News about yet another unlawful killing of a golden eagle in the Cairngorms National Park (see here for the latest list from Raptor Persecution Scotland), found poisoned on the Invercauld Estate in March, should surprise no-one. The Cairngorm National Park Authority’s stated intention to eliminate raptor persecution (see here) will never work until it tackles…
Category: Cairngorms
“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive” This quote from Sir Walter Scott’s epic poem, of 1808, Marmion, is a neat way of saying that when you lie or act dishonestly you initiate problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control. It could have…
This post examines the need to elect politicians to the next Scottish Parliament who are committed to land reform legislation. It notes the loss of experienced land reformers and the need to replace them with others who have equal enthusiasm for land reform. It provides examples of recent difficulties including serious misunderstandings within VisitScotland of…
In the Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd [CMSL] Business Plan that was published on 24 January 2020, the interim CEO wrote the following: Vision: ‘’To become a world class Visitor Destination – Ambitious to succeed’’ On 23 March 2021, CMSL submitted a planning application (see here) to Highland Council for a Campervan Park within the Coire na…
In my original post with this title (see here) I referred to “the demolition of other viable uplift”. This led at least one person to assume that Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd (CMSL) were currently considering the demolition of other tows on the mountain. That was not my intention, I was…
Over the years there has been a lot of criticism of the positioning of the “mid-station” loading area and the increase in travel time, and hence delays, when it is in use, but this post takes a look at a couple of aspects that as far as I know have never been discussed. Why was…
In 2014 the Land Reform Review Group published its report, the land of Scotland and the Common Good (see here). This contained a short section on access rights which concluded that generally they were working well: Since then, access rights have been challenged as never before, with the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority leading…
In August 2019 the Glen Ample Estate submitted a Prior Notification to widen a section of the core path through the glen for forestry purposes. The core path forms part of the popular walking route from Loch Lubnaig to Beinn Each and the Munro, Stuc a Chroin. The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority…
Since the involvement of Highlands and Islands Enterprise HIE) with the Cairngorm ski resort and the construction of the funicular railway, the mountain business and its skier/ boarder capacity has gone downhill faster than G.B’s olympic skiers ever did. The folly is continuing with HIE deciding to have the funicular repaired at any cost and,…
The Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authorities (NPAs) were both awarded significant increases in funding in the Scottish Government’s budget (see here), a significant turn-around in fortunes. In September the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) reported a significant hole in their finances, with a projected deficit – after yet…
A month ago I obtained the Cairngorm Mountain Business Plan 1st April 2020 – 31st March 2023, along with Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s operational agreement with Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd, their fully owned subsidiary responsible for the plan, through Freedom of Information requests. Both documents are heavily redacted (sorry still too many MB in size…
The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, which introduced access rights, also gave Scotland Local Authorities and National Parks new powers and duties as “Access Authorities”. Section 25 required Access Authorities to set up one or more Local Access Forums (LAFs) to advise on the exercise of access rights in their area and to help resolve…
Following my post on the air pollution caused by muirburn (see here), I have been sent a number of photos by readers expressing concern about the levels of destruction that have been caused by muirburn these last two weeks, both inside and outside the Cairngorms National Park. In the case above, the people concerned had…
It’s the height of the muirburn season and the clear blue skies at the start of the month helped highlight the folly as the Cairngorms National Park was dotted with plumes of smoke. The pollution caused by muirburn doesn’t just release carbon into the atmosphere, it reduces air quality and harms the health of people…
It’s now four years since I wrote about the potential for landscape scale conservation (see here) and the problem of bulldozed tracks (see here) on the Dinnet Estate. I have been meaning to explore the area further ever since so I was pleased recently to be sent some photos of the way the land…
This post takes a further look (see here) at the ongoing mismanagement of health and safety at Cairn Gorm. After concerns about the safety of the lift infrastructure at Cairngorm Mountain were raised by a member of the public in 2018 the Health & Safety Executive (H&SE) visited and issued three Improvement Notices. The Inspectors (“they”)…
Whether you know Dave or have never come across him, the 10 minute video produced by the Fort William Mountain Film festival (see here), much of which is set in the Cairngorms National Park, should be an inspiration for anyone concerned about the natural environment and access to nature. It shows just what can be…
I was warned before being sent some photos of deer carcasses from Kinveachy in the Cairngorms National Park so, if you at all sensitive or squeamish, either steel yourself or don’t scroll down. The mass disposal of red deer carcases, however, gets to the heart of our muddled relationship with the natural world and understanding…
This post takes a critical look at the implications that the Scottish Land Commission’s “Legislative proposals to address the impact of Scotland’s concentration of land ownership”, published on 4th February (see here), has for our National Parks in the light of the purchase of the Kinrara estate on Speyside the week before. The sale…
When I started this series of posts (see here), (here), (here), (here) and (here) I had expected to write three, maybe four, before reaching a conclusion. But as time went on, more and more information has been revealed through Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. These FOI’s enabled correlation with the COWI (engineering )report, Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE’s)…
Fifteen months ago, I tried to find out from Highlands Enterprise the estimated costs of removing the funicular and, after an initial brush off, they admitted they had commissioned a “Funicular Railway (Railway Dismantling Report” in May 2019 (see here). However, HIE refused to provide the report pending their development of a business case for…
Regular reader will know that in investigating what is going on in our National Parks, contributors often use information published on the Companies House website. Recent examples include my coverage of the Cameron House fire (see here) and Tim Ambrose’s analysis of the level of public subsidy provided by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to Cairngorm…
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…
[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…