On Wednesday, Scottish Enterprise announced that it had appointed Flamingo Land Ltd, which runs a holiday resort, theme park and zoo in North Yorkshire, as the “preferred developer” for the 20 hectare site it owns on the west bank of the River Leven in Balloch (see here). The development, billed as the “Iconic Leisure Resort…
Tag: LLTNPA
On Wednesday, a day after posting an email from Strathard Community Council saying its members had voted not to object to the planning application, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority published a Report recommending approval of the application by its Planning Committee. This will meet on Monday 26th September (conveniently on a holiday…
Herald readers will be aware that there has been an ongoing correspondence in that paper about the performance of the Scottish Government and there was an interesting letter yesterday which claimed there was NO evidence of poor governance under the SNP. I was tempted to write and offer what has been going on at Loch…
I passed this fire last Sunday at the start of a walk round the Glen Kendrum horseshoe, near Lochearnhead. It was still burning when we came back 6 hours later. By chance, Ross MacBeath had just passed on to me an FOI response he had made to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
In fact, its three leaves, that’s right in just 3 pages (at the bottom of this post) the New Forest National Park lays out its entire litter management plan in terms even a layman can understand. It’s cost effective and keeps the park clean. It does all this without access restricting bye-laws or management zones…
I visited the south Loch Lubnaig car park for the first time on Sunday, on the way back from a day on the hill, and was struck by the signage. I think it proves the dangers of car park charging I made in my post two weeks ago. Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
“As part of the plans which will come into effect for the 2017 season, feasibility work is already well advanced at Loch Chon in The Trossachs on land managed by Forest Enterprise Scotland. It is proposed that the picturesque site at Loch Chon will accommodate 30 tent pitches alongside facilities including a fresh water supply,…
If you have been onto the LLTNPA website recently you will notice it has been totally revamped. While its a lot faster than it was, the information available on it has been greatly reduced. I did not appreciate to what extent until last night. While working on my piece on the Glen Falloch hydro schemes,…
Since blogging about the bright blue penstock used in the Glen Falloch hydro schemes at the end of June, I have been intending to write more about the quality of the “restoration” works and here will focus on the dams/intakes that collect the water for the four schemes. In discussing the schemes I will…
There has been a history of people staying in caravans in the laybys along the A82 south of Tarbert. The caravan in the photo above was still there when I went past on Monday 29th August. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority used long stays such as this, which are commonly known as…
New tracks continue to be bulldozed into the hills at an alarming rate for access to forestry, livestock, shooting, windfarms, hydro dams, pylons & masts. Designation of the area as a National Park appears to make no difference, for new tracks have now recently been bulldozed into most of the side glens of Glens Falloch…
Following James Fenton’s fine post “Just Say No ” and earlier posts on the destruction in Glen Falloch (see here and here) I wanted to write a bit more about the permanent impact that the construction of these schemes is having on the landscape. This is not just about hydro schemes of course, and issues…
Thanks to Liza Downie for sending me this photo from Ben Lawers after my last post. I had questioned why the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park had just tendered for an automated number plate charging system when it had…
At the end of last week, while the National had an excellent article by Lesley Riddoch and follow up letter by James Cassidy on access to the countryside, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority was advertising its latest plans to charge for access. The contrast between what is needed and the Loch…
Early in August Scotgold announced it had produced the first gold from its bulk ore processing trial at Cononish goldmine (see Herald). This involves the crushing of ore that has already been extracted from the old mine to see how much gold it contains. The original planning approval for the goldmine did not allow this. …
I have been asking the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority what criteria it would use to decide the planning application it is making to itself for a campsite at Loch Chon. Among the issues is that the Your Park proposals to develop new campsites is not consistent with the Park’s proposed Development Plan…
Following the inflammatory facebook post from Rothiemurchus estate on campers here and here I had not appreciated the Cairngorms National Park Authority had issued a short new release please tread lightly. Its tone is highly commendable, highlighting just how inflammatory the Rothiemurchus was, and the message a positive one: “We want people to enjoy the…
I was in Glen Lyon yesterday, enjoying the weather window in the earlier part of the day, to run over a few hills but must confess to thinking a few times about my last post. I was worried if I had got the wording right so it was re-assuring to return and see there has…
“It is not felling or fire that destroys a pine wood, but overgrazing of the ground beneath and beyond, whether by sheep or by deer.” Chris Smout On Thursday Rothiemurchus made a Facebook post of a burning granny pine and the following comment: “A sad day on Rothiemurchus today. One of our beautiful…
Following my post on the LLTNPA’s unfortunate decision to use National Park’s week to launch its new litter enforcement powers, when other National Parks across the UK were celebrating the theme of adventure, there was an excellent letter in the Herald today from James Fraser, Chair of the Friends of Loch Lomond and Trossachs. (While…
A fair amount of information has come to light in the last three weeks about the LLTNPA’s camping plans which raises serious further concerns about both the adequacy of those plans and the whole camping byelaw proposal. Camping in Strathard It says a lot about the LLTNPA that they have kept their camping…
Yesterday was the start of National Parks week, an annual celebration of National Parks in the UK. The theme of National Parks week this year is adventure. The Cairngorm National Park Authority has responded to this with a positive press release press release about celebrating National Parks, announcing a number of events and encouraging people…
Dear LLTNPA, I was interested to see in May that meters had been installed at the carpark in Inveruglas. I appreciate you are short of money but it seems to me particularly mean to advertise the new wooden structure at Inveruglas, as part of Scotland’s scenic routes, and then charge people for…
Dear LLTNPA, In May I visited the Loch Venachar quay site off the Invertrossachs Road where you installed a new carpark with gates last year, just outside Invertrossachs House, the home of your convener Linda McKay. I note that the trees on the quay, which were not in the original plans, were growing particularly…
Dear LLTNPA, I know at the behest of the Scottish Government both our National Parks have been promoting scenic routes and as part of this some interesting sculptures have been created over the last year or so including the structure at Inveruglas. To many people like myself though the natural beauty of the area speaks…