On the 11th October the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority issued a further update (see here) to “stakeholders” to mark the end of the second year of the camping byelaws. This post takes a critical examination of what the LLTNPA is saying, considers what the LLTNPA is failing to tell stakeholders and takes…
Tag: Freedom of Information
Stakeholder Groups continue to view the ongoing situation on CairnGorm Mountain with dismay. This post takes a further look at how Cairngorm is being managed according to the lease agreement between Highlands and Islands Enterprise and their tenant, CairnGorm Mountain Ltd, a.k.a Natural Retreats. The lease contains this clause: Section 2: Maintenance Works to Premises….
In January I blogged about the estate management plans the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has been developing with some landowners (see here) and which I had requested be made public last October. As a result of my appeal to the Information Commissioner, in July the LLTNPA “voluntarily” published some information on Integrated…
Alan Brattey here explains the background to the current crisis at Cairngorm and his comments as reported in the Strathy. The CairnGorm Mountain Funicular Railway was constructed as a replacement for the ageing Carpark and White Lady Chairlifts, at a cost of £19.54m in public funding and EU funding. Add non-construction costs to that and…
West of the Keltie Water hydro scheme, which has been shortleeted for a Scottish Planning quality award (see here), on the other side of the ridge and high ground running south from Beinn Each, are two further run of river hydro schemes. Both are situated in forestry/woodland on the Drumardoch and Ardchullarie Estate above…
Listening to Radio Scotland on Wednesday, I heard a reporter extolling the wonders of Loch Lomond as the venue for the European open water swimming championships which takes place over four days starting on Wednesday 8th August (see here). Spectating at the event is free of charge and unticketed. The Reporter seemed blissfully aware of…
Scotland’s own “Windrush” problem? Following my post on parkswatch and the GDPR (see here) this post takes a look at the civil liberties and governance issues which have been created by the Loch Lomond and Trossach’s National Park Authority’s collection and processing of data under the camping byelaws, itself the outcome of the byelaw enforcement…
On the surface the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is quite transparent about the complaints it receives, reporting on these to the Government through its Annual Report. Below the surface, however, there is evidence to show that the LLTNPA is covering up what is really going on. In this post I will take…
James Stuart, Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, has publicly stated that he is committed to ensuring the National Park operates with greater transparency. One of the things I have been lobbying him on in the last year was for the LLTNPA to start publishing ALL responses to information requests…
Our National Parks Authorities are two small cogs in the much wider structures which govern life in Scotland and subject to similar pressures and influences as other such organisations, whether austerity or the ever increasing trend towards centralisation of government in Scotland. Many of the comments made by speakers at the “Act as if we…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s report for Ministers on the first year of the campiing byelaws (see here) was a spin job based on assertions and half-truths rather than facts. This week I have obtained through Freedom of Information some of the facts I suggested almost six months ago should be included…
I have been engaged in constructive correspondence with the HIE Chief Executive, Charlotte Wright, about what is going on at Cairngorm. While I welcome her willingness to engage, so far this has done nothing to prevent the mismanagement of Cairngorm Mountain continuing, while there is now significant circumstantial evidence suggests that “Natural Retreats” are heading…
On 19th January I received a very welcome email from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park’s Access Team updating me on signs I had reported to the National Park Authority for contravening the access legislation over the last two and a half years. I will explain why this is the first communication I have…
If you have not heard it, most of Saturday’s episode of BBC Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme (see here) was devoted to Scotland’s access legislation as it approaches its fifteenth anniversary. If you want to understand the amazing story of how our access rights were secured – and in this case “our” really does…
Last week, in a welcome development, some of the mainstream media picked up on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority first annual review of the camping byelaws for Scottish Ministers (see here). Unfortunately neither article picked up on the burnt out caravans, the fact that the National Park is no longer trying to…
By Bruce Biddulph (This text was included in an update to a petition to the Scottish Government to stop the sale of the Riverside Site in Balloch to Flamingo Land) Drumkinnon Bay, along with its Woods and the river bank along the Leven which flows from Loch Lomond, are steeped in history. This history was…
I have been trying since the summer to obtain copies of the “Land Management Plans” which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park claim to have agreed with certain landowners (my appeal is with the Scottish Information Commissioner). The content of these plans seems to me important for understanding how far the LLTNPA are getting…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority will, at its Board Meeting on Monday, consider an “Update Report” for Scottish Ministers on the operation of the camping byelaws in their first year. There is a cover paper (see here), the Report for Ministers (see here) and appendices (see here). The basic line the Park has…
At the end of August, after a stravaig over the east Drumochter hills, I looped back to Dalwhinnie through the Drumochter pass, the idea being to combine enjoyment with a look at the effectiveness of the restoration of the land along the Beauly Denny. Just beyond Dalnaspidal and hidden behind the A9 shelterbelt, I came…
Highlands and Islands Enterprise appointed McGowan, an Aviemore contractor, to undertake the “clear-up” that is currently being undertaken at Cairngorm. This has involved removal of potentially re-usable lift infrastructure from Coire na Ciste and has ignored environmental standards (see here). HIE have now provided, as a result of FOI requests, information ITT Report – Redacted…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Board Meeting on Monday (see here for papers) was far more open than meetings in the past but showed the Board still has a considerable way to go. The fundamental issue is that most Board Members appear to have little idea of why they are there. It was…
In the paper on the camping byelaws presented at the June LLTNPA Board Meeting, it was reported that: “86% of people said that they would be quite likely or very likely to recommend staying over in a camping/motorhome permit area” and “82% of people found it easy or very easy to find their permit area”….
Following my visit to the Ledcharrie Hydro Scheme in Glen Dochart with members of the Munro Society (see here), I made an information request to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority to find out what they were doing to address deficiencies in the development, particularly the damage to the landscape that has been…
On Friday the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning Committee will consider a revised planning application for An Camus Mor (see here), the proposed new town across the Spey from Aviemore. (Click here for link to the Park’s planning portal and all 236 documents associated with the application). The main change proposed by the the application is to…
One of the priority actions under the last Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Partnership Plan was to develop long-term Land Management Plans across the National Park, an objective that everyone with an interest in land-use and landscape should support. Interested to understand what progress had been made, I asked the LLTNPA for copies of…