I was as shocked as the 33,000 people who signed the public petition after Scottish Enterprise announced the appointment of Flamingo Land (see here). To find out more about how this had happened I submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority and Scottish Enterprise in September and…
Category: Loch Lomond and Trossachs
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting in December failed to consider or scrutinise the proposed on-line booking system for permits (see here) so I submitted a number of Information Requests. This post will consider the information I have obtained on the proposed electronic booking system for campsites and permits, including the…
The entire edition of Out of Doors on Saturday was devoted to National Parks, in the USA and Scotland http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b087tgv4#play. This gave critical coverage of our National Parks, in which the presenters Euan McIlraith and Mark Stephen were, in their inimitable style, raising questions about what National Parks should be for. This is to be…
In early December the Park released to me slides which were presented at secret Board “Briefing Sessions” held on 6th September (see here) and 28th October 2013 (see here). These provide further evidence for how the Park developed its fatally flawed camping byelaws were developed and should be studied by everyone who cares or is…
There are several significant difference between the east Loch Lomond byelaws, which were approved in 2011, and the new camping byelaws proposed for 2017. These include the creation of a new criminal offence of causing damage by collecting wood or lighting fires (fine of £500) and restrictions on the right of landowners to allow camping…
Following my post (see here) on the discussion of litter at the last Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board meeting, it was good to see Peter Jack’s lead letter to the Herald. I hope this…
At the Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board Meeting on 12th December Bob Ellis, the Board Member on the Local Access Forum, reported he had been to visit the Loch Chon campsite and suggested other Board Members might also visit. Having visited last Sunday to look at the work in progress I recommend they…
After the two candidates for convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board had made their speeches last Monday, Cllr Fergus Wood asked if he could put a question to the candidates. The answer from convener Linda McKay and Governance Manager Amanda Aitkman was NO. Cllr Fergus then gave a resigned shrug of…
The implementation of the camping byelaws dominated the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting last Monday, with discussion taking place across a number of different agenda items. This is a reflection of what is happening to our National Park, its allowed all its resources and efforts to focus on one issue, and…
If you have not read it, I would commend the lecture Andy Wightman gave last week on the case for a renewal of Scottish democracy. I am not a member of any political party, the lecture does not mention National Parks but what it says is, I believe, entirely relevant to our National Parks and…
Most members of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority appear to have spent Monday morning in yet another “Board Briefing session” before the public Board meeting, but had they walked round the riverside area in Balloch it might have helped them inject a sense of perspective into to the discussion of camping byelaws…
I have attended all the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority meetings since April 2015, when the Board agreed to recommend camping byelaws to the Minister, and in all that time the Board has never been asked to make a choice in public about anything. This is because everything has been decided in secret…
On Friday Mountaineering Scotland issued a news release calling for the proposed introduction of camping byelaws on 1st March to be suspended for a year to allow for a re-think. The story was covered in the Herald on Saturday (see here). It is great that a recreational body (which I was closely involved with in…
Forgive my third post in a row on the camping byelaws but I think its time the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board was exposed to some public scrutiny before it takes decisions rather than afterwards. I have vivid memories of the meeting which approved the byelaws in April 2015, the first I…
After yesterday’s post I have been reflecting on the proposed signage that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board is being asked to approve on Monday. The message given by the sign above is that there is a zone where camping is managed. Nothing else. So if you drive by in a…
Anyone who cares about access rights in Scotland should read the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park paper which reveals how it hopes to implement the camping byelaws next March. Its for the Board meeting next Monday and provides some explanation – not enough…
Several readers alerted me to the piece on Good Morning Scotland yesterday about the camping byelaws and the campsite at Loch Chon. I don’t think I’ve seen any better demonstration of the hyprocrisy of the…
I have been pondering further what Roseanna Cunningham, the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, said about more evidence being needed before the Government can act to protect mountain hares (see here) when I believe action could be taken in our National Parks now. Roseanna Cunningham never…
Last year, between June and August, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority commissioned Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) to undertake a litter audit in the four proposed camping management zones. I have been asking for the audit report ever since under FOI and last week, 13 months later, after another enquiry was told it…
On 24th November the Scottish Government finally announced it has agreed the permanent re-introduction of beavers to Scotland. Despite beavers being role in improving water quality, flood prevention and promoting more diverse habitiats and species, all objectives of the Scottish Government, the “decision” was far from a foregone conclusion. The whole process shows the power…
It turns out I was wrong to say in yesterday’s post on the protection of mountain hares (see here) that at least the Cairngorms National Park Authority keeps minutes of meetings……………… Raptor Persecution Scotland revealed later in the day (see here) that the minute had been taken by the Scottish Gamekeepers Association not the National…
Anyone who responded to the Your Park consultation or followed the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park plans for new campsites will recognise this photo of tents pitched on wooden platforms. While this slide from the secret LLTNPA Board Meetings (see here) reveals this was this was a specific proposal for the Ardvorlich Estate it…
The slide shows that soon after the Your Park consultation – which failed to mention the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park was planning for a permit system despite the fundamental implications this had for access rights – the Park had developed its thinking on permits to such an extent that it was considering…
This slide provides a crude summary of the Park’s data on camping activity within the four proposed management zones. Its not surprising, its what anyone who camps or goes to the countryside knows, most camping takes place in summer (despite the midges!). It raises though serious questions about why the The Loch Lomond and…
A month ago I received a response from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority about their involvement in the west Riverside side and Flamingo Land. In their letter eir-2016-051-responseb the Park have tried to defend their integrity as a planning authority and their ability to make an independent judgement on the Flamingo Land…