On Monday I went for a bike ride on the Dunachton Estate with Dave Morris, a friend and fellow access campaigner. We rode from near Kincraig over to the River Dulnain and came across a number of advisory access signs, some good some bad, but one in particular really caught our notice. A new moorland…
Tag: outdoor recreation
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…
As we celebrate twenty years since the passing of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, and as someone who was involved in the process that led to the establishment of the statutory access rights contained in that Act, and its subsequent implementation, I would like to contribute my personal thoughts on the current discussion around…
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…
[NB Part of this post has been updated following the claim at the LLTNPA board meeting that the FOI response for 2022 only gave part year registrations and numbers increased considerably after that date] The single greatest flaw in the the Loch Lomond bye law consultation process, which I touched on in my last post…
On Monday, a special meeting of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) is being held to consider and approve a report to Scottish Ministers proposing revisions to the byelaws which govern boating on Loch Lomond (see here for papers and to get a link on the day to watch the meeting, which…
On 18th January the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) issued a news release (see here) about improvements to visitor infrastructure that are underway across the National Park. This was then picked up by various media without critical comment. While new investment in visitor infrastructure is welcome, the news release failed to explain…
DC a Young people in Scotland who have grown up with the Right To Roam should be seriously concerned at attempts to erode and misinterpret this important legislation. It was with great concern that I read the posts a few weeks back (see here) and earlier this week (here) about the attempts from some in Scotland…
On 10th December 2021, Mrs and Mr Jones – Kirsty Young and her husband – submitted a planning application (see here) to build a luxury lodge on the north shore of Inchconnachan, the island on Loch Lomond they had bought from Luss Estates. The application included proposals to restore native woodland and manage visitors on…
After the first three questions in NatureScot consultation on National Parks, which are about whether to turn them into vehicles for “green finance” (see here), the fourth is about the role of local communities (see here). The introductory text to the section claims that our National Parks “provide exemplars of community engagement” but contain no…
On Monday Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) announced (see here) that a new company called Twinflower will take over the management of the Glenmore campsite from 1st December. It has made no announcement as yet about its other two campsites in the Loch Lomond and Trossach National Park, Cobleland and Cashel, which it put out…
Following the poorly designed consultation on creating a new National Park for Scotland which took place May-June (see here), the Scottish Government asked NatureScot, its statutory adviser on such issues, to provide advice on the role of National Parks and “how new nominations for National Parks could be evaluated”. In the summer NatureScot set up…
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…
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…
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…
Most of my working life has been as a mechanic in various fields from commercial to private vehicles, so I have a practical and varied knowledge of mechanical engineering. In writing posts for parkswatch, I would hope it is obvious that I haven’t done all the work myself. I have been advised and assisted by…
Just four months after Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) bought back the lease for an undisclosed sum from the Camping and Caravanning Club (see here), the Strathy has revealed in an excellent article that this arm of the Scottish Government has not even shortlisted the Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust (the AGCT) to operate the…
The weekend before last, on a stravaig around the Mar Lodge Estate, we passed the Red House on the Geldie which is being renovated by the Mountain Bothies Association (MBA). While I am a long-standing member of the MBA, I don’t keep up with the work they are doing and had only heard about this…
This post considers Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL)’s second planning application at Cairn Gorm, to create new mountain bike trails in lower Coire Cas. The application (see here for planning papers), as I will explain, is as poorly documented and thought through as the first, which was to create two new roads on the mountain…
Inchconnachan, the Loch Lomond island, has been in news recently because of the proposals to get rid of its wallabies. This is linked to the planning application (see here) that has been submitted by the new owners, Kirsty Young and her husband Nick Jones, to develop luxury tourist accommodation on the island, part of the…
On Monday I went for a wander around Glen Ample from Loch Lubnaig in Strathyre, starting at the car park used by hillwalkers for the popular round of Stuc a Chroin and Beinn Each. I had not walked the first part of the route, between Ardchullarie and the Ardchullarie hydro (see here), for many years….
[NB My apologies, I have corrected an error in the first version of this post and have used Assynt in the title, which I cannot change without destroying weblinks, when it should have said Coigach – see comment below] While staying near Ullapool last week I came across this sign, which was new to me,…
I have not so far blogged on the long-awaited (see here) masterplan for Cairn Gorm which Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) published last June (see here). Subtitled “Unlocking the potential of the Cairngorm Mountain Estate”, the masterplan is a vague and poorly drafted document: the operator, Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) is to explore “options…
On 28th December Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) issued this sledging policy on their website and a similar statement on their facebook page. It epitomises everything that is wrong with the current management Cairn Gorm and is unlawful. The statement appeared to have prompted by the bedlam at the patch of snow that has been…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA)’s consultation on their draft National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) officially closes on Friday, apparently at 5pm. So far, I have only considered the draft plan from a climate and nature conservation perspective but will continue covering other aspects of the plan after the consultation closes. Before that, however, I…