Further to yesterday’s critique of Cairngorm Mountain – Towards a Vision and a Masterplan (see here) this post takes a look at the process Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is using to consult the public. The consultation document (see here) is part a series of high level statements and part a wish list of potential developments;…
Category: Cairngorms
Having announced a new masterplan, that wasn’t, in April 2017 (see here) and, eighteen months later, a new £27 million vision that went nowhere (see here), Highlands and Islands Enterprise, without reference to those failures or what could be learned from them, launched at the end of July a consultation called “towards a new vision…
In the same week that Plantlife Scotland, with the support of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, launched this new scheme that hopes to “restore and protect some of the rare plants and fungi of our pinewoods, meadows and mountains” and, on the same day my letter appeared in the Scotsman, CNPA’s planners published their report…
Earlier in the week, a few people copied me into a twitter exchange about Scottish Natural Heritage’s delayed name change. If I was capable of doing anything on twitter, except using it as a means of enabling people to follow parkwatch’s posts, I might have shared this: Says it all really! If you don’t…
The Scottish Government will soon be asked to support Highlands and Islands Enterprise by approving the use of the considerable public funds that will be required to facilitate the repair costs. A figure of between £10-15m has been quoted. The public are entitled to expect that government ministers will be in possession of ALL of…
A few weeks ago some friends went in their campervan to Glen Muick, on Deeside, and stopped off overnight in the lower part of the glen. They were woken in the early hours by the sound of passing traffic. They were stunned by the number of visitors, remarking that it was just like the Lake…
Since lockdown was relaxed, it seems hardly a day has gone past when there has not been some national media coverage claiming that visitors have been responsible for a wave of litter that is said to engulfing the countryside. In the vast majority of cases visitors have been condemned, abused even, sometimes by people purporting…
Little did I know when blogging about the Cairngorms National Park wildlife sinkhole (see here) that the League of Cruel Sports was going to publish their report, Calculating Cruelty (see here), on 14th August. The Report, if you have not seen it, is a based on a comprehensive field survey of seven estates. From this…
(This is the last of four posts see here, here, and here about how the £14-20 million proposed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise to repair the funicular could be better far better spent on snow sports within the geographical area for which they are responsible). Proposal A new triple chairlift adjacent to the Wall T-bar…
Morag and I went up Cairn Gorm Thursday 6th August via Windy Ridge and down the Fiaccaill of Coire Cas, all in glorious weather. We started out just after 10.30 but even so met numerous folk going up on Windy Ridge and, even by that time, others coming down. On the whole route we met,…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority may have acted promptly against its vice-convener, Gena Blackett, last week for something she said (see here), but when it comes to meaningful actions on conservation, it is not fit for purpose. This post takes a look at the CNPA’s multiple failures when it comes to protecting wildlife as revealed…
(This is the third of four posts – see here and here – on alternatives to HIE proposals to repair the funicular that would have far greater benefits to snowsports in the Cairngorms and Scotland as a whole) Proposal A new medium speed quad chairlift with loading carpet which would replace the Harrier and Falcon…
The Cairngorm National Park Authority Board investigation was completed very quickly. The same day this article appeared the CNPA convener, Xander McDade, announced (see here) that the Board’s Risk and Audit Committee had decided that “the potential of a breach of the Code of Conduct should be referred to the Standards Commission”, the body responsible…
On 12th June 2020, the Cairngorm National Park Authority Panning Committee gave approval for the installation of solar powered entry/exit barriers to the Coire Cas car park on Cairn Gorm. Once these have been installed then parking charges for the Cas car park will become mandatory between June and October from 2021 onwards Parkswatch has…
PROPOSAL (For the first in this series of four posts on wintersports alternatives to the funicular see here). A new high speed detachable express chairlift close to the alignment of the former White Lady T-bar and extending downslope to near the foot of the Sheiling Rope Tow, with installed snow making on upper Home Road…
No sooner had I complimented Forest and Land Scotland on how they had opened up their car parks in Glen More to campervans (see here) than they did an about turn as a result of events on the weekend that followed (see above). FLS is now trying to close car parks in Glen More to…
This is the first of four posts for Parkswatch Scotland (summarised on the Winter Highland forum) about alternative short term options to fixing the Cairn Gorm funicular. The first post will deal with some of the issues raised in my planning objection to its repair (see here for background). It will be followed by three …
It’s a well documented fact that the CairnGorm Mountain Business Strategy which has the Funicular Railway at its centre has been a demonstrable failure. The principle source of income has been the sale of tickets, summer and winter, to use the funicular. The number of passengers carried has never been anywhere near the forecast levels…
On 13th July Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced that Cairngorm Mountain was re-opening today (see here). While the Scottish Government had been advising people they could travel unlimited distances by car since the weekend of 4th July, HIE decided to keep the Coire Cas car park, the most popular access point to the northern side…
The Ciste building is a derelict eyesore and should be removed. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) own the land and building and it is therefore their responsibility to take the necessary action. Complete demolition and landscaping of the ground might seem like the most obvious and easiest answer but it isn’t quite that simple. The…
Audit Scotland’s report into HIE’s management of Cairn Gorm since 2008 was published two weeks ago (see here). The first two parts, on the outsourcing of Cairngorm Mountain Ltd to Natural Retreats and subsequent management of the contract, are a disappointment but not a surprise They completely exonerate HIE. Effectively Audit Scotland’s message is that…
Having argued last week (see here) that the Scottish Government could lift the shutdown of self-catering accommodation and its advice not to travel further than 5 miles, its announcement on Wednesday (see here) that this would now happen on 3rd July was a step in the right direction. Neither restriction has been necessary for weeks…
While Parkswatch has been critical of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s failure to control Highlands and Islands Enterprise at Cairn Gorm, it has been doing far better in Glen Clova. The two most recent meetings of the Planning Committee have been rightly criticised for approving the planning applications to repair the funicular and install car…
Today, Friday 12th June, the Cairngorms National Park Authority will consider HIE’s latest ill-conceived plans for Cairn Gorm. You can view the deliberations live at 14.30 here [now on YouTube (see here)]. Two reports to the Planning Committee (see here for Committee papers), just two weeks after their last meeting, predictably recommend approval of HIE’s…
Toilets, or rather the risk of Covid-19 being transmitted in toilets, appear to be a major factor why the Scottish Government’s advice to people has been to stay local (see here): “Because of the high chance of the virus living on hard surfaces, we don’t want people using public toilets or going into someone’s home…