After from some excellent objections, no new documents have been added to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s planning portal (see here) since I wrote two months ago about how Flamingo Land appears to be losing the battle at Balloch (see here). While ostensibly not a lot appears to be happening, two…
Tag: LLTNPA
Following my post on litter and outdoor recreation (see here), I was contacted by Tom Colville who had visited Knoydart a few days before me in his boat. He confirmed my observations that litter was confined to the coasts and noted that it was particularly prominent along the outer part of Loch Nevis and that…
Last week proposals to upgrade both the A83 and the A9 were in the news. None of the coverage mentioned that all of the A83 at the Rest and Be Thankful lies within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) or that much of the A9 lies within the Cairngorms National Park. This is…
Six years ago, on 1st April 2017, Gordon Watson, the Chief Executive Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA), closed the slipway and tried to close the ranger base at Milarrochy without consultation and without any consideration by his board . When the Loch Lomond Association wrote to James Stuart, the Convener of the…
Following my post (see here) on how sheep and cattle were still grazing the slopes of Beinn Luibhean, despite the landslips, Andy Wightman sent me information about the ownership of the land from his website Who Owns Scotland (see here): This information, obtained from the Register of Sasines, is not yet online at the Registers…
My post on the financial crisis at the Cononish goldmine last week (see here) prompted some very interesting comments and a number of photos which have been published on twitter (see here for photos, videos and commentary). These suggest that environmental conditions are, as I feared, being breached. Tailing disposal Under the approved waste…
Following my post on 3rd April about the financial crisis at the Cononish goldmine and its possible environmental consequences (see here) there have been a number of developments. Scotgold’s finances In their interim results (see here) for the half year till December 2022, published on 30th March, the Directors of SGZ Cononish, Scotgold’s subsidiary…
Last week I travelled up the A83 and over the Rest and Be Thankful for the first time in over a year. What first caught my eye was the number of new tree shelters on the hillside. In 2020 Forest and Land Scotland committed to reduce its use of plastic tree shelters to a minimum…
On Easter Saturday, I walked up the tourist path on Ben A’an, which was rebuilt in 2018 as part of the Mountains for People project and which I last wrote about two and a half years ago (see here). It was a nice day and, as I expected, very busy but that was one reason…
Since my last post (see here), another 10,000 or so objections have been lodged through the Scottish Greens against Flamingo Land’s proposed development at Balloch, more than the original application in 2018 and the most in Scottish history. Flamingo Land’s response has been to issue a news release, which was quoted in various papers from…
It is almost two years since my last post on the Cononish goldmine (see here) and five since the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) granted it planning permission. Since the mine was first mooted there has been a steady stream of “news” stories from the owners, Australian Company Scotgold Resources Ltd, about…
Footpaths and climate change Yesterday there was an interesting feature in the Herald magazine about Bob Brown, the National Trust for Scotland’s footpath manager, who has kept the faith and continues to repair paths by hand rather than doing so on the cheap by machine, often with poor consequences (see here). Coming a few days…
The results of the local member elections for the Cairngorms National Park Authority, which take place by post vote, were announced on Thursday 23rd March and confirm that the voting system in both our National Parks is in urgent need of reform (see here for the elections to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
Transport Scotland has gone silent about its plans (see here) to upgrade the A82 along Loch Lomond since the Helensburgh and Distict Access Trust (HADAT) lodged a complaint with Audit Scotland about the process last summer (see here). It is good to see that HADAT is keeping up the pressure, both with its petition to…
I had hoped to cover the members debate that took place in the Scottish Parliament on 12th March about Flamingo Land’s revised development proposals for Balloch on my way to the Alps two weeks ago, but doing that on the phone proved beyond me. It followed a previous members debate, also sponsored by local list…
Last summer the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National ParK Authority (LLTNPA) advised those who had responded to its much delayed (see here) Outdoor Recreation Plan (ORP) tthat it had decideded to incorporate it into the next National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) (see here). The draft NPPP is to be considered by the LLTNPA Board today, prior…
On 13th February a further 42 documents were added to the planning application which Flamingo Land first submitted in May last year (see here). A cover letter from Stantec (see here) explains the main changes to the application, including which documents have been superseded, and responds to the 16 points raised by Loch Lomond and…
When Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) announced in November they had awarded the lease for the Glenmore campsite to Twinflower (see here), they said nothing about the leases for the two campsites in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. These had been advertised through CDLH at the same time after FLS had bought back…
The Scottish Government is currently advertising for six new board members for the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) (see here) and a new chair for Scottish Natural Heritage/Nature Scot (see here). Further changes in the composition of the CNPA Board are pending with Local Member elections due next month and with the Convener, Xander…
In my first post on the revised Flamingo Land Application last September (see here) I referred to the submission Ian Cowan (an environmental and planning law consultant) had made on behalf of Ross Greer which contained a forensic analysis of some of the gaps and contradictions in the application including the proposals for parking. I…
Introduction In a previous post (see here) I commented how the inaction of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) on helping define the route of the A82 between Tarbet and Inverarnan was worrying. There appeared to be an unwillingness on the part of the LLTNP to do anything positive to ensure appropriate use…
Not far above the start of the path up Beinn Dubh which I went up ten days ago (see see), there is a fine stand of oak trees, called Strone Wood. I have not researched its history but, like the other oak woods round Loch Lomond, it is likely to owe its existence to our…
Last weekend I was out for a run over the hills on the north side of Glen Luss, which I had not visited since before Covid. They have become increasingly popular, and rightly so, with paths at various stages of development on the most frequented routes. In most places this is not a problem but…
The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Parks are part of the UK family of national parks. The experience gained in any one of these national parks may therefore be of relevance to other parks within the family and more generally as regards the enjoyment, management and protection of land and water in the…
In my second post on the byelaw review, issued yesterday morning (see here), I included data on boat registrations supplied by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) in response to a Freedom of Information request in June 2021. Having spent several hours checking the claims made about jet skis in the Review…