Objection to Planning Application 2017/0254/MIN Development of a Gold Mine, Glen Cononish, Tyndrum [Editor’s note: Bill Stephens submitted this objection to the current Cononish gold mine planning application on 5th December. While the documentation on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park planning portal (see here) has been added to since then, Bill’s objection contains…
Tag: natural environment
One of the main arguments for National Parks in Britain and Northern Ireland has always been that planning has a key role in conservation, whether of the historical or natural heritage, and visitor management and that a dedicated National Park Authority will do this better than Local Authorities. Three matters which have been covered by…
Ref: NOV302727 Notice Type: 02 Contract Notice Title: Review of Cairngorm Ski Area Uplift Infrastructure Published: 30/11/2017 Published by: Highlands and Islands Enterprise Deadline: 10/01/2018 Full Text: http://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/Search_View.aspx?id=NOV302727 (Notice issued by Scotland Contracts Portal) On Friday 30th November, following the public row about their removal of old ski infrastructure from Coire na Ciste which forced…
Following my post about how the planning documentation for the Ledard farm campsite has been altered (see here), I have been trying to obtain final confirmation from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority of the status of the new track being used to construct the Hydro Scheme (see here). On 28th September a…
After the extensive coverage parkswatch gave to the destruction caused by engineering works in Coire Cas last year (see here for example), at the end of August a small group of us went to have a look at how the restoration work was going. In my view while there have been some improvements, there is…
Large developments are, I believe, fundamentally incompatible with the whole concept of National Parks, wherever they are located across the world. National Parks are places where the natural environment should come first, not second. That’s why I, like many people, object to the An Camas Mor development in principle. We should not be building…
At the beginning of April, Flamingo Land (see here for most recent post and links) asked the Loch Lomond and National Park Authority whether an Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) would be needed for its proposed development at Balloch (see here) The response of the LLTNPA on 13th April (see here) was that a full EIA…
By Nick Halls In my last post (see here) on the torpedo station, I stated that the gates blocking the old main road were both locked, thereby preventing vehicles entering the area. Recently, the southern of the two gates has been burst open and badly damaged. It was ajar for a period and it…
Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s news release on 12th April (see here) on its latest plans for Cairn Gorm – or “CairnGorm Mountain” in marketing speak – was widely taken up by the press. HIE must be delighted there was so little critical coverage but their announcement raises a number of serious questions. The truth…
By Nick Halls Following the post about the planning blight at the site of the former torpedo factory and range on Loch Long (see here), I went to take a look for myself. I wanted to take a look at the impact of the gates that have blocked off the old road and check if…
Back in November I submitted an FOI request to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority intended to enforce the proposed camping byelaws: “all information relating to any intention to prosecute whether internal, discussions or communications with the police, procurator fiscal, Forestry commissioner anyone else who might be involved in enforcing the byelaws.”…
The Officers Report for the Cairngorms National Park Planning Authority meeting on Friday which will consider the hill track at Cairngorm is as interesting for what it leaves out as for what it includes. This is over and above the policy omissions and enforcement failures considered in yesterday’s post. On the positive side, there…
A month ago I received a response from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority about their involvement in the west Riverside side and Flamingo Land. In their letter eir-2016-051-responseb the Park have tried to defend their integrity as a planning authority and their ability to make an independent judgement on the Flamingo Land…
In May 2015 Natural Retreats were granted planning permission to Highland Council to replace the “floating” top wheel of the West Wall poma lift with a fixed wheel and to extend the run by 40m subject to certain conditions. The Cairngorms National Park Authority, in their wisdom, did not call in this application unlike the…
As part of its programme to upgrade the cabling at Cairngorm, funded by Highlands and Enterprise, Natural Retreats started work on the Coire na Ciste t-bar late August/September (see here for the earlier work on cabling of the car park tow). Now this work did not require planning permission because Highland Council had judged…
One might have thought after all the recent publicity about destruction at Cairngorm that Natural Retreats would have started to take just a little more care. The latest evidence show nothing has changed and the spin from Natural Retreats bears no resemblance to what is happening on the gound. Having claimed on their…
Following my post https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2016/06/17/ring-ouzels-new-vision-cairngorm-ski-area/ Ron Greer sent parkswatch some photos of montane scrub from North America and Norway and some useful links which help illustrate the type of landscape that might result from planting the ski area. Here are some useful links from Ron: http://www.snh.org.uk/publications/on-line/heritagemanagement/montanescrub/ http://www.nhdfl.org/about-forests-and-lands/bureaus/natural-heritage-bureau/photo-index/labrador-tea-heath-krummholz.aspx (more photos from eco-equivalent zones in North…
Approaching the abandoned ski tow in Coire na Ciste two weeks ago, partially concealed by the rows of abandoned chairlift seats, three men in flak jackets, each with a camera whose lense was the size of a telescope, were reclining on the ground. Two of them had come to Speyside from the south east of…
The Strathie carried an article last week that Natural Retreats, the company that operates “Cairngorm Mountain” on behalf of Highlands and Island Enterprise, has dropped its plans to rebuild the Day Lodge complex by the Coire Cas carpark http://www.strathspey-herald.co.uk/News/Plans-for-futuristic-Cairngorms-Day-Lodge-are-axed-02062016.htm This would have included new facilities, such as a conference centre. This is to be welcomed. …
In London, what appears to be a very successful campaign is developing to turn it into the world’s first National Park city. The proposal won the support of the Labour, Tory, Liberal Democrat and Green candidates for the London Mayor election. Its proponents, from health experts to nature conservationists, architects to geographers, are now trying…
Like many people, I have not had a good thing to say about the banks for several years. Following the financial crisis, I came to the conclusion that the banks should not be allowed to issue paper currency or create electronic money, as debt, out of thin air. Such money is often used in socially…
The LLTNPA used claims about damage to trees by rogue campers as part of their justification for the camping byelaws, their main evidence being a few photos. Previous posts on Parkswatch have criticised these claims, pointing out most of the woodland in the area owes its survival to coppicing and far more damage is done…
Driving up to the northern Cairngorms yesterday to climb, protests by people in Aviemore about the disgusting taste of their drinking water was headline news on Radio Scotland. Scottish Water’s response was technocratic, that they would introduce a different process in 2017 which should make the water taste better http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/investment-and-communities/your-community/aviemore-2016 There was…