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…
Category: Loch Lomond and Trossachs
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…
Following the Scottish Information Commissioner’s decision (see here) that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park should have to disclose the presentations given to the Board at its secret meetings to develop the camping byelaws and undermine access rights, the Commissioner’s staff said they would check that the Park had given me ALL the slides. …
This slide (see here for background) was presented to the secret Board briefing session on 15th September 2014, just a few weeks before the formal launch of the Your Park consultation in October 2014. Its significance is threefold. First it shows the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park were considering a permit system BEFORE…
A few hours after yesterday’s post on the Scottish Information Commissioner’s Decision (see here) and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s failure to provide me with the slides presented at the secret Your Park Briefing Sessions, I received them by email (see here for accompanying letter). This is not a coincidence as the Park…
On 6th October the Information Commissioner for Scotland ordered the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority in Decision 209/2016 (see here) to provide me with written information from ten Board Briefing Sessions that had developed the camping byelaws which it wanted to keep secret. It was only when I received a letter from the…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority on Monday 24th October approved what it called a camping development strategy, all 27 pages of it, along with a ten page Board paper. Prior to the meeting I showed (see here) that the strategy would create a huge shortfall in camping places in the National Park…
I have just returned from a rock climbing holiday in Spain, a first for me. Its a beautiful country although the coast between Alicante and where we were staying, inland from Valencia, has been well and truly been trashed. Its not difficult though to find examples of facilities and treatment of visitors which are far…
Following the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s planning approval of the Loch Chon campsite (https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2016/09/26/loch-chon-con-goes-planning/) I submitted further FOI requests to try and understand better what I believe is a stupid decision and a waste of resources. For a long time now been treating all my queries about the management of the…
The Loch Lomond National Park Authority Board is considering their long-awaited camping plan, which they are now gracing with the title “Camping Development Strategy” at their meeting this afternoon (see here) and (here). Its 27 pages, full of pretty graphics and based on assertions for which there is no evidence (as I have established through…
The Owen McKee case (see here), which I last considered a couple of months ago (see here), is on the agenda for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs Board Meeting on Monday. Owen McKee was the former convener of the LLTNPA planning committee who, after approving the Cononish goldmine, started trading in the shares of…
I am up in the north-west Highlands for a week, staying near Gairloch, and yesterday walked into Beinn an Eoin from Loch Bad Scalaig. The first part of the track is through a native woodland scheme planted in 1998 and then leads on to the former bothy, Poca Buidhe, almost 12k in all. …
As the gateway to Loch Lomond and the unofficial capital of Scotland’s first National Park the village of Balloch should be the jewel in the crown of Loch Lomond and one of Scotland’s top tourist destinations. However, it has it has failed to live up to this billing for some time now which, in part, is due…
Last week I received a reply from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park to my question about how much the new parking meters at Inveruglas had cost. I made the mistake first time of asking how much it had cost the LLTNPA to install these meters and was told (eir-2016-040-response-car-parks-and-charges) £562.20 plus two hours…
On Saturday I went rock climbing on Ben An, the first time in many years, with my friend Mike who had never climbed there. En route from Callander I checked whether anything had been done about the farm litter beside the road opposite Loch Venachar House, home to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
The planning permission granted for the four Glen Falloch hydro schemes in 2010 agreed to some permanent new (short) tracks along the bottom of the glen to the powerhouses, some widening of existing tracks but stipulated that the tracks to the intake dams required for construction purposes were to be temporary. Once work was…
The Observer on Sunday ran a full page article by Kevin McKenna on Flamingo Land’s appointment as preferred developer for the west riverside side in Balloch (see here and here). I normally enjoy reading Kevin McKenna but did wonder if this is the same Kevin McKenna who had previously lambasted the development in an entertaining…
After my last post on the Glen Falloch hydro schemes, which featured the blue penstock by Derrydarroch in the photo above, I asked the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park when this penstock was going to be re-painted. The LLTNPA had approved a plan in February that showed native trees were to be planted…
The proposed Flamingo Land development of the west riverside side at Balloch was covered by an interesting article in the Sunday Herald (and I say that not just because I was quoted in it) which made links between the proposed camping ban and the proposed development. Ultimately this is about what National Parks are for…
Today, the LLTNPA will decide its planning application to itself for a campsite at Loch Chon. There are now 54 documents associated with this proposal and I hope the members of the Planning Committee read the objections as well as the Committee Report. There are several issues about the campsite which are very relevant…
– by Ross MacBeath At the public meeting with Strathard Community Council, Gordon Watson, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Chief Executive, tried to justify the creation of a large campsite at Loch Chon by referring to the campsite at Sallochy, on east Loch Lomond. While this is also on Forestry Commission land,…
By coincidence, the above article appeared in the Sunday Herald (in their towns supplement) just a few days after Flamingo Land had been announced as the preferred developer for the west riverside site at Balloch (see here). The contrast between what Kevin Stewart is saying and what Scottish Enterprise announced is stark: The “solution”…