In August of 2017 HIE initiated a clean-up operation on CairnGorm Mountain. A number of environmental groups had campaigned for this action for years and with over 12 months having elapsed since the commencement of the clean-up, it is time now to examine the results and the value for money obtained for the input of 267,000 pounds of public funds
The project brief (see here) produced by HIE has this to say:
The purpose of this project is to remove all redundant ski lift infrastructure from the Cairngorm Ski Area. This includes the steel structures and towers, concrete structures, old safety circuit cabling, ski matting and redundant/damaged post and paling snow fencing.
The project will be divided into 7 work site areas and there will be a pre-construction information document and a site area document issued for each area.
Aonach Poma lift line.
Coire na Ciste Chairlift lift line.
West Wall Chairlift Lift line.
White Lady T Bar lift line.
Fiacaill T-Bar lift line
M2 ski run snow fencing
Coire Laogh Mor ski run snow fencing
Cairngorm Mountain is situated at the heart of the CairnGorm National Park and as a result is very much under scrutiny of many of its stakeholder and public interest groups. As a result, this project will demand the highest standards of work practices and environmental awareness possible.
This post will concentrate on examining the work done on the Coire na Ciste Chairlft Lift Line and Aonach Poma loading area.
Steel Structures and Towers: These have been completely removed from the mountain and there is no evidence of anything having been left behind. The Coire na Ciste carpark is a different matter though and there are many many pieces of splintered wood and metal shards that await the tyres of unsuspecting vehicle owners.
Concrete Structures
On the line of the Coire na Ciste Chairlift the concrete structures were the chairlift tower foundations. The brief has this to say:
‘’It is proposed that all concrete structures will be broken out to approximately 200mm below surface and following the profile of the terrain. Reinstatement will include using soil, turfs boulders, gravel and heather materials from surrounding areas and re-landscaping as in the surrounding areas’’
There is multiple evidence that this has not been satisfactorily done. Concrete has not been broken out to 200mm below surface and several of the old tower foundations are clearly identified as mounds that are significantly higher than the surrounding ground. Exposed concrete can be seen and there are steel shards and wood that remain at the site of the Aonach Poma loading area.
The reinstatement, such as it is, has been done merely by a machine ripping out turves placing them on top of the old foundations. The resultant damage has had no remedial work done whatsoever.
It’s very clear that there are tower foundations that remain higher than the surrounding ground.
Steel Shard, wood and cable not removed just buried. Someone had clearly been there making checks before us. They had removed turves to see underneath but we kindly replaced them
Ripped out turves and no reinstatement work done
The quality of the job is of an unacceptable standard with concrete not ground out and with vegetation simply dumped on top to cover up the remains of the concrete foundations. The dumped vegetation has died because it has nothing to root into and the areas from where it was ripped out have had zero reinstatement work done.
How about removal of old cabling?
There are multiple points where cabling is on the surface and others where sandbags have been used to cover the exposed cable.
How about ski matting?
These section of ski matting have been used to bridge wet areas but they are clearly foreign to the area, have no place there and should have been removed.
How about redundant/damaged paling snow fencing?
The evidence speaks for itself.
HIE committed public funds to this project and hard questions must now be asked about the value for money that they obtained. We might also question the fact that HIE are content to commit public money but to then fail to check up on the standard of the work done for the money they paid. Time that HIE asked the Cairngorms National Park Authority and SNH to provide an independent ecological report on the standard of the works.
It is abundantly clear that their Cairngorm clean up project has not delivered the required result which is a significant disappointment for everyone who campaigned long and hard to bring it about but more importantly, it has not enhanced the environment on CairnGorm at all or been carried out to agreed conservation standards.
Yet another example in the ever growing list of miss-managed, public money funded ” Projects” on Cairngorm ……organised by HIE and NOT monitored by HIE to ensure that they have been carried out ….Properly….Adequately…..and as Described !
This has been happening for years under the debatable watch and input ! of HIE’s now strangely gone ? Head of Property and Infrastructure !! Here’s hoping the “new kid on the block” can do better ! Perhaps Mr Macleod could allocate some time to have a wander in the lower area of Coire na Ciste for starters……..if his Colleagues at HIE Towers let him assume the title of Productive Management Labour, rather than decades of the opposite !!
And perhaps relevant Political figures like Fergus Ewing and Roseanna Cunningham will take a closer and more critical approach to what is their remit ?
Sadly the Ciste has evidence of historical negligence from top to bottom. Rolls of fencing that are now intertwined in heather or half submerged in the burn are easy to find. More recent debris is littered along the old chairlift routes. Cutting disks, wrappers from P.P.E., tools, wire, rebar, bolts, plastic etc have been cast onto the ground and left. Some of the chairlift bases still sprout inches of rebar and angle iron pointing skywards. Electricians who replaced junction boxes and cabling on the WWP simply tossed the old JBs and glands onto the Poma track. I could go on, each trip into the gully exposes more. The rest of the ski area is similarly littered with offcuts of timber, old fencing and historical debris.
Surely a higher standard of stewardship should be expected of such a high profile public asset? It’s apparent that no one in any of the responsible agencies or companies care now or in the past. It’s time for the community to take the reigns.