![\"Informal](\"\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/campingbalmaha.jpg\")
<\/a>Informal camp on Loch Lomond shores<\/p><\/div>The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority is to consider further measures to deal with antisocial behaviour and pressure from high visitor numbers which may include more wild camping bans. Wild camping on the east side of Loch Lomond between Drymen and Rowardennan during the summer months is currently banned under a byelaw introduced in 2011. The ban was enforceable with a \u00a3500 fine and regular Police and ranger patrols were implemented as well as other measures such as an alcohol ban.<\/p>\n
The Park Authority has now issued a report which shows that experience in the East Loch Lomond area to date has seen significant reductions in antisocial behaviour reported to the police, litter and damage to the environment. The Park Authority is now considering options for other problem loch shore areas which may include legislation against wild camping if current educational measures and patrols prove not to be adequate. The Park Authority says it will be talking to communities, landowners, visitors, recreation groups and interested parties to hear their views on the extent of these issues and the possible solutions.<\/p>\n
Fiona Logan, chief executive of Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park said: \u201cWith the invaluable support of the local community, the camping byelaw on East Loch Lomond was introduced as part of an extensive package of measures to tackle long standing problems from visitor pressure. Despite years of educational activity, rangers working with visitors, our high profile \u2018Respect the Park\u2019 campaign and collaboration with Police services, the visitor experience in this area was still being spoiled by the antisocial behaviour of some and, at peak periods, the sheer volume of visitors to the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now we are in listening mode, in the very early stages of considering the extent of these Park-wide issues and possible solutions for each individual area.”<\/p>\n
Sandy Fraser, owner of the Oak Tree Inn in Balmaha said: \u201cFor us, since the byelaw was introduced we\u2019ve seen a much wider variety of visitors to the area. Some have even told us that they\u2019re returning after 30 years away. All in all it\u2019s been good for business. Before the byelaw was brought in, we had been considering selling up as we\u2019d had enough. We wouldn\u2019t have built the tea room or the shop. But now we are expanding the business to cope with the increased demand from visitors looking for a quality experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ramblers Scotland said that they would oppose any further wild camping bans. Dave Morris from Ramblers Scotland told the Herald that, “They introduced the camping by-laws at the same time as introducing the alcohol prohibition. Now, the situation is much better but we don’t know whether it’s due to alcohol, which was obviously a major issue.<\/p>\n
“It’s a fundamental part of the Land Reform Act, and a fundamental part of our tradition, to be able to camp in areas like Loch Lomond and other areas of Scotland without hindrance.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority is to consider further measures to deal with antisocial behaviour and pressure from high visitor numbers which may include more wild camping bans. Wild camping on the east side of Loch Lomond between Drymen and Rowardennan during the summer months is currently banned under a byelaw introduced in 2011. The ban was enforceable with a \u00a3500 fine and regular Police and ranger patrols were implemented as well as other measures such as an alcohol ban. The Park Authority has now issued a report which shows that experience in the East Loch…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9191,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-access-issues","category-walking-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10591"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10592,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10591\/revisions\/10592"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}