Parkswatch has now been sent photos from four different readers resident in Kingussie who are concerned about the polluting silt that continues to run down the River Gynack over six weeks since repair work to the overflow started (see here), (here), (here) and (here). The latest was on Monday: “I walked up the River Gynack…
Tag: planning
Just over a year ago the Cairngorms National Park Authority approved a planning application (see here for papers) to build “family friendly” mountain bike tracks in Coire Cas at Cairn Gorm. Two magic carpets, to be used as uplift, were constructed just before the start of the winter (see here). The construction of the main…
After from some excellent objections, no new documents have been added to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA)’s planning portal (see here) since I wrote two months ago about how Flamingo Land appears to be losing the battle at Balloch (see here). While ostensibly not a lot appears to be happening, two…
Silt first started flowing into the Gynack River system, which flows into the River Spey, six and a half weeks ago (see here). I reported and others reported this to both the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency and the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA). The CNPA responded that they were not sure whether the silt flowing…
On 9th May Highland Council issued a decision on the proposals submitted on behalf of ABDN to upgrade the track to Far Ralia and construct an alternative to the Wade Bridge (see here). The way the proposals have been dealt with and the decision itself raise serious questions about how the planning system in the…
In January 2022, Highland Council granted prior approval to a new “forestry” road at Balavil for which there was no justification or need. At the same time I was made aware of large borrow pit which had not appeared on any of the plans and reported this to the Cairngorms National Park Authority (see here). …
[This post has been updated to clarify the difference between the River Spey SAC and River Spey SSSI] While not nearly as bad as it was (see here), the consequences of the engineering works in the Allt Mhor/River Gynack continue to flow down in the River Spey river system. Silt has now been washed down…
On Friday silt was washing down the Allt Mhor/River Gynack into the River Spey Special Area of Conservation from the work to repair to the Pitmain Estate flood alleviation channel. I have been informed that this is not the first time this has happened recently. On 28th April (see here) I commented on how much…
My post on the financial crisis at the Cononish goldmine last week (see here) prompted some very interesting comments and a number of photos which have been published on twitter (see here for photos, videos and commentary). These suggest that environmental conditions are, as I feared, being breached. Tailing disposal Under the approved waste…
My apologies. In my post last week on how the Cairngorms National Park Planning Committee had rejected the application for a new road linking Pitmain with Glen Banchor (see here) I had used this photo of the Allt Chaorainn bridge from the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group. I had then wrongly added the black line…
Last Friday the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) Board rejected the planning application to construct a new road round Newtonmore that would have connected the Pitmain and Glen Banchor estates (see here). The video of the meeting is still on the internet, which is contrary to the usual practice of the CNPA but is a…
Following my post on 3rd April about the financial crisis at the Cononish goldmine and its possible environmental consequences (see here) there have been a number of developments. Scotgold’s finances In their interim results (see here) for the half year till December 2022, published on 30th March, the Directors of SGZ Cononish, Scotgold’s subsidiary…
The Gynack flood alleviation channel was constructed in 2017 and started to erode away as soon as it was used before it was closed due to the risks of catastrophic failure (see here). Ostensibly designed to reduce flood risks in Kingussie by diverting some of the flow of the Allt Mhor into Loch Gynack, the…
[Update 3rd May: this map, which was contained in the Committee report was incorrect, it shows the 4.83km of proposed new track but the application extended west and included a new bridge over the Allt Chaorainn to the left of the Parking symbol]. The Planning Application for a new “forestry” road, which would connect the…
This post takes a further look at what is going on at Far Ralia which was bought in September 2021 by the Standard Life Property and Investment Trust (SLIPIT), renamed the ABDN Property Income Trust last summer. The Wade bridge First, a little good news. The gate that featured in my post on the Far…
Since my last post (see here), another 10,000 or so objections have been lodged through the Scottish Greens against Flamingo Land’s proposed development at Balloch, more than the original application in 2018 and the most in Scottish history. Flamingo Land’s response has been to issue a news release, which was quoted in various papers from…
It is almost two years since my last post on the Cononish goldmine (see here) and five since the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) granted it planning permission. Since the mine was first mooted there has been a steady stream of “news” stories from the owners, Australian Company Scotgold Resources Ltd, about…
Transport Scotland has gone silent about its plans (see here) to upgrade the A82 along Loch Lomond since the Helensburgh and Distict Access Trust (HADAT) lodged a complaint with Audit Scotland about the process last summer (see here). It is good to see that HADAT is keeping up the pressure, both with its petition to…
I had hoped to cover the members debate that took place in the Scottish Parliament on 12th March about Flamingo Land’s revised development proposals for Balloch on my way to the Alps two weeks ago, but doing that on the phone proved beyond me. It followed a previous members debate, also sponsored by local list…
On 1st February Gilkes Hydro announced proposals (see here) to create a new pumped storage hydro scheme on the Ardverikie Estate in a beautiful and unspoiled area: “At up to 900MW installed capacity and 33,000MWh stored energy, this will be the largest such project in the UK”. If constructed, the scheme would link Lochan…
On 13th February a further 42 documents were added to the planning application which Flamingo Land first submitted in May last year (see here). A cover letter from Stantec (see here) explains the main changes to the application, including which documents have been superseded, and responds to the 16 points raised by Loch Lomond and…
[Update. Apology for the reference to Standard Life in the headline. SL merged with Aberdeen Asset Management and are know known as ABDN although their Investment and Property Income Trust kept the old name till last year]. I have been watching the Standard Life Investments and Property Income Trust (SLIPIT)’s plans for the part of…
In my first post on the revised Flamingo Land Application last September (see here) I referred to the submission Ian Cowan (an environmental and planning law consultant) had made on behalf of Ross Greer which contained a forensic analysis of some of the gaps and contradictions in the application including the proposals for parking. I…
This post has been informed by comments made on my series of six posts on “Will the repairs to the funicular work” and discussion with people with a far greater knowledge of construction and civil engineering than me. When I commented on this picture in my second post on the funicular court cases (see here)…
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…