“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…
Tag: LLTNPA
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…
While the move to develop a tourist tax gathers apace in Edinburgh and is now being advocated for other cities (see here for article by Marianne Taylor in Herald) there continues to be silence on this issue from our National Park Authorities. The issue of inadequate investment in tourist infrastructure in the countryside is as…
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…
Recent news stories (above and here) about community financing of renewables and the benefits which may be derived from them should not be allowed to conceal what is going on across Scotland and in our National Parks. The primary driving force behind the development of renewables is profit for the few and within the overall…
Back in August, I noted from the Loch Lomond & the Trossachs National Park Authority weekly planning list the following planning application from Luss Estates Ref 2018/0166/DET (see here): Proposal Change of use of former slate quays to allow a) the unloading of felled timber (Storage and Distribution Class 6), b) occasional use for…
Parkswatch sometimes gets it wrong and has done so in claiming that with hydro schemes in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park that it is the tracks, not the buried pipelines, which are the main issue. That is not the case at the Burn of Mar hydro scheme, situated at the back of Conic…
Cairngorm is a beautiful mountain. It retains that beauty despite Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s record as custodians of the Cairngorm Estate during which landscape and wildlife, and all the people to whom these are important, have been shown scant respect. Despite the unnecessary clutter, rubbish and vehicle tracks the ski areas too retain their beauty…
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…
I have followed some of the Parkswatch blogs about the awful hydro tracks around Glen Falloch (see here) and seen them for myself from the hills. In July 2017 we were staying in Lochcarron and I was horrified to see a hydro scheme at Coulags at the start of the walk up Maol Chean-dearg. This…
The launch of a campaign last week (see here) by Green MSP Ross Greer to get people to object to the Flamingo Land Planning Application and promoted by Save Loch Lomond (see here) has had a huge response. 26,520 people to date have registered objections on the portal the Greens have set up Whether the Loch…
Parkswatch has commented several times on the differences between our two National Parks and the evidence now suggests that they are going in two different directions, one generally positive the other disastrous. This was very evident from their Board Meetings which took place in September. The agenda of the September Board Meeting of the Loch…
A week ago, two thirds along the forest track between the Ardchullarie and Anie hydro intake (see here), above the eastern shore of Loch Lubnaig, I came across this locked gate. (It was hard to note the exact position after been sandwiched between thick conifer plantations for a time but it was at GR 594115…
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…
Venue – Balmaha Visitor Centre Images from Wikipedia On arrival seating was arranged in an Open Area of the Visitor Centre. Then the seating was removed except for three chairs for members of the public attending the meeting – there were four of us! Apparently it was to be a “Standing Meeting” where only members…
Following my post on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s war on campers (see here). I submitted an FOI request asking for the LLTNPA to explain reasons the Loch Achray campsite had not been opened (it was due to open in March 2018) and to make this public. On 10th September I received…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board will be meeting on Monday in the National Park Visitor Centre at Balmaha (see here) The agenda and papers were published over two weeks ago – a record for the LLTNPA – but a reflection of how little is in them. There is only one item…
On Saturday I was delighted to be one of the speakers at a demonstration against Flamingo Land organised by Save Loch Lomond (see here) and which was covered on STV news (see here). While I believe the decision about whether Flamingo Land goes ahead will ultimately be decided by politics, part of my speech covered planning…
After my post on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority war on campers, which referred to the Park’s failure to open the new campsite at Loch Achray as promised (see here), local rumours are that the campsite has not opened because the water from the borehole is not drinkable. I have asked the…