There is a case for tourism development at Balloch which goes all the way back to the Clyde Valley Regional Plan in 1949. That envisaged a number of developments along the south west corner of Loch Lomond segregated by green spaces. The problem is the developments now being proposed on the south shores of Loch…
Tag: LLTNPA
Under Section 14 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 landowners are prohibited from erecting any sign whose main purpose is to deter or prevent people from exercising access rights. Glen Etive, like some parts of our National Parks, is littered with signs that contravene access rights. In the last week I have reported to…
The consultation process The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority approved its statutory core path plan for consultation at its Board Meeting on 18th September. The 12 week consultation commenced two months later on 23rd November when a link to the Plan appeared on the consultation section of the LLTNPA website (see here). The…
While rumours are circulating that the Flamingo Land Planning Application to develop much of Balloch may be withdrawn and replaced by a number of separate applications, officially the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority have suspended the Planning Process since August while awaiting information from the applicant (see here). That hardly tallies with the…
I am pleased to report that following my post in November about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s (LLTNPA’s) unlawful application of the camping byelaws (see here), that they have started to address the issue of unlawful “No camping” within the National Park”. This post will first take a look at the law…
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…
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…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting on 10th December was a complete contrast to the September “stand-up” meeting with its threadbare agenda (see here). This time the agenda was packed (see here) but the meeting was as poorly organised as the last. Time for National Park Board Meetings to be…
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…
The case for the restoration of the Maid of the Loch The case for the restoration of the Maid of the Loch is extremely strong. The boat itself is part of our industrial and cultural heritage http:// https://www.maidoftheloch.org/history. As importantly, its mooring by the pier is located next door to the steam slipway and…
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…
In June Parkswatch exposed the unlawful warning system the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority had introduced along with the camping byelaws (see here). Staff had no legal authority to introduce such a system, were failing to inform people who were warned of the consequences or their rights, and were retaining personal data about…
A couple of weeks ago the Cairngorms National Park Authority started to advertise their local member elections which are due to take place on 21st March 2019 (see here). They are trying to encourage more people to stand and to ensure that residents are registered to vote. Both initiatives are very welcome. As part of…
Charrette is the fashionable name given to events ostensibly designed to include and empower local communities in respect of local planning processes. The name appears designed to discourage and disempower, unless you happen to be French. Still, if well run, incomprehension can change to active participation while ideas and proposals can be produced and converted…
My post on the dereliction at the former Arrochar torpedo site (see here) received some comments that the Loch Lomond National Park Authority could not be blamed for failing to address an issue if they did not have the power to do so. I agreed, but stated I believed the LLTNPA in those circumstances still…
There are very serious legal issues about the way in which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority have tried to implement the camping byelaws which up until now they have tried to sweep under the carpet. The most significant legal issue arose early last year when the LLTNPA was forced to drop its…
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…
“An Amenity Notice is used where the condition of land is having an adverse effect on the wider public amenity of the area. For the reporting period of the PPF [Planning Performance Framework] , the case in question related to…………Killin – and prior to that we have also used this notice to good effect at…
With 12 years collective learning since the implementation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 (the Act) and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC) in 2006, one might expect the core principles enshrined in both to be embraced by the agencies charged with managing access and enforcing the legislation. From experience I’ve generally found that…
Scottish Enterprise’s financial support for Flamingo Land Following the revelation from Jackie Baillie, the local Labour MSP, that Scottish Enterprise had valued the enormous West Riverside Site in Balloch at a paltry £200k, the Greens have discovered that Scottish Enterprise have been giving further help to Flamingo Land by paying for “site investigations”. “To date,…
After my post on the huge visual impact of the proposed Flamingo Land development at Balloch (see here), the issue of job creation has been brought up as a reason to support the development. Employment and economic health is very important but because the area of Loch Lomond is unique from a landscape, wildlife and…
On 17th September the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks Authority issued a News Release to say they had investigated a case of fly tipping, issued a notice and that a £200 fine had been paid as a result. This is welcome. Its evidence for what I and others have long been saying, that the…
The proliferation of vehicle hill tracks in our National Parks, whether agreed through our planning system or not, has been a constant theme of Parkswatch over the last two and a half years. The first thing that we need to do to address the problem is to bring all vehicle tracks into the planning…
Following the election of local representatives to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority earlier this year (see here), the end of last week saw the announcement of the new Scottish Government appointees to our National Park Boards. The appointments appear to have attracted little publicity so this post points readers to information…
The Flamingo Land Planning Application should be central to the debates currently taken place in the Scottish Parliament on a new planning bill. The central question they need to address is how is it that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority could be judged overall winner in the Scottish Quality Awards for…