‘Significant concerns’ have been raised by national park officials over plans to upgrade a notorious stretch of the A82 beside Loch Lomond.
Transport Scotland’s preferred route for the long-awaited Tarbet to Inverarnan upgrade would follow the current route.
The decision was announced in 2015 by then transport minister Derek Mackay, and at the time, Gordon Watson, chief executive of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, said: “We are delighted to have worked alongside Transport Scotland to reach this key stage in developing a high quality road design for this world-class scenic route through the national park.
“This announcement is most welcome and the work ensures the new road design can both meet the needs of communities and businesses and maximise tourism benefits while enhancing the environment.”
Further details of the route were revealed in 2021, with designs showing the road being widened and viaducts built over the loch.
Eight years after the initial announcement work has still not started on the ten-mile stretch of trunk road, which frequently sees fatal and serious accidents, as well as long traffic jams.
And this week the national park authority said the design raised ‘a number of significant environmental concerns’, especially given the climate and nature crises.
A letter to the Scottish Parliament’s citizen participation and petitions committee states: “I have highlighted that whilst it was recognised that preferred scheme is still being finalised, it was becoming clear that without significant change from what has been publicly shared, I was very unlikely to be able to recommend to the board that the proposal is supported when the national park authority is formally consulted.”
Main issues were summarised as:
- Ensuring that the environmental and landscape objectives for the scheme are given greater prominence.
- Ensuring that access and active travel gains are delivered.
- The extent of land take, woodland habitat loss and rock cut.
- Ensuring effective mitigation and compensation for environmental impacts, especially native woodland losses, loch shore impacts, rock cut visual impacts and road corridor landscaping.
- Ensuring suitable landscape and architectural considerations of new viaducts, stopping points and other infrastructure.
- Impacts on the viability of farming and other land management along the route corridor.
- The road standards in terms of width and speed being designed for.
The parliamentary committee was discussing an alternative ‘high road’ route option – for more details see this story.
The full letter from the national park is here: PE1967_D LLTNPA