Our two National Park Authorities, along with Scotland’s 32 local authorities, are Access Authorities. Among other statutory duties under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act these are supposed to protect access rights and set up Local Access Forum (LAF)s to advise them about the exercise of those rights. This post looks at how the LLTNPA have…
Tag: LLTNPA
This post take a further look (see here) at the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s attempt to sell off its Visitor Centre at Luss, in the light of the discussion and decision made at the Board Meeting on 26th September and responses to Freedom of Information Request (FOI)s. I argue that the…
Hidden away among the many comments on Flamingo Land’s Planning Application is a letter from Emma Yendell, Estates Manager with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) (see here). While comments from other Public Authorities are mostly highlighted as such, this one from the LLTNPA is marked as “correspondence” and easy enough to…
Following my post on the riparian planting in Balquhidder (see here) this photo, taken within ten minutes walk of Inverlochlarig car park, illustrates two key things that are wrong with Scottish forestry practices. It happens to be in Balquhidder and on the Blaircreich Forest Estate, run by the Economic Forestry Group, but in truth could…
Landslips, flooding and riverside tree planting in Balquhidder – tackling the source of the problems
On Sunday I went for a walk in Balquhidder, which I had not visited since a beautiful day just before lockdown in 2020 when people were being advised to stay at home. On that day we came across just one person but we did see from close up the multiple land slips on both sides…
https://petitions.parliament.scot/petitions/PE1967 In February (see here) I looked at decision making by Transport Scotland on the A82 Tarbet to Inverarnan and the inaction of the National Park Authority. Their view has been that Transport Scotland is the statutory lead for major road development and that as a statutory consultee their main role is to comment once…
This post takes a further look (see here) at the proposal to sell off the Luss Visitor centre which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board Members will be asked to approve today. (The proposal is due to be discussed between 9.30 and 11 and the discussion can be viewed live –…
Since the petition launched by Green MSP Ross Greer in July, there had been relatively little publicity about Flamingo Land’s revised planning application at Balloch until recently. The full page article by Kevin McKenna in the Herald on 10th September (see here) which covered a number of key issues was, therefore, most welcome. Then, this…
At the end of my post about multi-millionaire David Moulsdale’s purchase of McGregor’s Landing in July (see here), I included an update on the new driveway to Ben Cruach Lodge that he had unlawfully created off the A82. Having initially taken enforcement action as a result of public pressure, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National…
Last week news emerged (see here) that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) was proposing to sell off its former visitor centre in Luss. A paper was to be considered by the Board Meeting scheduled for today (see here) but, due to the death of the Queen, that meeting has been postponed…
It was scorchingly hot when I started out on the Haute Route across the Pyrenees (see here) but it took me time to appreciate the impact this was having on the vegetation in the mountains. Almost all the flowers had gone, whether the land was grazed or not. Having not been to the Basque country before,…
I am back from six weeks in Europe, the first four walking and running the Pyrenees from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean by the Haute Raute (HRP), followed by a section of the GR5 from Les Houches below Chamonix to Modane. I had half-intended to keep parkswatch going with some posts while away but my…
I really value the comments readers make on parkswatch posts and this week there has been an interesting debate on sheep. The first reader, rightly pointed out that it is not just deer but also sheep that prevent woodland regenerating naturally. The second comment, from Tom Colville, is worth quoting in full: “The reason we…
In October 2020 I covered some of the sorry history of McGregor’s Landing at Ardlui (see here). A failed commercial enterprise it was then leased by West Dumbartonshire Council as an outdoor centre until 2015 since when it has lain vacant. Ten months later, in August 2021, a company called Ardlui SPV Ltd, which had…
Following the local member elections on Thursday, the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) issued a news release with some brief biographical details about the successful candidates (see here). You can read the full results here. The LLTNPA news release announced that turnout was 31% across the National Park but did not…
As the UK Government and possibly the British state continues to unravel, today is local member election day for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA). Back in May, when I wrote a series of blogs on democracy in the National Park (see here, here and here), I had hoped the parkswatch could play…
Just two months after Forestry England (FE) and Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) bought back the Camping in The Forest (CiCF) business from the Camping and Caravanning Club (see here), all 16 campsites are all being outsourced again. FLS is currently advertising 15 year leases, through a company called CDLH, for Cobleland in the Trossachs,…
This map shows the extent of Flamingo Land’s proposed development at Balloch, now being marketed as Lomond Banks. The area outlined in red shows the area included in the current application for planning permission in principle, that in blue other land “within the control of the applicant” which includes a large part of Drumkinnon Woods. …
When I stumbled across an unburied hydro pipeline in the Lakes recently (see here) it got me thinking about whether it might not be far less destructive and better for the landscape and natural environment if we left hydro pipelines above the ground. I could not help comparing that scheme in the Lakes to what…
Following my post (see here) on the new planning application from Flamingo Land to develop much of the Riverside and Woodbank sites at Balloch, opposition to their revised proposals appears to be growing. The debate in the Scottish Parliament Yesterday, there was a debate in the Scottish Parliament, sponsored and led by Green MSP Ross…
[After publishing this post I was sent a couple of photos by Dave Morris, who had just spent a night in a campervan parked next door to a beaver lodge and the habitat they had created. Duncan Halley, a Scot resident in Norway helped facilitate the translocation of beavers for the Knapdale re-introduction]. At their…
A day after the initial consultation (see here) about creating a new National Park in Scotland closed, there was a Scottish Government sponsored debate in the Scottish Parliament on the issue, introduced by the responsible junior Minister, Green MSP Lorna Slater. (You can view the proceeedings here or read the official report here). While there…
I had been wanting to visit Glen Etive to take a look at the seven hydro schemes being constructed there since John Sinclair, a local resident, had alerted me to the environmental damage that was being caused before Xmas (see here & here) This post takes a look at the landscape impact of the hydro access…
Yesterday the revised planning application from Flamingo Land to develop Balloch was published on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) planning portal (see here). The main differences to the planning application that was submitted in 2018 and then withdrawn in September 2019, just before the LLTNPA was due to consider it, is…
[Apologies, I made an error in my explanation of the law below and have updated this post. A full understanding of Board membership requires interpretation of the 2000 Parks Act, which is less than clear in this area, and incorporation of the separate designation orders and modification orders for the two Parks] Under the National…