside (see here). This follows the osprey that a gamekeeper found shot on the inglorious 12th of August in nearby Glen Doll (see here). Both locations are in the northern part of the Angus Glens and lie within the…
28th Septembermarks the first anniversary of the closure of the Cononish goldmine (see here). This was they way when Scotgold announced that the vast majority of its staff were being put on short-term unpaid leave, The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s mine monitoring reports, published with their usual secrecy six months in…
Keir Starmer has been widely reported over the last couple of days in the UK media as being likely to say in a speech today that “things will get worse before they get better” (see here). Whatever the truth of this statement as applied to the economy as a whole, it is certainly not the…
On Tuesday, 20th August, I and other objectors received this letter by email notifying us that the planning application for this 25m high telecommunications mast in the Glenmore Forest had been withdrawn. As usual, the description of the proposed development tells you little, but this is the “repeater” mast whose only purpose was to enable…
I have not visited Far Ralia, the land in the Cairngorms National Park Abrdn’s Property Income Trust (APIT) bought for £7.5m three years ago and has now put on the market for £12m, since January. I have, however, recently obtained a copy of an inspection Scottish Forestry (SF) conducted in June through a freedom of…
In May, in a welcome move, Highland Councillors rejected the recommendation of their officers to approve a 25m high telecommunications mast on the south facing slopes of Creag Dubh, above the A86 between Laggan and Newtonmore, and refused planning permission on the grounds that: “This proposed installation of a telecommunications mast is considered contrary to…
At the end of June an article in the Strathy (see here) alerted the public to Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL)’s latest planning application for Cairn Gorm, “playtime”. While Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) planning staff called in the application for raising “issues of significance to the collective aims of the National Park it has…
Mobile phone operator Three’s Planning Application for a 22.5m telecommunication mast 400m from Ryvoan bothy, ostensibly intended to provide mobile coverage for the big four operators in the “Total Not Spot” between there and Glenmore, is generating just the sort of criticism needed to scupper the whole disastrous Shared Rural Network (SRN) programme. Besides over…
On 10th July Mitie, acting on behalf of Three, who are working for Digital Mobile Spectrum Ltd, who report to the Big Four mobile operators which include Three submitted a planning application to erect a 22.5m telecommunications mast by Ryvoan bothy (see here for planning papers). A week earlier David Craig explained on parkswatch (see…
The basic elements of the the scandal concerning abrdn’s proposed sale the Far Ralia estate in the Cairngorms National Park are very simple. Having bought the land now known as the Far Ralia estate for a reported £7.5m in September 2021, Abrdn are now trying to dispose of it for £12m having in the intervening…
After first hearing about the native woodland scheme at Muckrach I submitted a Freedom of Information request to Scottish Forestry (SF) for its contract with Calthorpe Estates, the family trust which owns the land, and any reports from inspection visits. Just like when the BrewDog Lost Forest disaster become apparent (see here), it turns out…
Following my post on the disastrous new section of road at Muckrach (see here), the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) informed me that they weren’t aware of the work but were now looking into it. I then heard from another source that the CNPA were due to meet with Savills, who oversaw the whole Muckrach…
On election day, 4th July, after the anaemic campaigns of the major parties, it was good to see some real politics being given prominence in the Herald and to be reminded of the time when the Scottish Parliament was prepared to introduce radical new laws. The royal family, the Scottish establishment and access rights…
When James Watt, sometime chief executive of the beer company BrewDog, speaks about tree planting in the Highlands, he reminds me of unpleasant landowners of the past. In his latest attempt at defending BrewDog’s disastrous planting efforts on their Kinrara estate near Aviemore in the Cairngorms National Park, Watt did not mince his words when…
Despite a huge budget, hubris threatens to make the Shared Rural Network (SRN) a wasted opportunity for rural communities with inadequate mobile coverage. Without bothering to ask communities what was needed, the SRN set itself this target: To bring 4G coverage, from at least one operator, to 95%of UK land area. To achieve this area…
On 28th June Raptor Persecution UK published a press release from Police Scotland appealing for information after a goshawk nest near Loch Gynack on the Pitmain Estate had been abandoned, apparently after a shot gun attack (see here). While no-one has yet been charged, this post will argue this was an “incident” waiting to happen…
After its initial consultation at the end of last year on its plans for the Angus Glens, including Glen Prosen (see here) and Glen Doll, Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) have produced a “concept proposal” prior to producing a Land Management Plan. They are consulting on until 30th June (see here for documents and video)….
A few weeks ago I was alerted by a Parkswatch reader to an excellent post on facebook (see here) about the Muckrach’s new forest, which the estate describes as one the largest “landscape scale projects” in the UK (see here). On my way up north 10 days ago I decided to go and have a…