This post takes a further look at the environmental implications of Highland and Island’s Enteprise current planning application to create a beginner’s ski area at Cairn Gorm and a new application to vary the conditions Highland Council attached to the temporary Adventure Play area in Coire Cas. Development, erosion and flood risks at Cairn Gorm…
Tag: planning
A number of people have been asking me about what is happening with the seven Glen Etive Hydro schemes which were approved by the full Highland Council in March. Until last month, it was difficult to answer. There had been no reports of activity on the ground and no further information had been added to…
[ [ [NB this post has been updated since first issued to correct I mistake. I had stated a planning application to build a car park in the site above had been refused in April. I have removed that and related comments and inserted correct sequence of events] Rob Edwards from the Ferret has continued…
In the first bit of really welcome news (see here) to have emerged from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park for some time, officers have recommended that the entire Flamingo Land Planning Application is refused. This includes both the proposals for land owned by Scottish Enterprise and the National Park itself on the Riverside…
Last week news of yet another proposed major development on the western shores of Loch Lomond emerged. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority published its response to the pre-application consultation proposals on their planning portal (see here) and this then received coverage in the Helensburgh Advertiser (see here). This post explains why the…
In the run up to the National Park’s hearing on their Planning Application on Tuesday 24th September, Flamingo Land appear to have decided to go onto the offensive. Besides their attempt to discredit West Dunbartonshire Councillors objection to the application (see here) and (here), which I will consider further below, they have been feeding more…
If the declaration of a climate emergency by the Scottish Government is to mean anything, we all need to think and act differently. Continuing to look at and treat the natural environment in the same old way, as a commodity to be used and exploited, just won’t do. We need to become far cleverer about…
This post takes a further look at the issues (see here) associated with the latest Planning Application (2019/0247/DET) by Highlands and Islands Enterprises/ Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd at Cairn Gorm. The application is to create a beginners ski area over an area of 0.93 ha or 9,300 sq.m. in the lower right-hand half of the picture…
The first reason West Dunbartonshire Council gave for objecting to the Riverside and Woodbank House Planning application was that local Councillors regarded it as “overdevelopment and departure from the Local Development Plan”. In planning terms this is very important because Local Development Plans are meant to set a framework for what type of development takes…
The arrangements for taking the planning decision On 29th July the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority issued a brief news statement setting a date for their Board visit to the West Riverside site (Monday 24th September) and for the Board Hearing and meeting which will decide the Flamingo Land Planning Application (Tuesday 25th…
A couple of weeks ago Highlands and Islands Enterprise lodged yet another planning application for Cairn Gorm, this time for the creation of a beginners ski area above the day lodge (see here for planning documents). James Gibb from HIE made no mention of this at the meeting organised by the Aviemore and Community…
After my post on floods and flood prevention within our National Parks (see here), which included a brief postscript on Balloch in response to a reader’s comment, I have been sent more photos of flooding on the Old Luss Rd, which runs under the Woodbank House part of the proposed Flamingo Land development. The updated…
As the downpours continue, the Cabinet Secretary for the Environment, Roseanna Cunningham, should be asking herself why so much of the recent flood damage has been within our National Parks? Examples include disruption and damage to the rail network near Carrbridge in the Cairngorms (see here), at Ardlui and north of Crianlarich in the…
I have been thinking and discussing with various contacts the claim by James Stuart, convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, that it conducts a risk based approach to planning enforcement (see here). The evidence from the Donich Water hydro scheme, situated above Lochgoilhead, which I visited earlier this year, suggests the…
After my visit to the Keltie Water hydro scheme at the beginning of May (see here), I complained to the Convener of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, James Stuart, about the Park’s continued failure to address the mess left by a development which they had nominated for a Scottish Planning Quality Award. …
[Update 5/7/19: following publication of this post HIE’s subsidiary Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd appear to have backtracked, having announced the ATV experience will be limited to the road up the Ptarmigan and is unlikely to take place more than once a month (see here). That appears a tacit admission that their original proposal was contrary…
The last thing I was expecting when I was writing on Tuesday about the democratic deficits in our planning system (see here) was for West Dunbartonshire Council to vote unanimously to oppose the Flamingo Land development, but that is what they did at their Council meeting last night. Tories, SNP, Labour and Community Party Councillors…
Democracy and the planning system – the National Park, West Dunbartonshire Council and Flamingo Land
I was honoured to be on the platform last night for the Save Loch Lomond meeting in Balloch about the proposed Flamingo Land Development…… along with five elected politicians. There were some great contributions which you can view on Independence Live (here). Flamingo Land, Scottish Enterprise and local SNP politicians, possibly in thrall to the SNP…
After the criticisms in my last post about the way the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is being managed (see here), its good to be able to report that the Park’s management have got something right. At today’s Planning Committeethey are recommending that the Planning Application from the Wards Estate for a function…
After my post on The Scottish Planning Bill, hill tracks and our National Parks a reader sent in what appears to be a standard letter which SNP MSPs have been sending to constituents who have lobbied them. With Andy Wightman’s amendments to bring most hill roads into the planning system due to be debated in…
Scottish Enterprise’s decision to make a joint planning application with Flamingo Land at Balloch, with a view to selling off the publicly owned gateway to the National Park for private profit, is looking increasingly foolhardy. First Scottish Enterprise included the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, the body that has to decide the planning…
On Monday the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority re-advertised (see here) the Flamingo Land Planning Application and announced a new statutory 28 period for the public to respond. The reason for this is that Ian Cowan, the consultant commissioned by Ross Greer and the Greens whose work has been financed by a crowdfunding…
The compulsory parking charge scheme at Cairn Gorm, introduced by Natural Retreats in June 2018 was dropped in September of that year (see here). There was no point in continuing to make parking charges compulsory when the Funicular failed and the number of tourist visits crashed. The number of skiers who visited Cairn Gorm last…
The Garabal Estate, which consists of a broad strip of land running south west from Inverarnan at the head of Loch Lomond is up for sale (see here for brochure). The asking price is c£652 an acre. This post takes a look at the issues this raises for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National…
The 28 day statutory minimum consultation period on the revised Flamingo Land Planning Consultation ends on Monday when Green MSP, Ross Greer, is due to hand in over 52,000 objections he has helped gather to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority. The LLTNPA, to it credit, has said that it will continue to…