Following my second post (see here) on the Inverardran forest road near Crianlarch, Mary Jack sent me a list of all the prior notifications for forest roads considered by Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) last year and their decision in each case. This post considers what that list (see here) tells us…
Continuing this series of posts (see here), the idea for funicular at Cairn Gorm was I believe inspired by the Ellmau funicular. A comparison between the two railways is instructive and raises further questions about whether the proposed repairs to the Cairngorm Mountain funicular. The most outstanding difference is the viaduct itself, steel piers and…
It is most welcome that the collective voice of those calling for an end to the use of plastic tree tubes is growing in strength and that Forest and Land Scotland has committed to minimising their use (see here). But our National Parks should go a step further and ban their use completely. Many people…
[Tim Ambrose is a retired Chartered Accountant and Treasurer of The Cairngorms Campaign] The first Accounts of CMSL were published at the end of November (see here). They show losses as expected but raise many questions. Background – What is CMSL? When Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) took over the business of the former…
Recently I was sent photos, taken in 2019, of a stink pit at the northern end of the 42,000 acre Glenavon Estate, about 5km south of Tomintoul. The person who sent the photos had been alerted by a walker who had stumbled across the pit a couple of months earlier in February and reported finding…
After my post about the Cairngorm Hotel’s failure to pay the minimum wage to all their staff (see here), the court case this week about the fire at Cameron House provides further evidence that we need to take a far more critical approach to the tourist industry. Elements of it are far from benign and,…
Following on from my last post (see here), which looked at whether vibration from poorly maintained rails could have caused damage to the piers supporting the funicular, this post focuses on the concrete parts of the structure, especially the ends of the “I” support beams and the in-situ blocks. The “I” beams are described as…
On Xmas Day I took advantage of the relaxation of advice on travelling to head up to Breadalbane for a walk over Maol Ghaordie with my partner. The bog was nicely frozen on the way up, it felt properly wintry on the top and we traversed the hill to descend by the scenic and rarely…
This post takes a further look at the longer costs and benefits of the funicular railway at Cairn Gorm as set out in Highland and Island Enterprise’s Full Business Case (FBC) (see here) . What I failed to mention in my first post on the FBC back in October (see here) was the total estimated costs…
Snow enhances the beauty of our hills but it can also highlight the destructive impact that human developments have on the natural landscape. The hydro path, picked out by the snow, has disfigured Gleann Casaig and destroyed the sense of wildness in the Ben More and Ben Ledi wild land area. Once, from viewpoints on…
[Update. While I checked the law at New Year, I did not realise when drafting the post the list of reasonable excuses for leaving the place you are living was amended on 5th January (see here clause 18 (2) t) to include outdoor recreation. I have consequently amended the post which had highlighted the differences…
Since the release of the COWI report on 11th December, which Highlands and Islands Enterprise had withheld for two years, Parkswatch has been able to start investigating the repair of funicular (see here) and (here). We have been uncovering new issues and questions on an almost daily basis. For example, Pier 9 (photo above) featured…
On 6th September, a couple of days before my post More forestry shenanigans – the recently constructed road in upper Glen Falloch, I had written to the Director of Planning at the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority asking him to clarify when the track was built and out of what materials. I received…
In the first part of this series of articles (see here), about whether the repairs Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has planned for the funicular will work, the following picture was thought to be that of a pier base. Photo credit. G.Paton. It is now believed to be that of Anchor Block(AB) 48. Notice there…
Reforesting Scotland’s excellent Land Revival Study Tour to the Cairngorms in June 2018 – for the site visit to the Anagach community pine wood, see here – was based at the attractive looking Cairngorm Hotel in Aviemore (here). While enjoying a stimulating conversation over dinner the first evening, I doubt whether any of us present…
A week after the Herald piece, on 29th December, Prince Charles was interviewed about his views on the natural environment by Margaret Atwood, guest editor for the Today programme (see here – from 2.20.30 to 2.29.30). It is highly recommended listening. I had not realised that Prince Charles had been speaking out about the dangers…
Four days after its damp squib of an official opening on 19th December (above), Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) announced that it was shutting up shop indefinitely (see here), but also that it had decided to lock the snow gates at Glen More for good measure, making it very hard for anyone else to enjoy…
Just before Xmas Scottish Enterprise (SE) announced (see here) it intended to renew its Exclusivity Agreement (EA) with Flamingo Land which was due to expire at the end of December. If approved by Scottish Ministers, the EA will legally commit SE to selling the land it owns at Balloch to Flamingo Land, should they secure…
In the last three weeks two very significant pieces of information about the funicular railway have been made public and both raise serious questions about the proposed repairs. The original plans for the construction of the funicular Highland and Island Enterprise (HIE)’s £16m business case for repairing the funicular (see here) did not explain why…
“Health and Safety and customer service is what drives us at Cairn Gorm” so claimed Susan Smith, Interim Chief Executive at Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) in a video on 9th December (see here), a message repeated earlier in that same video by Colin Matthews their Operations Manager. If that is the case why, after…
The landslips that have blocked the A83 through the Rest and Be Thankful more or less continuously since August are a wonderful example of what happens when decision-making is not informed by an understanding of the natural environment and fails to consider the consequences. From the original decision to route the A83 across the unstable…
As usual, the latest edition of Earth Heritage (see here) has some excellent articles about Scotland but I was particularly interested to read “Reflections from a Geoheritage Sabbatical in Scotland: The View from America”: “Scotland was a natural choice for a geoheritage sabbatical for several reasons: spectacular and diverse geology; the importance of Scottish scientists…
[Post corrected 16th December 18.15] A week ago Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd posted a video on facebook (see here) in preparation for the official opening of the new ski season on 19th December. Both interim CEO Susan Smith and Colin Matthews referred to the excellent snow cover on the mountain. As the video panned across…
Amid the public outcry about the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority’s approval of the Hunter Foundation development at Ross Priory, the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division has opened a case (see here) on whether an Environmental Impact Assessment should have conducted. Until that is decided, the LLTNPA’s decision has effectively been…
The tree tube problem The theme of the Spring/Summer issue of Reforesting Scotland was climate change. It ended with an excellent piece by a forest manager, Willie McGhee, on “Seas of plastic in the countryside”. His guesstimate is that in Scotland we may have used 200 million plastic tree tubes in the countryside over…