Toilets, or rather the risk of Covid-19 being transmitted in toilets, appear to be a major factor why the Scottish Government’s advice to people has been to stay local (see here): “Because of the high chance of the virus living on hard surfaces, we don’t want people using public toilets or going into someone’s home…
Tag: CNPA
Yesterday, following a last ditch post (see here) in the early hours (which I circulated to all Board Members), the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning Committee nodded through Highland and Island Enterprise’s planning application to repair the funicular. There was no formal vote. None of us who have been campaigning against the repair of the…
Letter Strathy 14th May from Parkswatch contributor Graham Garfoot. HIE has refused to release the engineering reports on which the proposals to repair the funicular are based. Highland and Island Enterprise’s Planning Application to repair the funicular is to be considered Friday morning (see here) and Cairngorms National Park Planning Officers have recommended…
Scottish Government changes to planning processes The Scottish Government has been urging all planning authorities, including our National Parks, to maintain their planning system as a top priority. Planning Authorities are being urged to use all of their discretionary powers backed up by the Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 to keep the planning system going (see…
Following the planning application to repair the funicular (see here), Highlands and Island Enterprise have submitted another two Planning Applications at Cairn Gorm. These indicate that HIE intend to submit no less than six further applications in the short-term. This post explains what is going on and takes a critical look at the new applications…
This post takes a look at the scope of Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s planning application (see here for papers) to repair the funicular, its proposals for accessing the areas where they say work is required and the impact that this will have on the natural environment. The scope of the Planning Application Graham Garfoot’s post (see…
The village of Nethy Bridge prides itself as being the Forest Village, being almost fully surrounded by woodland and forest, much of which is classified as ancient woodland. Yet developer Castle Glen Properties of Aberdeen has submitted a planning application for planning permission in principle to the Cairngorms National Park Authority for the construction of…
Highlands and Islands Enterprises (HIE) are at it again as evidenced by the latest planning application, to repair the funicular (see here for papers). It has been noted many times in the past that HIE have a habit of pre-empting decisions being made about operations at the Cairngorm Mountain ski resort, currently being operated under…
Many of you might have missed an interesting article from the P&J dated 19 March (see here). This article revealed that HIE had allocated almost £2million to the Cairngorm Mountain ski centre. Having read this article, I decided to check out what Highland and Islands Enterprise’s currently published funding approvals were. The list of HIE’s…
The Planning Application “Engineering Work for Strengthening Funicular Viaduct” was lodged with Highland Council on 13 March 2020 and called-in by the Cairngorm National Park Authority, on 23 March 2020, for determination by them (see here for planning documents). This post takes a critical look at some aspects of what is being proposed. The Planning…
While access to the countryside has been shut down, thousands of people have lost their jobs and some now are starving in their homes (see here), while health workers, social care workers and bus drivers have been losing their lives because of a lack of Personal Protective Equipment, planning in the Cairngorms National Park…
This letter from David Fallows about the need for the Cairngorms National Park Authority to webcast Board Meetings speaks for itself. It’s something I have been calling for for both our National Parks ever since the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority unlawfully held 13 Board Meetings in secret to decide their camping byelaws. …
The corona crisis – the lessons of foot and mouth and a beacon of hope in the countryside “lockdown”
[NB this post has been updated. I have been informed that the LLTNPA has not closed the gates to all its carparks but instead police tape has in some cases been placed across them] The Foot and Mouth Crisis We have been here before, although the corona crisis is far more serious. I well…
I will come to National Parks later, but Dr Catherine Calderwood is no fool. She didn’t get to become to be Scotland’s Chief Medical Officer by not have a clue about how viruses work. Her drive to Fife, her stay overnight in her second home and subsequent resignation tell us, I believe, four things: First…
In the corona panic, the Scottish Government and our Public Authorities have completely lost all sense of reason. It will have serious human and environmental consequences. What the Coronavirus Health Protection Restriction Scotland Regulations (see here), passed last week by the Scottish Government without any parliamentary scrutiny, actually say is that you cannot leave where…
Last week, without anyone noticing, the Scottish Government followed the UK Government and used the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restrictions) (Scotland) Regulations to remove our right to protest. What the regulation means is that if health and social care staff or other workers walk out of their workplace to protest against the lack of personal protective…
I was pleased to have this letter published in the Herald today. Its got nothing to do with National Parks but everything to do with what’s happening in them, as this post will explain. Until our governments set up contact tracing and testing like South Korea and China have done, there will be no end…
The corona crisis has swept all before it. What seemed rational just a few days ago is now deemed unacceptable, whether that was the advice issued our by our recreational organisations (see here), the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority holding a truncated Board Meeting last Monday (see here) or the measures put in…
Yesterday, I enjoyed a ski tour up Sgairneach Mhor in the Drumochter Hills, accessed by the track up Coire Dhomhain and a bridge over the river. Unlike many tracks in the Drumochter Hills, this one is old and appears on the 1981 OS Second Series 1:50,000 map. The steeper sections, however, have been badly eroded…
Following yesterday’s post Spreading misinformation about Glen Feshie and access in the Cairngorms National Park I have been sent two photos. The first (above), was sent from Roy Turnbull of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group to illustrate his comment on my post: “Not only is there now (of course) no restriction of access in…
This extract appeared in a generally informative article about growing interest from the private sector about buying Scottish Estates for their environmental potential. That raises lots of interesting questions, not least whether Agencies like Savill’s who were quoted in the piece, are now are being motivated by the potential to make a quick buck out…
Anyone trying to understand Scotland’s deer problem need only travel between Perth and Braemar and see the herds of deer desperately seeking food and shelter in the snowy wilds. This photo is taken close to the location where Brian Shackleton filmed masses of deer on the move a few years ago (see here). There are…
Until reading the Report of the Deer Working Group (DWG) to the Scottish Government (see here) and (here), I had not realised that the Scottish Government was dishing out public money to landowners to undertake muirburn for red deer. The payments appear to have been introduced by the Scottish Government in 2015 and then, in…
My apologies for accidentally omitting the final three paras from Dave Morris’ post on Balmoral and the recommendations of the Deer Working Group.They have been added to the post and posted for convenience below. In the section of the Deer Working Report that addresses the impact of deer on the Natural Heritage there is an…
Two very interesting articles on Parkswatch by Alistair Bell (see here) and Drennan Watson (see here) go some way towards explaining some of what has gone on and is going on at Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL). Alistair Bell says skiers are partly to blame because nobody really questioned what was happening until the Save…