The Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust Ltd was incorporated (see here for information on companies house) on 17 October 2017 for the expressed purpose of gaining ownership and control of the Cairngorm Mountain business. The Trust has Articles of Association that are fully compliant with the Land Reform Legislation and as such it is a body which has the legal competence to make an Asset Transfer request to Highland and Islands Enterprise as the owners of the Cairn Gorm Estate and the Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd hill business. The Trust has also met the criteria that requires a minimum of 10% of the local [Postcode District PH22] community to be members.
It has now been over 30 months since the Trust was legally incorporated and the membership might have expected some tangible progress to have been made by now.
On Friday 1 May, the Trust sent out the following to the members:
The link lead to a then a brief questionnaire that asked if people would be in favour of AGCT pursuing projects out with the Cairn Gorm ski area and would people be in favour of a community owned seasonal ice rink. Comments could be made at the end.
This post will not analyse the prospects for a ‘pop up’ ice rink. The AGCT have provided no detail about costs, size, location, operational time-frame etc and it is therefore impossible for parkswatchscotland or indeed the Trust members to make any informed judgement.
The communication does make it very clearly obvious that the AGCT has made no tangible progress with respect to gaining ownership and control of the Cairngorm Mountain Business. It has taken them 30 months to understand that the significant effort that they’ve made to try and work with HIE has led nowhere. Suggesting a number of projects on the mountain and then having no substantial involvement “in any of them” will have been quite galling for the AGCT Directors who willingly gave their time. Given what is known about the manner in which HIE operates, that should not have come as any surprise. The AGCT Directors decided to follow a strategy of toadying up to HIE and they should now realise that their strategy has failed.
‘’HIE are keen to ensure that any organisation involved in Cairngorm has the ability to manage complex resources’’. The hypocrisy in that statement simply beggars belief. HIE are fully responsible for the present dysfunctional shambles at Cairn Gorm and they’ve demonstrated time after time that they do not have the ability to manage complex resources. We are left to wonder how they ever managed to hand the keys to Natural Retreats, given the requirements they are placing on the AGCT?
To be clear, there is nothing in the Community Empowerment legislation that requires a Community Trust to undertake a quite different commercial project as a pre-requirement for making a successful Asset Transfer Request. No other Community Trust, of which we are aware, has ever had to do such a thing.
HIE through this suggestion are effectively sidelining the AGCT for at least the next 2 years. The Trust Directors should understand by now that HIE are and have always been leading them a merry dance. They will never willingly transfer the Cairngorm business over to the local community. It’s long past the time to face reality and tackle this head on.
The AGCT should now make an Asset Transfer request as quickly as possible. That should not take long to do given that they had a project manager in place for 8 months [he resigned in February for reasons unknown]. HIE will turn down that request but they will have to make public their reasons for refusal. The AGCT can then concentrate on addressing those reasons and make a second Asset Transfer request as soon as the legislation allows. If they go ahead with the proposed ice rink venture then that will just lead to a further 2 years being wasted. That’s because HIE will turn down an Asset Transfer Request whenever it is made. Get it done now and waste no more time and energy on fruitless projects.
What needs to happen now
The AGCT should consider the following suggestions which would assist with the furtherance of the original purpose for which the Trust was set up as well as improve its competence and credibility.
- Forget all fanciful ideas for projects outwith Cairn Gorm. HIE cannot and should not be placing such a requirement on the AGCT. Make that clear to them.
- Develop sub-groups to investigate and manage matters such as Fund Raising, Membership Drives and Communications
- Replace the two Directors that have recently resigned and fully populate the vacant Directorships. The membership should be canvassed to find suitable and willing volunteers.
- Increase the number of members from within the local Community to a level that cannot be ignored. A continuous membership drive is required.
- Publicise the Trust and it’s aims and ambitions. It is presently largely anonymous (see FB page for example). Publicity needs to be relentless and continuous
- Raise funds. Nothing has been done since the initial crowd-funder. The Trust has no credibility while it does nothing to help itself.
- Operate in a fully open, honest and transparent manner. Keep the membership fully informed about what the Trust is doing and publish the Board Meeting minutes.
[Note: I was an interim Director of the AGCT from October 2017 to March 2018 and as a continuing member of the Trust I take a considerable interest in its affairs].
I received this letter from AGCT and have been pondering a reply for a few days now. I must admit I have been disappointed in the lack of progress and information and have been wondering as to how much HIE have been ‘leading’ them on. As you said it
Is a shambles. My reply to the letter will be a bit more focussed
This treatment of AGCT by HIE is a clear demonstration of the depths into which those controlling the future of Cairn Gorm activities have sunk. The time to clear up this cess pit is long overdue. The removal of HIE from the scene must be the top priority before any more bullying and bullshit descends onto the mountain, along with vast amounts of badly spent public money. This will only be achieved with high level political intervention. After Covid 19 the most urgent task facing the First Minister is the need to instruct HIE to transfer all responsibility for Cairn Gorm activities to Forest and Land Scotland with immediate effect. They are the only public body in Scotland with any hope of preventing the further degeneration of this mountain into a squalid reminder of a glorious past.
We are always happy to read and, or listen to the views of others however, the comments in the article above do not fully reflect the intention of AGCT. As we have not been interviewed in relation to the article We offer a brief explanation about our questions to our members. Since January 2020 we have been seeking views from our members on varying matters.
As everyone is aware we and, the community have been consulted by 360/Jura on behalf of HIE; this along with comments/dialogue from and, with local community and, stakeholder groups led to an increased interest in a wider brief for AGCT.
AGCT board members decided that we should consult our members on this potential widening of our interests and, an opportunity to work on a short to mid term project highlighting our project management abilities.
Please note however, that any project undertaken would not replace the ongoing work with HIE it, would be complementary to this work and, aimed at attracting a wider community and, visitor infrastructure to help bolster our community activities.
The AGCT board welcomes a chance to have an open discussion to allow a reflective view on our position.
We are saddened that any one considers that AGCT has followed a policy of “Toadying Up” to HIE. As noted we as directors have given our best attentions to the matters in hand and, as such we need to work and, consult with all interested parties and, individuals.
There is no doubt that the AGCT have good intentions and are working very hard to improve the situation on Cairn Gorm and elsewhere. But all the members need to realise that they are faced with a public body, HIE, that is impossible to deal with. It has been like that since 1971 when their predecessor body, Highlands and Islands Development Board persuaded the politicians of the day to transfer ownership of the upper slopes of Cairn Gorm from the Forestry Commission to HIDB. Since then there has been a lack of integration of management between the top and bottom of the mountain and a lack of competence. HIDB/HIE never had and never will have the skills and experience needed to manage a recreational facility of this type. The only public body capable of doing this is Forest and Land Scotland, the successors to the Forestry Commission. The need to do this was explained in 2006 – see The SNP Government came to power in 2007 and so have had 13 years in which to implement this land transfer. Today Fergus Ewing is the Cabinet Secretary responsible for both HIE and FLS, as well as being one of the local MSPs. And the other local MSP is Kate Forbes, who holds the purse strings in the Cabinet. Neither of these politicians seem able to get their heads together and effect this land transfer. Perhaps the mountain will only move if every AGCT member were to write to the First Minister and demand action by her two Cabinet Secretaries. Only when FLS takes over from HIE will the AGCT be able to make progress on the mountain through an effective relationship with FLS.
Hazel, your first sentence contains two inaccuracies. (1) Myself and at least one other were banned from the Trust FB page because we kept asking what the directors of the Trust were doing, but at the same time suggesting ways forward. (2) Because the Trust very rarely tells its membership anything, then how are we to know what it’s intentions are? E.g. In posts I have had published on Parkswatch I had to find out through FOI requests to HIE what was being discussed at FRG meetings and who was representing the AGCT! But lets face it, the FRG was just HIE’s attempt to keep other stakeholders quiet and control the situation after their incredible failures to hold NAIL/ NR to the terms of the lease and maintenance requirements. At the 2018 AGM an “unofficial” vote was taken of those present with regards to re-instatement of Coire Na Ciste which was overwhelmingly in favour, at least 66%, and yet nothing was progressed except that it was downgraded in importance by the directors at that time. That vote showed people’s views on matters that really concerned them. As for the Masterplanning document to be produced this month, HIE had already pre-empted the Masterplan by proceeding with its intentions to repair the Funicular, along with all the other current planning applications being presented. For HIE to ask that the AGCT should proceed with an entirely seperate business idea to show their ability to operate such a venture is an affront to those directors who already operate their own successful businesses in Aviemore. The trust in my opinion needs to concentrate on the reason it was established. In one of my Parkswatch posts I proposed a plan for new uplift on Cairngorm, and despite over 1000 people engaging with it when it was posted on Save The Ciste, including quite a few who sent maps etc of their ideas, there was absolutely no comment from the Trust. Engaging with the post would have been totally against HIE’s wishes and is one of the many reasons why it is suggested that the Trust is “toadying up” to HIE. By the way if you would like to read that post it is titled ” A Plan for the Future of Snowsports on Cairn Gorm” from 23/01/2020 in the archives. The Aviemore and Glenmore Trust now needs to re-establish the reasons for its original inception and take consideration of the seven ideas set out in this post if it is to regain its credibility with the wider snowsports community that it is supposed to represent.
Hazel especially……about 5 years ago I arranged a meeting for a few of us with HIE…..we already knew from many years of witnessing their performance on Cairngorm how they “operated”
The meeting was attended by 2 Senior Management from HIE……one never spoke, but sniggered….most of what the other said were lies ! They called the Meeting short, but it certainly confirmed our impression of HIE ! The one that sniggered arranged early retirement a couple of years after, due to things getting too hot for him, regarding his obvious inability as Land Manager for HIE on Cairngorm !
The other is still in a prominent position !
Also since then, I and others have opened the Can of Worms that is HIE !
Two of the original Directors of AGCT deleted me off the Facebook Page too….because I told them on more than one instance that HIE were taking them for a ride (not quite so politely) one even interpreteted my comments as (quote) Personal Abuse !
Now, after a LOT of ducking and dodging, AGCT are at the present stage, and quite frankly are only left with one option……
DISBAND !!!
And the sooner it does it the better……the longer it lasts before a natural expiry…..will only blight any form of reputation anyone involved with it has !!
The Funicular Response Group needs to go too !
HIE……helped by certain Political figures….. have their own continuing agenda for Cairngorm…..a few “locals” are not going to succeed in changing things as long as they have any form of control of Cairngorm !
If you ever speak to HIE again ask them about the £30 Million that disappeared at Kishorn.