The Scottish Government approved the camping byelaws in January 2016 on condition that the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority would create new camping infrastructure. 300 new camping places were promised for the first year and the Scottish Government delayed implementation of the byelaws by a year to give the LLTNPA time to put…
Tag: visitor management
This post looks at how little of the ORP 2013-17 (see here for plan) has been fulfilled from a Water User’s perspective. At the time of writing this article there has been no sign of a new or even ‘refreshed’ Outdoor Recreation Plan to replace the outdated 2013-17 ORP. The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs…
The successful challenge to Argyll and Bute’s car parking charges on Mull Back in April the local community in Mull and Iona protested against the imposition of new £9 a day car parking charges by Argyll and Bute Council at Fionnphort (see here). Last week they forced the Council to back down, in part it…
Last year in the Pyrenees, after a couple of hours walking west from Bujaruelo along the GR11 we came across a large – 50 plus – group of young people packing up camp after a night of very heavy rain. I was struck at the time that you would be very unlikely to see such…
I have recently returned from my second walking trip to the Pyrenees (see here for links to posts last year). On the French side Public transport up into the Pyrenean valleys from the rail network are poor and we had to wait a couple of hours in Gedre for a connection to Gavarnie with…
The public accountability of our Public Authorities has, over the last twenty years, been reduced to a thread. Part of the reason for this is that journalists are, with a few honourable exceptions, no longer employed to report on what our Public Authorities are up to. The days of the media regularly reporting on Board…
The papers for the next Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority Board meeting on Monday 18th March were published last week (see here). There are some good things in them, particularly the papers on “Wild Park” and a new Forest Strategy (see here), which I will consider further in due course. There are also…
A year after my post on how the signs in Glen Doll at the head of Glen Clova contravened access rights (see here) I revisited the glens. I was pleased to find that two of the three signs I had commented on have been removed. A number of regular visitors to the Glen commented on my…
I am pleased to report that following my post in November about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s (LLTNPA’s) unlawful application of the camping byelaws (see here), that they have started to address the issue of unlawful “No camping” within the National Park”. This post will first take a look at the law…
[This post is partially in response to comments made by Ray Sefton on Drennan Watson’s post “Time for a re-think at Cairn Gorm” https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2018/12/05/time-for-a-re-think-at-cairngorm/”] Rights of public access, as established by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, apply to all ground around the Ptarmigan restaurant and beyond, to the far reaches of land and water…
There are very serious legal issues about the way in which the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority have tried to implement the camping byelaws which up until now they have tried to sweep under the carpet. The most significant legal issue arose early last year when the LLTNPA was forced to drop its…
While the move to develop a tourist tax gathers apace in Edinburgh and is now being advocated for other cities (see here for article by Marianne Taylor in Herald) there continues to be silence on this issue from our National Park Authorities. The issue of inadequate investment in tourist infrastructure in the countryside is as…
In January I blogged about the estate management plans the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority has been developing with some landowners (see here) and which I had requested be made public last October. As a result of my appeal to the Information Commissioner, in July the LLTNPA “voluntarily” published some information on Integrated…
I have been staying in the Saas Tal, which I have found out now markets itself as the free republic of holidays, the last few days. On top of the basic campsite charge of 14 swiss francs (£11.20) a night I have also paid 7 swiss francs (£5.60) in tourist tax. That increases the basic charge…
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…
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…