Donald Trump was in the national media at the weekend for failing to keep to the planning agreements he had made at the Menie golf course North of Aberdeen.  While this should have come as no surprise to those who have followed that saga there are similarities with how  Natural Retreats have acted at Cairngorm.  There are several examples of both Natural Retreats and Donald Trump doing what they want and then either applying, or checking if they need planning permission afterwards.    Both appear to assume if planning permission is required it will be granted and the the planning authorities will never dare take action against them.

Photos taken at Cairngorm on Sunday provide more evidence to show that NR is no different from Donald Trump in failing to stick to their word.  From the comment on the photo above you would have thought the dump was temporary and would have been cleared up long ago.   In fact the photos below show that even more rubbish has been dumped at the former Fiacaill T-Bar loading area. There was no dump here until Natural Retreats took over Cairngorm Mountain Ltd.

Photo Credit Alan Brattey 11th December 2016

Photo credit Alan Brattey 11th December 2016

Parkswatch will publish more photos this week showing that there is now rubbish strewn all over Cairngorm and that the Fiacaill dump is just a small part of the problem.  It is though something the Cairngorms National Park Authority as planning authority should take action on.  Once you allow an organisation like Natural Retreats or Donald Trump to get away with breaching planning rules, you are just encouraging further breaches.  Partnership does not work with people to whom finance is king.  They need to be given limits and that means the CNPA taking enforcement action.