Signs in the countryside form part of the narrative about access and help shape public understanding about what the right to roam in Scotland means. Even if ignored by many, I find it hard to pass signs without taking a photo. Six weeks ago, on spotting a cluster of signs behind a Welcome to the…
Tag: camping
Two weeks ago I spoke to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board (see here) about the urgent need to consider improved visitor infrastructure over the winter as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. More specifically, I tried to draw attention to deficiencies in papers on Visitor Management and Litter Prevention that…
The Dirty Camping debate in the Scottish Parliament On Wednesday, almost an hour after it was scheduled and after a very long day, MSPs started to debate Murdo Fraser’s motion on Dirty Camping (see here) at 6pm. Although the chamber appeared mostly empty, a number of MSPs contributed online and the debate went on until…
The Scottish Parliament this afternoon debates a motion (see here) by Murdo Fraser on Dirty Camping, just the second members’ debate since the start of the corona crisis. While the Scottish Parliament increasingly appears to have little real power, what is said today could still be very important for framing any debate on camping and campervanning…
If you did not hear the Call Kaye programmme on 18th August, “Is it time to stop moaning about tourists”, it is highly recommended listening. It is available on iplayer (see here) for another 9 days (from 1 min 20 secs for an hour) and, after all the moaning, mainly featured people who were advocating…
Since lockdown was relaxed, it seems hardly a day has gone past when there has not been some national media coverage claiming that visitors have been responsible for a wave of litter that is said to engulfing the countryside. In the vast majority of cases visitors have been condemned, abused even, sometimes by people purporting…
On 12th June 2020, the Cairngorm National Park Authority Panning Committee gave approval for the installation of solar powered entry/exit barriers to the Coire Cas car park on Cairn Gorm. Once these have been installed then parking charges for the Cas car park will become mandatory between June and October from 2021 onwards Parkswatch has…
No sooner had I complimented Forest and Land Scotland on how they had opened up their car parks in Glen More to campervans (see here) than they did an about turn as a result of events on the weekend that followed (see above). FLS is now trying to close car parks in Glen More to…
Having argued last week (see here) that the Scottish Government could lift the shutdown of self-catering accommodation and its advice not to travel further than 5 miles, its announcement on Wednesday (see here) that this would now happen on 3rd July was a step in the right direction. Neither restriction has been necessary for weeks…
Two weekends ago Police Scotland charged the same number of people for breaching the camping byelaws in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park than had been charged over the whole of the previous three years. Stirling Council’s response to people traveling into the National Park after the first phase of lifting of lockdown was…
My post last week on the Scottish Government’s guidance on travel for Outdoor Recreation .(see here) was re-posted, with my permission, on the UK Climbing and Hillwalking Forums and shared elsewhere. It received lots of comments and a fair amount of abuse. The abuse appears to have been founded on the view that anyone deciding…
Ten days ago I, like many others, was prepared to accept that tough measures were needed for a temporary period in order to suppress the COVID 19 to manageable levels. I was concerned, however, that public health was not being given the resources necessary until a vaccine is developed (likely to be another 12 months)…
With half the country in panic mode, I was pleased I took a break from my book and attended the scheduled Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting on Monday (see here). What the tattered remnants of the meeting showed is that this is a Public Authority only interested in itself and its…
Forest Drive has miraculously re-opened after my post last week (see here) which revealed that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority had only opened 192 out of the 300 plus camping places it had promised to Scottish Ministers for the start of the camping byelaw season. In permit area Q, for example (see…
Yesterday saw the start of the new camping byelaw “season” in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. The LLTNPA has kept very quiet about this, there is no news release, but they were taking bookings for 1st March (see here) so they are operating the byelaws again. As I pointed out in December (see…
On 16th December, just before the “dead” holiday period the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park launched a six week consultation on a new Outdoor Recreation Plan (ORP). The consultation closes at 5pm today (see here to respond). Mary Jack, earlier this month, considered the discussion at the Board Meeting prior to the consultation launch,…
I was pleased to get this letter into the Badenoch and Strathspey Herald on Thursday in response to their excellent coverage the week before about the potential for camping byelaws to be introduced into the Cairngorms National Park Authority. While it was good to see Grant Moir, the CNPA Chief Executive (above) deny there…
Three years AFTER the introduction of the camping byelaws, its been revealed that there is a “growing problem of litter and waste in the National Park”. Remember all those photos of abandoned tents left by campers who were blamed for the litter problems in the National Park and which were used to justify the introduction…
The main investment in new visitor infrastructure that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has made this year is in upgrading facilities on their land at Tarbet and Inveruglas on the west shore of Loch Lomond. Tarbet featured in no less than 6 different sections of the Annual Operational Plan Progress Report submitted…
Last week the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s Board approved their third Annual Update on the camping byelaws for Scottish Ministers (see here item 6). They still describe this as “Your Park” – an insult to the dozens of people, anglers for example, who used to camp freely along the loch shores enjoying…
The day after turnout for the General Election was 67% for the UK as a whole and 68.1% in Scotland its worth considering more lessons from Australia (see here) where voting is compulsory for all government elections and referenda. There too, the lower house, equivalent to the UK’s House of Commons, while like us having…
In September, the local SNP Councillor for North, West and Central Sutherland, Kirsteen Currie (see here), lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament petitions Committee to create no wild camp zones in Scotland (see here). The petition was prompted by perceived concerns with the impact of camping and campervanning along the North Coast 500 (see…
The Scottish Government approved the camping byelaws in January 2016 on condition that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority would create new camping infrastructure. 300 new camping places were promised for the first year and the Scottish Government delayed implementation of the byelaws by a year to give the LLTNPA time to put…
This post looks at how little of the ORP 2013-17 (see here for plan) has been fulfilled from a Water User’s perspective. At the time of writing this article there has been no sign of a new or even ‘refreshed’ Outdoor Recreation Plan to replace the outdated 2013-17 ORP. The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs…
The camping byelaws, which were intended to ban people from staying overnight in the four camping management zones without a permit, also allowed people to apply for exemptions in certain circumstances. These included Duke of Edinburgh award expeditions and Events requiring the erection of tents. This post takes a look at how the National Park…