A documentary following a year in the life of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park will be shown on Sunday 6 November on BBC 4 at 9pm. ‘Tales from the National Park’ follows the story of the Cononish gold mine application and features all aspects of the planning story from initial discussions with the applicant and community meetings right through to the recent final decision to approve the gold mine. Film maker Richard Macer spent a year following staff from the National Park giving unique behind the scenes footage.
Fiona Logan, CEO of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, said: “Richard and the team have been with us for a year and have captured all angles from the decision to initially refuse the application, the reaction from the local community, the huge amounts of ongoing work between ourselves and the applicant as part of the planning process and, finally, the recent meeting where Board Members approved the application.
This is the largest and most complex planning application the National Park has ever received and it highlights the difficult decisions we have to make. National Parks are not museums and we have a duty to take a long term approach and invest in local communities to ensure they prosper while, at the same time, recognising our responsibility to safeguard the landscape. Conservation and improving the visitor experience are key aspects to the work of the National Park Authority and our staff worked tirelessly with the applicant to find solutions to make this development work. We now have plans in place that will actually improve Glen Cononish in the long term and bring in financial benefits to Scotland the local communities. ”