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…
Tag: Camping bye laws
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…