Author: Graham Garfoot

October 28, 2019 Graham Garfoot 4 comments

Background On the 27 January 2019 I applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise for the two “ADAC Structures” Inspection reports which resulted in the Funicular Railway being closed. The redacted reports were finally released on Friday 11th October after a request to the Scottish Information Commissioner. This post will look at the Funicular Railway Inspection…

October 2, 2019 Graham Garfoot 3 comments

At the beginning of August Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd, Highland and Islands Enterprise’s subsidiary which operates their business at Cairn Gorm, submitted a Planning Application to create a new beginner’s ski area (see here for planning documents).  Parkswatch has covered this several times already (see here), (here) and (here) but the more you look at…

August 21, 2019 Graham Garfoot 1 comment

This post takes a further look at the issues (see here) associated with the latest Planning Application (2019/0247/DET) by Highlands and Islands Enterprises/ Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd at Cairn Gorm. The application is to create a beginners ski area over an area of 0.93 ha or 9,300 sq.m. in the lower right-hand half of the picture…

July 25, 2019 Graham Garfoot 5 comments

With the Funicular currently out of action and its future unknown, the recently published SE Group addendum into uplift a Cairn Gorm (see here) is ostensibly recommending the creation of 8.7 hectares of new ski terrain in Coire Cas as part of their revised plans.  This post explains why this figure is wrong and far…

July 15, 2019 Graham Garfoot 12 comments

Following my two posts on the proposed Mountain Coaster (see here) and (here) , I will take a look at the financial and environmental aspects of the proposed new uplift at Cairngorm as outlined in the SE Group report of November 2018 (see here).   I will use the same kind of format as the Mountain Coaster…

July 3, 2019 Graham Garfoot 5 comments

This is a picture of the Fiacaill ridge in Coire Cas which is being proposed as the new site for the Mountain Coaster, an idea which is, I am reliably informed, already attracting a lot of interest, and not in a positive way. The second photo is a close up of the same area showing…

June 28, 2019 Graham Garfoot 3 comments

“A mountain coaster is a massive source of income but has to be implemented by the community”. This was part of a Facebook post on Sunday 23/06/2019, the claim being that the business plan proposed by the Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust (A&GCT) and the SE Group showed a good profit could be made from…

June 21, 2019 Graham Garfoot 11 comments

On 19/02/2019 I applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise, under a Freedom of Information request, for the ADAC Structures report into the Condition of the Funicular Railway from November 2015, (see here – 6.5MB file).  I subsequently received this on May Bank holiday Monday,  06/05/2019,  at 09.31. This was five days after the Big Breakfast…

March 21, 2019 Graham Garfoot 3 comments

Following my post on 28/2/2019 about the ADAC Structure and COWI reports on the funicular (see here), this post shows how Highlands and Islands Enterprise are deliberately trying to cover up and hide information about what has gone wrong with the Funicular on Cairngorm. I sent an FOI request on 03/10/2018 for two other reports…

February 28, 2019 Graham Garfoot 1 comment

[This post was sent as a letter to the Badenoch and Strathspey Advertiser, which has been providing excellent coverage of the funicular failure, and should appear in that paper today] In March 2018 I applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act for the ADAC Structures report into the funicular…