I was pleased to be quoted in an article in the National on Saturday (see here) about how the Scottish Parliament still drafts legislation designed to exclude the Royal Family and Crown Estate. Twenty 20 years ago outdoor recreational interests successfully fought to close a loophole which would have meant access rights did not apply…
Category: Cairngorms
Last Friday the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) Board rejected the planning application to construct a new road round Newtonmore that would have connected the Pitmain and Glen Banchor estates (see here). The video of the meeting is still on the internet, which is contrary to the usual practice of the CNPA but is a…
My post on The bus service and parking capacity at Cairn Gorm (published on Saturday 22 April 2023) received a number of comments on parkswatch and on the Save the Ciste facebook page. Parkswatch is indebted to those who took the time to point out the difficulties and costs associated with the provision of a…
The Gynack flood alleviation channel was constructed in 2017 and started to erode away as soon as it was used before it was closed due to the risks of catastrophic failure (see here). Ostensibly designed to reduce flood risks in Kingussie by diverting some of the flow of the Allt Mhor into Loch Gynack, the…
[Update 3rd May: this map, which was contained in the Committee report was incorrect, it shows the 4.83km of proposed new track but the application extended west and included a new bridge over the Allt Chaorainn to the left of the Parking symbol]. The Planning Application for a new “forestry” road, which would connect the…
The snowsports season on Cairn Gorm came to an end on Sunday 16 April 2023. It wasn’t the best or worst of seasons, although the available parking capacity was exceeded on a number of occasions, particularly at mid-term in February. During the course of the mid-term holiday in February, CairnGorm Mountain Scotland Ltd found it…
The approach that Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) is taking to native woodland restoration at Ben Avon in the Trossachs based on natural regeneration, which I considered in my last post (see here), provides a stark contrast with how they are managing their land in the McAlpine plantation by Loch Morlich which I first considered…
This post takes a further look at what is going on at Far Ralia which was bought in September 2021 by the Standard Life Property and Investment Trust (SLIPIT), renamed the ABDN Property Income Trust last summer. The Wade bridge First, a little good news. The gate that featured in my post on the Far…
This post is a critical analysis of the latest report into the impact of snowsports commissioned by the Scottish Government which was quietly published in January (see here). The report contains some major flaws/ inaccuracies which need to be addressed and has implications for all of Scotland’s ski centres, including the three in the Cairngorms…
Footpaths and climate change Yesterday there was an interesting feature in the Herald magazine about Bob Brown, the National Trust for Scotland’s footpath manager, who has kept the faith and continues to repair paths by hand rather than doing so on the cheap by machine, often with poor consequences (see here). Coming a few days…
The results of the local member elections for the Cairngorms National Park Authority, which take place by post vote, were announced on Thursday 23rd March and confirm that the voting system in both our National Parks is in urgent need of reform (see here for the elections to the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park…
I have always been sceptical about Highland and Island Enterprise (HIE)’s funicular court cases going ahead because of what further it might reveal about their incompetence. But those court cases (see here) may be the price the Scottish Government has exacted for picking up the cost (c£26m?) of the funicular repairs There was an interesting…
On 1st February Gilkes Hydro announced proposals (see here) to create a new pumped storage hydro scheme on the Ardverikie Estate in a beautiful and unspoiled area: “At up to 900MW installed capacity and 33,000MWh stored energy, this will be the largest such project in the UK”. If constructed, the scheme would link Lochan…
I biked over to the River Dulnain two weeks ago not to search out unlawful access signs on the Dunachton Estate (see here) but to take a look at the forestry and a new native woodland scheme around An Suidhe. There is some lovely woodland surviving on the estate, even if none that I saw…
I was pleased to receive this photo and comment at the weekend from a parkswatch reader who has been following the funicular story for several years and has experience of health and safety on North Sea oil rigs. “I finally made it up the hill to the Cairngorm Ski Area. I think it would be…
On Wednesday NatureScot, formerly known as Scottish Natural Heritage, issued a news release (see here) about how they had entered a partnership with the Hampden & Co, Lombard Odier Investment Managers and Palladium (the company that in in a partnership with National Parks across the UK called “Revere). They described this as: “a ‘national first’…
[Update. Apology for the reference to Standard Life in the headline. SL merged with Aberdeen Asset Management and are know known as ABDN although their Investment and Property Income Trust kept the old name till last year]. I have been watching the Standard Life Investments and Property Income Trust (SLIPIT)’s plans for the part of…
When Forest and Land Scotland (FLS) announced in November they had awarded the lease for the Glenmore campsite to Twinflower (see here), they said nothing about the leases for the two campsites in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. These had been advertised through CDLH at the same time after FLS had bought back…
Following my most recent post on BrewDog’s Lost Forest (see here), I was sent some photos showing the impact of diggers on and around the Burma Rd which crosses from Strathspey over to the River Dulnain. The first clearly illustrates one aspect of the problem, some of the machines that have been used on the…
On Monday I went for a bike ride on the Dunachton Estate with Dave Morris, a friend and fellow access campaigner. We rode from near Kincraig over to the River Dulnain and came across a number of advisory access signs, some good some bad, but one in particular really caught our notice. A new moorland…
My last post (see here), on the facilities available for snowsports enthusiasts parking in Coire na Ciste, failed to highlight the deterioration in bus services to Cairn Gorm, as a couple of readers pointed out afterwards. I hope this post will help make up for that. The current situation In June 2021 Highlands and Islands…
The Scottish Government is currently advertising for six new board members for the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) (see here) and a new chair for Scottish Natural Heritage/Nature Scot (see here). Further changes in the composition of the CNPA Board are pending with Local Member elections due next month and with the Convener, Xander…
With the funicular re-opened, the natural advantage that Cairngorm Mountain has over Scotland’s other downhill snowsports areas due to its altitude has been very apparent this week. While the other resorts have no snow, the beginner slopes in the Ptarmigan bowl are stlll in good condition. Over 1000ft below, Cairngorm Mountain’s unnatural advantages over other…
This post has been informed by comments made on my series of six posts on “Will the repairs to the funicular work” and discussion with people with a far greater knowledge of construction and civil engineering than me. When I commented on this picture in my second post on the funicular court cases (see here)…
Last week I had a bad week for various reasons. I not only misinterpreted some of the data about boating use on Loch Lomond (see here) but also a notification from the Cairngorms National Park Authority about the withdrawal of a track application close to Newtonmore. I mistakenly thought this applied to the revised track…