While Argyll and Bute Council’s decision to raise car parking charges at Arrochar by 800% (see here), has received much media attention, it also transpires that they intend to introduce this level of charges at their car park in Duck Bay, one of the most popular places for visitors on the west shore of Loch…
Tag: visitor management
Argyll and Bute Council have just announced that they are going to increase daily car parking charges at the main Cobbler car park (Glenloin No 1) and the neighbouring car park at the head of Loch Long (Glen Loin No 2) from £1 to £9 a day from the end of August. That’s a…
The Ordesa gorge is one of the great natural wonders of the Pyrenees, a sort of European version of the Grand Canyon but carved out by ice not water. It was designated as Spain’s first National Park a hundred years ago in August 1918 and since then has also been designated a World Heritage Site…
Remember the main way the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority sold the byelaws as being necessary? Multiple photos of abandoned campsites which on closer examination turned out to be the same few campsites photographed from different angles. I will only post 1 photo of the abandoned tent here but there was other detritus…
The primary reason for the creation of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park was to provide a mechanism that would manage visitors better in the interests of both people and the natural environment. The National Park was envisaged as a body that would ensure that proper infrastructure was put in place to enable people…
On the surface the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority is quite transparent about the complaints it receives, reporting on these to the Government through its Annual Report. Below the surface, however, there is evidence to show that the LLTNPA is covering up what is really going on. In this post I will take…
At the end of my first week in the Vanoise the weather improved slightly and we skied past the Fond d’Aussois hut which is only staffed in the summer but has a winter room. Outside the front entrance, which was reached through a corridor of snow, was an immaculate composting toilet. In the…
The day of my post about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority becoming a camping management authority (see here), the article above appeared in the Herald. Proof, if you want, that what I said is not the whole story and a reminder – if one is needed after the Cononish gold mine decision…
Last weekend was the first time I had visited Glen Clova for several years. The public road up the glen terminates at a Forestry Commission (paying) car park and visitor centre. In contrast to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, which has installed gates across car parks which it then locks, the public are…
23rd January was the fifteenth anniversary of the passing of the Land Reform Act which enshrined access rights in laws. Behind the legislation was a recognition that any problem in the countryside which was associated with people taking access to land, from burgling houses to dogs being out of control and worrying sheep, was already…
The consequences of outsourcing what used to be publicly provided services has been much in the news with the Carillion collapse. This should serve as a warning to Scotland’s Enterprise agencies operating within our National Park, with Highlands and Enterprise proposing to lend public money Cairngorm Mountain Ltd – owned by a company…
If you have not heard it, most of Saturday’s episode of BBC Radio Scotland’s Out of Doors programme (see here) was devoted to Scotland’s access legislation as it approaches its fifteenth anniversary. If you want to understand the amazing story of how our access rights were secured – and in this case “our” really does…
Commenting on Tuesday’s post (see here) Dave Morris, former Director of the Ramblers Association and one of the architects of our access legislation, wrote: “As we approach the 15th anniversary of the passage of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 it is worth reflecting, to Scotland’s eternal shame, what is happening on the bonnie, bonnie…
I was reminded a couple of weeks ago, in SNH’s regular e-newsletter “Scotland’s Nature”(see here), that there are some great people working for the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Ranger service . What better for a group of refugees without money and after all they have been through to get out and experience the…
On Friday, to no-one’s surprise, the Cairngorms National Park Authority unanimously approved the revised planning application for An Camas Mor and in effect gave Johnnie Grant a further three years to meet planning requirements. Paradoxically, this new decision, I believe makes An Camas Mor less likely than ever to go ahead. This is mainly because…
On Sunday afternoon, taking advantage of a break in the tropical storms which have been battering Scotland, we went for a walk up Ben Lomond, a hill that everyone from the west of Scotland who is able to do so should walk up at least once in their lifetimes. I walk, run or ski it…
Dear Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority, Pretty no, but effective yes. These toilets had been brought in because the composting toilets – I know your Chief Executive will say, “I could have told you so” – did not work. I don’t know why they had gone wrong but what I do know is…
Dear Cairngorms National Park Authority, Loch Builg and the eastern flanks of Ben Avon are remote country for those arriving on foot, three hours or so from a public road. Despite the network of estate tracks I was surprised to see this trap, at the end of the track above Loch Builg ,and on the…
Apologies to readers but due to problems with internet connectivity I was not able to get this post on (or next on rural development) out last week as intended. The consultation on the National Park Partnership Plan (see here) closes today. The LLTNPA’s visitor priorities are wrong The second section of the Loch…
By Nick Halls As a resident of Ardentinny, I routinely travel between Ardentinny and Glasgow by road. I make it a practice of stopping on Loch Lomond side to visit the camping places, for which permits are required, at Suie Field and Cuilag, situated on the shore between Inverbeg and Luss. Access to both…
The chaos at Luss (see here) on the first weekend in May, was experienced at several other visitor hotspots in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, but most notably and predictably at Balmaha. The LLTNPA has an opportunity to reflect on what happened when its Planning Committee considers draft Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) for…
Contributors to Parkswatch have, over the last 15 months, regularly highlighted the failures of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority to provide basic facilities for visitors. We are not the only people who have been saying this of course but in an extremely welcome development, Luss Estates, who I understand have been trying…
One of primary justifications the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority made for camping byelaws was that they were needed to address the problem of encampments on laybys by caravans and motorhomes over the summer. In their news release (see here) about the approval of the camping byelaws the LLTNPA included the following statement:…
By a happy coincidence, just as Dave Morris’ fine letter about how investment in the outdoors can benefit landscapes, people and the local economy appeared in the Herald, I received EIR 2017-037 Response Chemical Disposal points from the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. From the sublime to the ridiculous – but its an indication…
Parkswatch has, since the camping byelaws came into force on 1st March, documented how the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Park is trying to force campers into areas totally unsuitable for camping. Relatively little coverage has been given to how the LLTNPA is managing the permit areas which are being used by campers. …