According to BEAR Scotland, the consortium of private companies who manage trunk roads on behalf of Transport Scotland, around 160mm of rain fell in 36 hours around the Rest and Be Thankful two weekends ago and caused eleven landslips (see here– news release dated 11th October): “One small landslide at the Rest and be Thankful….
Tag: Scottish Government
Living as we do on the western edge of Europe, in its windiest country notorious and one that is notorious for its wet weather, I had tended to assume that Scotland bears the brunt of the storms that cross the Atlantic. After the Met Office had issued warnings for Storm Alex at the end of…
While governments across the world fail to implement or row back on actions to reduce our carbon emissions and respond to climate change, CO2 fuelled hot air wreaks increasing havoc. The same heat that is causing more hurricanes in the Caribbean at the end of each summer often drives the tail end of those storms…
Eighty staff laid off Last week Scotgold Resources announced that the “unique package” which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) had claimed would “deliver multiple benefits for the area” and create jobs (see above) was putting the majority of its employees at the Cononish goldmine in Strath Fillan on short-term unpaid leave…
On Saturday I was involved in a demonstration organised by the Right to Roam campaign at Scots Dyke, constructed in 1552 to delineate the border between Scotland and England. As one activist straddling the border put it, this foot has a right to be here, the other one doesn’t. The differences in access laws between…
In June HIE claimed the funicular was perfectly safe On 09/06/2023, after being contacted by several Parkswatch readers, I wrote a letter (see here) raising safety concerns about the Cairn Gorm funicular to Stuart Black, Chief Executive Officer of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), who own it. On 21/06/2023, I received a reply not from…
Scotland National Parks and the Scottish Government If you want to understand why Scotland’s National Parks have achieved so little in the 20 years since they were created, you need look no further than successive Scottish Governments, both the Ministers responsible and the civil servants that have supported them. Instead of encouraging and empowering our…
{NB this post has been corrected following a comment below} The GR5/52 from Lake Geneva to the Mediterranean is about 650km long and crosses through two of France’s National Parks, the Vanoise and the Mercantour (and a number of other protected areas). Much of the lower parts of the route go through forest and I…
Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) announced that they had settled the three funicular court cases (see here) out of court four days after I had announced parkswatch was taking a break (see here). I am happy to admit Parkswatch got it wrong when we predicted (see here) and (here) that the court cases would end…
I had hoped to spend six weeks this summer traversing half the Alpine chain but family circumstances conspired and I am now off to do something shorter, broadly following the route of the GR5 from.Lake Geneva to the med. I am taking a break from blogging for a month. It is a good time to…
A month ago the Scottish Government advertised the position on the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) Board vacated by the former Convener, James Stuart, at the end of January. No hurry there! The deadline for applications was Monday and the advert has since been removed from the public appointments website but the…
Scottish Forestry has revealed in correspondence that it has awarded £2,559,303.91 (£200k more than I had thought) to Abrdn for tree planting at Far Ralia. It also sent a copy of the approved plan (above) which appears the same as that issued for consultation. Scottish Forestry has therefore approved the plans submitted on behalf of…
On 28th July the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) lodged a response to the Flamingo Land Planning Application (see here) which could scupper a large part of the proposed development: “The outputs of the FRA [Flood Risk Assessment] (illustrated in Appendix G) [see map above] indicate the majority of Zone B – Riverside and part…
Ten days ago I was in Balquidder and as far as I could tell most of the unlawful no access signs along the shore of Loch Voil are still there (see here). Some of these signs pre-date the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 which created access rights and the formation of the Loch Lomond and…
Two years Abrdn Property Income Trust (formerly the Standard Life Property and Income Trust) bought 1400 hectares of land from the Ralia and Drumochter Estate with the stated intention of using the land to offset carbon emissions by planting trees. Abrdn were advised on the purchase and the “habitat restoration project” (see here) by Fenwick…
The owner of Akre trees, who has family connections with the Ralia Estate (see here), not only claims to have advised Abrdn on their purchase of “Far Ralia” but to be behind the native woodland project for the estate (see here). Akre also appears lined up to carry out the planting should Scottish Forestry give…
The recreational, environmental and planning disaster in Coire Cas and HIE’s ownership of Cairn Gorm
Some people might at first sight find the new mountain bike tracks running down the lower part of Coire Cas attractive. Certainly Cairngorm Mountain Scotland must have thought so when they posted this aerial photo on their Facebook Page. In landscape terms and from the air the sinuous curves of the tracks certainly look better…
Last week I took two relatives from Australia, ecologists both, on a tour of Scotland which included parts of both of Scotland’s National Parks. Our first stop was Inveruglas, on the west shore of Loch Lomond, land owned and managed by the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority. It was good to find the…
On 30th June the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) issued a news release (see here) stating that Sandy Bremner and Eleanor Mackintosh had been elected as new Convener and vice-Convener of the Cairngorms National Park Authority on 28th June. The elections were to replace Xander McDade, who had announced earlier in the year that he…
Background The successful re-introduction of beavers to Scotland owes very little to our public authorities and everything to the people who, whether accidentally or not, allowed beavers to enter the catchment of te River Tay. While the official trial in Knapdale floundered – the river system was too small and the catchment isolated so the…
In a recent letter to the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald (29 June, see below) I suggested ways that the management of the land around Loch Morlich and nearby areas in Glenmore Forest Park could be improved to meet public concern over environmental degradation. Such improvement is likely to be far more important than the potential…
The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) draft National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP), currently out for consultation (see here) says hardly anything about litter prevention or management and contains just one commitment that mentions litter: “Jointly plan visitor management with partners to ensure a co-ordinated approach to staff presence on the ground, litter…
A significant row has developed in Glenmore, the most popular place for visitors in the Cairngorms, and various interests are now trying to stampede the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) into initiating measures to ban camping there. This post argues that primary responsibility for the problems in Glenmore lie with Forest and Land Scotland and…
The damage caused by Scotland’s exceedingly high numbers of red deer and muirburn are the two main issues that need to be tackled if we are to tackle the nature and climate emergencies in the uplands. This post takes a look at the three changes in the law the Scottish Government announced yesterday (see here)…
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…