By Ross MacBeath Forest Drive In order to stop people from camping by the loch shores and to meet their commitment to Scottish Ministers to deliver 300 “new” camping pitches, the LLTNPA had to find somewhere else for people to camp – so they leaned on Forestry Commission Scotland to use their land and have…
Tag: access rights
By Phil Swainson As stated at the end of my last post on Badaguish in Glenmore (see here), Speyside Trust has made yet another planning application, this time to convert a toilet block into a site base for staff. Like many previous applications, it is full of false or misleading statements, and as pointed out…
Following the announcement by Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority staff of their decision to close the slipway and ranger base at Milarrochy (see here), Peter Jack, Chair of the Loch Lomond Association wrote to James Stuart, new convener of the LLNPA, asking the Board to review the decision at their meeting last Monday. …
Three years ago I knew nothing about boating on Loch Lomond and, if you had asked me about the Loch Lomond byelaws, – the ones that control boat users on the Loch – my response would have probably been along the lines of “anything which controls speedboats must be a good thing”. That way…
The east Loch Lomond camping byelaws 2011 should have been repealed before the new camping byelaws came into effect on 1st March. (In fact they should have been repealed completely, not replaced, as they had only ever been agreed as a temporary measure (see here)). However, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority hit…
On Thursday, I went climbing near Glen Coe and on the way up and back down the A82 checked out a few things about the west Loch Lomond camping management zone. I almost missed the sign announcing the start of the zone, just before Luss, despite looking out for it. A large proportion of drivers…
Today probably marks the most retrograde in the history of access to land in Scotland since the Trespass Scotland Act of 1865 as the camping byelaws come into force. When even Radio 3, not renowned for covering the great outdoors, announces on its 7.30 news headlines that campers in one of Britain’s prime beauty spots…
Alteration of the camping byelaws The camping byelaws that now appear on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park website (see here) differ signficantly from those approved by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board and then sent to the Minister (see here). This came as a surprise to me because the then Minister,…
On Sunday, I was reminded of Oscar Wilde’s story of the selfish giant. The story is about a giant who returns to his castle, finds children playing in his garden and infuriated, builds a wall to keep them out but then the hard way learns the error of his ways. Its a parable about many…
Back in 2011 the justification for the camping byelaws on east Loch Lomond was all about anti-social behaviour. Here is what then Chief Executive Fiona Logan said on BBC News 10 March 2011: “National park chief executive Fiona Logan said she did not believe there were any other areas of the park where similar…
I have now had responses to two of the issues I took up with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park after the appearance of Gordon Watson, their Chief Executive, on the Out of Doors programme on National Parks early in the New Year and which I covered in a post at the time (see…
The above extract speaks for itself and confirms what most people already knew, the LLTNPA deliberately omitted the Loch Lomond Islands from the camping byelaw consultation because they thought if they did so, this might stop their attempt to undermine access rights because of the opposition it would create. This extract and the minute of…
I have been puzzling about the development of the camping byelaws by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park now for some time. Back in 2011 when the east Loch Lomond camping byelaws were put into place, the then LLTNPA Chief Executive Fiona Logan made a number of statements (these are taken from BBC News…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park has been nominated by BBC Countryfile presenter as National Park of the year (see here) There are four other nominees, South Downs, Peak District, Snowdonia and Yorkshire Dales. The LLTNPA was quick to get in on the act, issuing its own press release and then arranging for this…
Following my piece on the rights of people to stay overnight in vehicles within the proposed camping management zones so long as their vehicle is on a public road, its verge or a layby provided by the Roads Authority (see here), I have had a speedy response from Argyll and Bute Council to my information…
After the Information Commissioner forced the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park to make public the slides that had been presented to the Board in the secret Board Briefing Sessions I asked follow up questions about three of those slides, including the one above. The answer was unsatisfactory EIR 2016-062 Response, so I asked for…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…