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Updated: 15:27, 22 January 2021
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A walker on the West Highland Way. Picture: Lorne Gill/SNH
More than £100,000 is being invested in improving access to some of the country s most popular paths in a bid to get more people out and about.
The West Highland Way is among the routes to benefit from the cash, which aims to remove barriers and improve access for all.
Nature Scot says that with the increase in the number of people accessing the outdoors and connecting with nature over the past year, much of the work is designed to improve the accessibility of the network.
AN application to build 39 affordable homes on land at Dumbain Road in Balloch has been refused by the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority. The application, which was made by Dumbritton Housing Association and West Dunbartonshire Council in 2019, was for 22 houses and 17 flats in a field located on the north side of Dumbain Road. However, the proposals have been rejected by the Park Authority, who cited geographical issues and the building of the homes on National Park ground conflicting with National Park Aims to conserve and enhance the natural heritage of the area. There were also objections from Balloch & Haldane and Kilmaronock Community Councils who said the council currently have the housing situation in the area under control with existing homes being upgraded as well as other brown field sites more suitable to build on.
OPPONENTS of plans for a new “leadership centre” on the shores of Loch Lomond haven’t given up their fight against the proposals – more than a month after they were unanimously approved. An application by the Hunter Foundation, led by Scottish businessman and philanthropist Sir Tom Hunter, for a site in the grounds of Ross Priory, near Gartocharn, were given the green light by the planning and access committee of the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) on November 23. But more than a month since that meeting, no official notification of planning permission being granted has been published on the park authority’s website.