The timing of the Scottish Government’s announcement on Tuesday that Scottish Ministers, i.e Ivan McKee the Minister for Planning, had decided to overturn the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s decision to refuse the proposed fishfarm in Loch Long (see here) could hardly have been worse. It came just two weeks after the Ferret…
Category: Loch Lomond and Trossachs
Introduction – Nick Kempe One of the comments on Felicity Martin’s post about the proposed Glen Lednock Windfarm (see here) claimed that objections to windfarms are all the same and represent NIMBYism. Scottish Planning policy, however,emphasises the importance of “local place” to people’s lives and a third of the policies in National Planning Framework 4…
[Ed’s note. My apologies to Felicity Martin who wrote this briefing on the Glen Lednock windfarm application for Parkswatch 10 days ago but which I managed to miss while away. (I have added the illustrations from the planning application). Felicity wrote a piece on Oxygen Conservation and Glen Lednock in April which complements what she has written…
Prof Douglas McMillan, a contributor to this blog, sent me this photo taken by a friend of his a week ago, noted that the report of the Deer Working Group highlighted their introduction and spread as a significant problem and asked whether the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has done anything…
Four important letters relating to the Flamingo Land planning application appeared on the Department of Planning and Enforcement Appeals planning portal on 4th July, three of which were retrospective. The letters (see here) include one dated 24th June, sent on behalf of the Minister for Planning, Ivan McKee, officially confirming that Mr David Buylla had been…
In my post on the Scottish Government’s decision to call in the Flamingo Land application for a decision by Scottish Ministers (see here), I highlighted the fact that the Planning Minister, Ivan McKee, had asked for another report from a Reporter at the Department of Planning Enforcement and Appeals (DPEA) without saying who he had asked…
On 27th May Goldcrest Land and Forestry Group misleadingly announced a new property was for sale, “Beinn Bhreac Hill” (see here). In fact Goldcrest had marketed Beinn Bhreac a year ago as Lot 4 in the Royal Scottish Forestry’s Society (RFSF)’s attempt to sell off their “forest for a thousand years” at Cashel (see here)….
The Lake of Menteith, east of Aberfoyle, is one of the many places in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park that it is difficult for the public to access. Its on the Glasgow-Stirling X10A bus route (see here) which offers six buses a day Monday to Friday, a reduced service on Saturday and none…
Political developments over the last week have helped expose the fundamentally undemocratic nature of Scotland’s planning system and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s morally corrupt handling of Flamingo Land’s proposed development at Balloch still further. Last Tuesday, 10th June, the Scottish Government minister responsible for planning, Ivan McKee, issued a very…
Following my post on Forest and Land Scotland’s Larch Removal Plan in Strathyre, which would decimate the forest and its wildlife (see here), the local community has set up a campaign to stop the destruction. In the words of a local person: “most of the villagers and local businesses had no idea this mass tree…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board duly agreed (see here) at their meeting yesterday to do nothing further to oppose the proposed Lomond Banks development. They have also handed all responsibility for negotiating a Section 75 Agreement with Flamingo Land, (as suggested but NOT required by the Scottish Government’s Reporter) which…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) board meeting on Monday (9th June) is being asked to consider a paper “Process and timeline Re: PPA-002-2021 Notice of Intention Lomond Banks” (see here). The paper was published late – according to the LLTNPA’s Standing Orders that should happen a week before a board meeting…
I spotted this sign on my return from walking over Ben Ledi last week (see here). While we walked round the locked gate easily enough and most cyclists could too, it would be a different matter for anyone in a wheelchair or riding a horse who wants to enjoy the extensive network of forest tracks in…
On Tuesday I went with friends who were staying for a walk over Ben Ledi, a chance to consider further how Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) are managing the land they own in Strathyre (see here) from a recreational perspective. Ben Ledi is one of the most accessible and popular hills and people were…
The provisional decision of the Scottish Government appointed Reporter last week to uphold Flamingo Land’s appeal against the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s refusal of planning permission for their proposed development at Balloch should surprise no-one. Senior management at the LLTNPA had long backed Scottish Enterprise’s wish to use the land they…
Forest and Land Scotland (FLS)’s landholding Strathyre, which runs north from Callander to Balquhidder, provides perhaps the best example of mixed woodland in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. It is also one of the few near examples we have in Scotland to Continuous Cover Forestry (see here for explanation). Among the main species…
The propaganda The reality First the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) went after the campers, confining them to a few “permit areas” around the loch shores; then they went for the day visitors by shutting down visitor infrastructure and making it harder and harder to get to places; who and what will…
Had this appeared three days earlier I might have thought this was an April fool except the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) doesn’t do humour. There were lots of comments like the one above (see here) on this announcement but such feedback, which shows what the public really think, is never publicly…
On 16th April the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) announced on Facebook (there is nothing on its “news” pages) that it had taken over the management of the campsite at Sallochy from Forest and Land Scotland which had threatened to close it (see here). The campsite has played a crucial role…
Unacceptable telecommunications masts (26) – the case for masts in Total Not Spots has now collapsed
In November David Craig explained how advances in smart phone technology meant that any masts erected under the UK Government’s Shared Rural Network programme to eliminate Total Not Spots would soon become obsolete (see here). On 25th March Ofcom issued a set of proposals for consultation which would remove the regulatory block to that happening…
A couple of hours after my post on FLS yesterday (see here) I received a response from FLS to a Freedom of Information request I had submitted on 24th February about the Sallochy campsite. I can find no acknowledgement from FLS of that request in my emails so the timing of their response is interesting! …
I came across this scene yesterday at Forest and Land Scotland (FLS)’s car park in Glen Righ near the Corran Ferry. It exemplifies our public authorities’ failed approach to visitor management in the countryside. It is so bad it is hard not to laugh. Telling people to do things without providing appropriate infrastructure – in…
The Scottish Wildlife Trust (SWT)’s announcement earlier this week that they had purchased the Inverbroom Estate (see here) should be another nail in the coffin for so-called green finance. Tucked away in their news release is a very significant statement: “Following the purchase, the Trust has announced several ambitions for the site, from the regeneration…
Last week the Scottish Government published the fourth piece of legislation this Parliament ostensibly intended to improve how we use and manage land in the countryside, including National Parks – the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill (see here for papers) This follows the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, passed a year ago and…
Last week I visited the Allt Broighleachan Caledonian Pinewood Reserve on the north side of Glen Orchy (and outside the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park) on my way to Glen Coe. It was my second visit, inspired in part by the Caledonian Pinewood Conference which took place last Autumn and which I viewed online…