There is no hope for the future of Cairn Gorm while Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) remain as owners of the land on this mountain, while also acting as funders of most of the developments on the upper slopes. This was evident from the time that their predecessor body, Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB), bullied the Forestry Commission in 1971 to relinquish ownership of the upper slopes and transfer the land from the Commission to the Board. That land transfer required the approval of the Secretary of State for Scotland.
The problems flowing from HIDB ownership were examined in detail at the Lurchers Gully Public Inquiry in 1981, which led to a Secretary of State rejection of plans to expand ski facilities westwards from Coire Cas. This was followed by a House of Commons Select Committee on Scottish Affairs investigation into HIDB’s performance on Cairn Gorm. The problems identified by the Inquiry and the Select Committee investigation continued when HIE replaced the HIDB.
The funicular project emerged from the time when Sir Fraser Morrison was chairman of HIDB. He was also chairman of Morrison Construction for many years. During the period when the Chief Executive of HIE was Iain Robertson the funicular project received planning approval (in 1999) and the then First Minister, Donald Dewar, personally approved public funds to assist in the funicular construction. This was supposed to be the final requirement for public funds to support the funicular in its construction and operation. HIE awarded the contract for the construction of the funicular to Morrison Construction. Iain Robertson then left HIE and joined Morrison Construction where he presumably once again enjoyed the company of Fraser Morrison who by that time was no longer chairman of HIE.
Robertson’s transfer from HIE to Morrison Construction led immediately to the resignation of Alan Blackshaw from the Board of Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise, part of the HIE enterprise network. Blackshaw, a former senior civil servant (he had been Director General of the UK Government’s Offshore Supplies Office during the early days of North Sea Oil exploration and development) had been repeatedly asking within the HIE network for information and evidence to justify the public expenditure on the proposed funicular railway. As Blackshaw had also been a senior figure in UK representative bodies for skiing and mountaineering, as well as co-chair of Inter-Governmental Conferences on Sustainable Mountain Development in Aviemore and Trento (Italy) in the mid 1990s, he was the most expert figure within the HIE network to advise on the suitability, or otherwise, of a funicular railway on Cairn Gorm. The HIE response was to ignore or prevaricate, verging on bullying and intimidation, The hostility HIE displayed to Blackshaw was a disgrace but appears typical of a public body which has displayed unsurpassed arrogance in its dealings with persons who ask reasonable questions of how it spends enormous sums of public money on Cairn Gorm.
David Hayes, the very well known and respected Director of the Landmark Centre (Carrbridge) and other successful visitor service facilities in Scotland, also had reservations on a par with those of Blackshaw. Hayes commissioned David Pattison, former head of tourism development at HIDB, to examine the economic viability of the proposed funicular. Pattison’s report appeared to indicate that the funicular had no hope of being a successful facility, independent of continuing support from public funds, and the whole pattern of public use and associated facilities needed to be re-examined, from the bottom to the top of the mountain, across both the Forestry Commission land on the lower slopes and the HIE land of the upper slopes. The response from HIE appeared to be one of complete rejection of both Hayes and Pattison’s conclusions.
A few years ago Forestry Commission Scotland tried to secure an asset transfer and re-establish their ownership of the whole of Glenmore Forest Park by transferring all of the land then in HIE ownership back to themselves, as it had been from the 1920s up until 1971. This land transfer was thwarted by unknown factors, to the consternation of FCS.
Following his resignation from the HIE network Blackshaw detailed his concerns about the performance of HIE on Cairn Gorm in a report to the Auditor General for Scotland. No politician who has read this report, or the material produced by David Hayes, as well as previous material contained within the Lurchers Gully Inquiry proceedings or subsequent Parliamentary investigations can reach any other conclusion than the need to remove HIE from any ownership role on Cairn Gorm with immediate effect. At its simplest all the HIE land needs to be transferred to FCS. At a later stage FCS could facilitate transfer of all or part of the Glenmore Forest Park to a Local Community Body set up to meet land reform statutory requirements. Financial responsibility for the running or removal of the funicular should remain with HIE for evermore. As every week passes the financial crisis enveloping Cairn Gorm deepens. Now is the time for politicians to act, to pull their heads out of the sand, and get HIE off the mountain at the very earliest opportunity. A previous First Minister got us into this mess, the current FM needs to extract us from the quagmire.
My goodness, this all brings back memories. I wrote a weekly column in the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald in the eighties and nineties and recorded much of this funicular controversy, but it’s so interesting how the passage of time distorts the memory. I had almost forgotten the chain of events that led me to suggest the whole sordid mess appeared to be about jobs for the boys. Hamish Morrison, chair of HIE and Morrisons Construction. Iain Robertson, CEO of HIE resigns and goes to work for Morrisons Construction. HIE then awards the funicular building contract to said Morrisons Construction. You really couldn’t make it up. And all under the eye of a Labour Scotland Government that didn’t bat an eyelid. Is it a construction fault that has led to the funicular’s current closure? If it is, the public should be kept informed – enough public money went into the building of the damned thing.
It now appears the chickens have come home to roost.
I recall writing that this whole sorry business would turn out badly. It gives me absolutely no satisfaction to be proven correct. Many decent people have lost jobs. The wider repercussions in the Strathspey and Badenoch area will only really be felt once the winter gets underway, but already planned snow events are being cancelled.
I wonder just what the Scottish Government can do to soften the blow of the Cairn Gorm ski area possibly being closed for the entire winter. Another bail-out of public money, which would be grossly unfair on other ski areas in Scotland who have run their businesses properly and within their own restricted budgets.
It would appear that the mix of HIE and Natural Retreats has been a partnership made in hell and the very first thing the Scottish Government can do is look at HIE’s deplorable record on Cairn Gorm, and turf them out. The sooner the better, for everyone’s sake.
My chickens might be barking up the wrong tree but it will be interesting to see who gets the contract for the repair work. Or the demolition, which might be a more appropriate response.
Well said, Cameron.
From an outsider’s perspective the corruption and conflict of interests is an absolute disgrace. To keep the people who work for “Natural Retreats” largely in the dark about the extent of the problems surrounding the Funicular is also disgusting. The rich guys at the top of the food chain (one guy in particular springs to my mind) seem to escape their share of the responsibility and the public purse subsidises their mistakes. It was ever thus… The Funicular Fiasco (aka Scotland’s worst white elephant?)
I worked for HIDB from 1978 to 1988 and was also a season ticket holder on Cairngorm for those 10 years (during which time I did the BASI course). My memory is that the board were very keen on promoting winter sports, not least in pushing for – and contributing to – the new development on Aonach Mor. I can’t speak for what happened after 1988 but it seems to me that (according to the Audit Scotland report on the funicular) there was a careful assessment of the different options available once the White Lady chairlift got to the end of its life. One can see the attraction of a funicular to boost summer business. The writer seems determined to paint HIE as the villain of the peice but it would have been acting on the advice of those running the mountain. What was Bob Kinnaird’s “core lift” strategy? It should also be remembered that Cairngorm from the 90s was operating during a period of decline in skier days due to a sequence of poor snow winters and a growth in cheap flights to the Alps. In other words income would have been falling since the halcyon days of the 80s. I think what is happening on Cairngorm is a tragedy and the decision to remove the Ciste chairlifts and cafe as well as the White Lady tow was a major mistake – but then I haven’t had access to the books. I fully agree with the writer than a new management unit needs to be formed (I am not convinced Natural Retreats knows much about running ski resorts – let alone in a “marginal” ski area like Scotland). Glencoe, Nevis Range, Glenshee and The Lecht have all shown it is possible to improve the Scottish ski experience (despite difficult climatic conditions) but I agree something radical needs to be done to rescue Cairngorm – and the economy of the Spey Valley.
Yes, HIE is the “villain of the piece”. They were committed to building a funicular railway from day 1, despite being told by a wide range of experts that this was the wrong sort of uplift in the wrong place. They were told that the replacement for the White Lady chairlift should be a modern chairlift up to the bottom of the Ptarmigan Bowl, with open access at the top, including provision for mountain bike uplift and descent trails, small restaurant/shelter facility at the top of the new chairlift and a path connection to the existing Ptarmigan restaurant.
Bob Kinnaird was not involved in the funicular decision. It was already being built when he was appointed CEO of Cairngorm Mountain Limited. He was very effective in bringing new ideas to the mountain but even he could not find a way out of the financial quagmire.
HIE started the funicular project from the extraordinary assumption that it could be entirely financed from private sector funds – consultants were appointed to conduct a world wide search for a suitable investor. They secured zero funds from this pointless exercise. The investigative journalist Ed Douglas examined the public funding that was then required to build the funicular and concluded : “The funicular’s costs are now comfortably in excess of £30million. That money won’t be recouped. Every year it remains open will add to that figure, unless the business can be turned around.” (TGO – The Great Outdoors – Oct 2008). Ten years later we now know that the public funding requirements are escalating and all the signs are that the business can NEVER be turned around while HIE are in charge.
I agree with Peter Lewis. There were a lot of difficult decisions to be made in the 90s, which with hindsight have impacted on the present situation.
Yes, there were a lot of difficult decisions to be made in the 90s but HIE refused to sit down with the many stakeholders and discuss the various options. The only meeting in which Iain Robertson, the HIE CEO, sat down with the organisations that opposed the funicular was convened by Prince Charles who wanted to facilitate better dialogue between the various interests. I was present and heard Robertson agree to a follow up meeting to discuss different options. He reneged on that commitment and alternative options were never given proper consideration. Subsequently, when the RSPB and WWF Scotland were in the position of being able to stop the funicular proceeding through an appeal to the Court of Session HIE bullied RSPB by threatening to cut off all communication with their staff in the north of Scotland. The appeal was abandoned. In more recent times, after the funicular had been operating for several years HIE tried to offload their Cairn Gorm responsibilities on to Forestry Commission Scotland, having been told by their own property consultants, apparently, that no private investor in their right mind would want to buy the HIE estate. Ed Douglas (see TGO article referred to in my response to Peter Lewis above) concluded that the funicular had become a “financial black hole”. This had been exposed by another investigative journalist (Rob Edwards, Environment Editor, Sunday Herald), who had published, through the use of freedom of information legislation, correspondence between FCS and HIE. This explained how Hugh Insley, a senior official with FCS, had warned his colleagues during their discussions with HIE: “The difficult issue is how to cover ourselves against future costs related to the ski facilities. Put simply there is a lot of poorly maintained infrastructure on a highly designated area. This must either be brought up to standard or removed.” Faced with this impasse HIE then chose to break off negotiations with FCS. Ten years later they appear to have made minimal effort to bring facilities up to standard – the funicular is in deep trouble, the old café in Coire na Ciste was a rotting, derelict eyesore when I last looked and the old chairlift there has been removed without any consultation with stakeholders.
So, today, we are faced with a situation where no private sector investor with any sort of financial pedigree would touch Cairn Gorm with a barge pole and the two public bodies with the greatest stake in the area, HIE and FCS, will not talk to each other. It is a problem that needs to land on the First Minister’s desk before £millions more of public money disappears down HIE’s black hole.
It appears another £1m of our tax payers money has just been committed today by HIE to provide snow making facilities on the lower slopes. They have to be seen to be doing something to guarantee snow sports this winter, however this comes from an organisation who have commissioned a snowsports infrastructure report after having already sanctioned the removal of the Ciste chairlift and having thrown their financial support behind a planning application to build a plastic ski slope.
Wise words from most….HIE certainly are the main villains….having dealt with them and observed individuals within in action over a good number of years….I could use a small Dictionary of words to describe them !!!!….Some might say..”not related”….but with this Autocratic way they have performed on Cairngorm……what of other “Projects”..eg Inverness Medical…Norbord….Kishorn ? A Comprehensive and totally Transparent Public Enquiry into HIE should be instigated !!!
@Eric Foulds / Peter Lewis.
The difficult decisions (i.e core lifts) came in 2005. At that point the bank was pilling strings.
Cairngorm couldn’t afford debt repayments on the funicular