Yesterday, Flamingo Land’s media consultants issued a New release on their revised Planning Application at Balloch. This received widespread media coverage and appeared designed to deceive. Most of the media did not fall for the attempt to rename the proposed development Lomond Banks and continued to refer to it as Flamingo Land. No-one, however, questioned…
Tag: landscape
Every time I travelled along the A82 last year I spotted people camping in breach of the camping byelaws in the tent free zone the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has created between Inveruglas and the Falls of Falloch. The northern part of this was not included originally within the Loch Lomond West…
Modern ATVs allow estates motorised access to almost anywhere and their widespread use is causing environmental damage as well as creating ugly visual intrusions into otherwise unspoilt landscapes. Inevitably, planning applications are now coming forward to construct vehicle tracks where ATV damage has occurred, supported by the argument that built tracks are the lesser of…
Last week the full Highland Council decided to approve the remaining three Glen Etive hydro schemes (see here). It was clear during the debate that a number of Councillors voted for the proposals because they believed the impacts of construction could be mitigated and the landscape restored to close to its existing state. While that…
“Our landscape is a national asset and we believe that it should be treated with care and respect so that future generations have the opportunity to enjoy it. We encourage the Highland Council to help protect the wild nature of the glen and reverse the decision to approve these three hydro schemes.” (Mountaineering Scotland see…
A lot has happened since my posts last month on the Glen Etive hydro schemes (see here) and (here). For almost the first time in Scotland hydro schemes are being subject to detailed scrutiny by locally elected members, informed by their knowledge and skills and the considerable public debate that has been taking place. This…
Most people travelling north over the Drumochter pass will have noticed the terrible scars across the hillside on the right after the summit. Many probably realise they are a consequence of the construction of the Beauly Denny powerline. Few will realise, unless they have read previous parkswatch posts, that this destruction has taken place in…
Here’s a prediction. There will be no rest and no thanks to the Scottish Government for as long as they allow the current mismanagement of the Rest and Be Thankful to continue and they fail to invest money in a long-term solution. That prediction and this post is prompted by the sheep spotted grazing on…
The revised Planning Application for the Ben More Hydro scheme (see here) is to be considered by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Planning Committee tomorrow (see here). I had intended to speak to my objection but have been called elsewhere. While there are provisions for objectors to nominate substitutes, there are none to allow…
At the end of November, I took a critical look at the Balloch Charrette, the community planning event that took place in 2016 (see here) AFTER the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority had already committed to Flamingo Land going ahead. Out of the event came an Action Plan (see here) complete with lead partners…
I had walked up Glen Prosen a couple of weeks ago to look at the new roads at the head of the Glen but was prompted by the 26 traps we saw to blog first on wildlife and trapping in the Cairngorms National Park (see here). This post will took at the two new roads…
Today the South Area Planning Committee of Highland Council is taking a (road-side) look at the sites of all seven proposed Glen Etive Hydro Schemes, and a further hydro scheme in Glen Coe. Then, at a special meeting on Wednesday at Council HQ in Inverness they will take a decision on the applications (see here…
Scotland’s Forest Strategy 2019-29 launched 10 days ago contains not a single reference to National Parks. There is just one reference to Caledonian Forest and that is within a paragraph which describes the range of woodland in Scotland. Nothing is said about the place of the Caledonian Forest in expanding forest cover across Scotland despite…
Highland and Islands Enterprise’s announcement last week (see here) that the funicular would remain out of action for the summer and possibly longer, failed to explain what has caused the problems or the likely cost of the repairs that might be needed to make it safe to use again. Meantime it has announced that the…
On Friday the Cairngorms National Park Planning Committee, which all Board Members sit on, will consider the Balavil Estate’s Planning Application to build 5km of new road into the Monadhliath Wild Land Area (see here for all papers). The December CNPA Planning Committee rightly agreed to defer the application because it had not been advertised properly…
I was up on Ben Ledi on a fine day just before Xmas and my walk got me thinking about the cumulative impact of the new run of river hydro schemes. There are three on the flanks of Ben Ledi: Gleannn Casaig to the West, Stank Glen to the north east and Milton Glen to…
Following my post about the upgrade of the existing hill roads at Balavil (see here) , this post takes a look at the Balavil Estate’s proposal to drive 5km of new road into the heart of the Monadliath Wild Land Area. In December the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning Committee delayed the application to allow…
Following my critique of the proposed Allt Mheuran hydro scheme, this post takes a look at a further three of the hydro schemes proposed for Glen Etive which I walked around on 21st December. Allt Fhaolain The Allt Fhaolain is the second hydro scheme in Glen Etive where Highland Council required the developer to submit…
Following my post (see here) on the revisions to the Glen Etive hydro schemes, on the shortest day I went to take a closer look to compare what is being proposed compared with what is on the ground. I walked over the land included in four of the seven schemes, including the two subject to new…
A classic way to get developments through the planning system under the radar is to advertise them just before Xmas. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority did just that on Friday when it issued a letter (see here) to people who had objected to the Ben More hydro scheme stating that the planning…
Yesterday, Highlands and Islands Enterprise was forced to release the full copy of the Report it had commissioned from SE Group into ski infrastructure at Cairn Gorm. After HIE failed to publish the Report when launching its new vision for Cairn Gorm (see here), several people submitted freedom of information requests. Then, when the information…
Anyone driving along the A82 this summer will have seen the test drilling rigs in Loch Lomond. While the A82 along West Lomond north of Tarbet undoubtably needs to be upgraded, Transport Scotland ruled out tunnelling right from that start on grounds of cost. This was a terrible decision, made without any proper public…
There have been many objections to the Flamingo Land Planning Application but very little consideration given to how it fits with the policies set out in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Local Development Plan (LDP). While politics are often a more important factor than plans in determining planning applications, the LDP is…
Notifications that two of the Glen Etive hydro applications had been withdrawn were issued by Highland Council last week but, before anyone celebrates, they have been replaced with new applications for the Allt Mheuran and the Allt Fhaolain. That re-starts the whole planning process. If you objected first time round, that objection is no longer…
Four more hydro schemes are being proposed in one of the most special parts of Scotland which, if it were anywhere else in the world, be a National Park. Unlike the proposed schemes in Glen Etive (see here), which I hope to post more on soon, these schemes have so far received little attention…