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…
Tag: CNPA
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…
A winter’s day In a deep and dark December Is what it was for most of December. Dreich was the word to describe it. What better kind of day for a trip down memory lane? I first climbed on Creagh Meagaidh in the early 1970’s. The place gripped me from the start. The location was,…
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…
[Postscript – Good News! An hour or so after this was published the CNPA Planning Committee rejected this Planning Application by two votes! Well done them and what a contrast to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority where Board Members rubber stamp whatever is recommended by officers. What the CNPA now needs to…
It seems that the Cairngorms National Park Authority Enforcement Notice against the Glen Clova hotel hill road (see here) has had some effect because at the end of November the Estate notified Angus Council of their intention to construct a new forestry road (see here for planning papers). Not only that, but the Prior Notification papers…
After the criticisms in my last post of the lack of transparency in the planning system, its nice to report that in other areas the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is showing signs of improvement. The LLTNPA’s recent publication of Deer Management Plans for the area is particularly welcome. The impact of deer…
When I first came across the destruction caused by the Bruar hydro scheme (see here) in August 2016 I tried to find out what had gone wrong by looking at the documents associated with the planning application on the Cairngorms National Park Planning Portal. There was not a single document on the planning portal…
I was sent this photo from David Lintern, the fine outdoor writer and photographer (see here), last night and it prompted further thoughts about the Climate Emergency and the connections between what happening on opposite sides of the world in Scotland and Australia (see here for most recent post on lessons from the Australian crisis)….
In December the LINK hill tracks group revealed that the owner of the Glen Clova estate, Mr Hugh Niven, has appealed to the Scottish Government against the enforcement notice which the Cairngorms National Park Authority issued against the new hill road by the Clova hotel (see here) and (here): “It is deeply frustrating that a…
The Werritty report (see here), which was published a week before Xmas, is not disappointing, as some have claimed, its what everyone should have expected. Both the remit for the review and the membership of the review group were wrong from the outset. The question which the Scottish Government should have asked is not whether…
Thanks to Phil Swainson, an occasional contributor to this blog, for forwarding me the Guardian’s long read yesterday about how Alpine Ski resorts are using snow making “to battle with climate change” (see here). Its recommended reading for anyone concerned about the future of snowsports at Cairn Gorm or who is concerned about how…
This post takes a look behind Highland and Island Enterprise’s disastrous management of the Cairngorm mountain business, which includes: the failed strategy of removing other uplift capacity in an attempt to make the funicular pay; the gross errors in awarding the last operating contract to Natural Retreats (see here) and (here); the failure to manage…
I was pleased to get this letter on Scottish Power’s plans to cover land around their windfarms with solar panels into the Herald the weekend before last . While our two National Parks may have no windfarms within their boundaries, the broader issue, the impact of renewable energy developments on the carbon held in soils,…
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…
This post reveals two further examples of how CairnGorm Mountain is being mismanaged. These confirm that there is something rotten at both Highlands & Islands Enterprises (HIE) and Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL). Both these organisations are in desperate need of a clean-out if what was once Scotland’s premier ski resort is to return…
Last week Revive, the coalition for grouse moor reform, issued a new report Untold Suffering about how thousands of animals are killed and trapped on Scotland’s grouse moors. Its one of the scandals of our time that this slaughter takes place even in our National Parks which were set up to protect nature (see here). …
Two days ago the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s publication of research on projected future snow lie attracted a fair amount of publicity, with headlines misleadingly suggesting that snow could be gone from the Cairngorms by 2080 (see here for example). That research is due to be considered by the CNPA Board on Friday. It forms…
I first came across the newly constructed Gynack flood diversion channel above Kingussie by accident in October 2017, when visiting the three hydro schemes on the river. I have visited three times since, all in poor weather (as is evident from the photos!). On my most recent visit I found that the overflow…
This short video was sent to me with the message “take you mind off politics for a moment”! It shows all the wildlife which used a log to cross a stream in Pennsylvania during the course of a year. Most enjoyable – do watch – but I couldn’t escape the political implications. There could hardly…
I was pleased to be quoted in Sunday Herald article “Call for crackdown on unregulated Scottish hill tracks” (see here) which was published at the weekend. The article contains some very interesting quotes from the the landowner and owner of the Glen Clova hotel, Hugh Niven, about the apparently unlawful road which is now…
Back in February 2018 Parkswatch called for the Cairngorms National Park Authority to start taking enforcement action against the unlawful hill roads in Glen Clova (see here). The CNPA responded to say that in most of the cases it was unable, whatever it thought of the roads, to do so. This was either because…
At the beginning of August Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd, Highland and Islands Enterprise’s subsidiary which operates their business at Cairn Gorm, submitted a Planning Application to create a new beginner’s ski area (see here for planning documents). Parkswatch has covered this several times already (see here), (here) and (here) but the more you look at…
Parkswatch was sent photos a couple of weeks ago of new road construction on the Balavil Estate. Earlier this year Balavil was granted planted permission by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to construct a controversial new road over into the heart of the Monadliath Wild Land Area (see here) and (here). (Work on that…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority’s consultation on its new Economic Action Plan, 2019-22, will close on Friday (see here). While there are some good things in the plan, this post argues its exhortation for people to work together won’t work under our current system and it fails to address the one economic matter over which the…