I first came across the newly constructed Gynack flood diversion channel above Kingussie by accident in October 2017, when visiting the three hydro schemes on the river. I have visited three times since, all in poor weather (as is evident from the photos!). On my most recent visit I found that the overflow…
Category: Cairngorms
This short video was sent to me with the message “take you mind off politics for a moment”! It shows all the wildlife which used a log to cross a stream in Pennsylvania during the course of a year. Most enjoyable – do watch – but I couldn’t escape the political implications. There could hardly…
The Cairn Gorm ski area: Voluntary Organisations call for an open debate about the future A group of voluntary organisations (The Cairngorms Campaign, Campaign for a Better Cairngorm, North East Mountain Trust, Ramblers Scotland and the Scottish Wild Land Group.) has produced a ‘vision’ for the future of the mountain (below). Key elements include the…
In September the Balavil Estate submitted a Prior Notification to Highland Council to upgrade/create 8 roads AFTER it had started construction work on one of them (see here). By the time of that post Balavil had agreed with the Cairngorms National Park Authority to suspend work on the new road and they had also withdrawn…
Highlands and Islands Enterprises (HIE) last month released estimates for the costs of removal and repair of the Funicular Railway (see here) which was taken out of operation 15 months ago after concerns were raised about the safety of the structure. The “high end” estimate for removal is £13.3M, with a provision of £9.6M in…
After Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced that the cost of repairing the funicular would be cheaper than the cost they claimed would be needed to remove it, I asked them for the basis of this claim. Then, when the response revealed very little, I requested a formal review of their decision to refuse the information…
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…
With the ongoing crisis at Cairn Gorm, the bungled planning applications and the question of the funicular, its important that people don’t forget how Highlands and Island’s enterprise created this pickle. After the decision to build the funicular in the first place, arguably HIE’s greatest mistake was the sale of Cairngorm Mountain Ltd to Natural…
I was pleased to be quoted in Sunday Herald article “Call for crackdown on unregulated Scottish hill tracks” (see here) which was published at the weekend. The article contains some very interesting quotes from the the landowner and owner of the Glen Clova hotel, Hugh Niven, about the apparently unlawful road which is now…
The Funicular Railway on Cairn Gorm has now been out of service for more than a year. Its future remains unclear although Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) have said that it is their intention to have it repaired. Parkswatch has previously had a look at this from the point of view of skiers (see here) …
Back in February 2018 Parkswatch called for the Cairngorms National Park Authority to start taking enforcement action against the unlawful hill roads in Glen Clova (see here). The CNPA responded to say that in most of the cases it was unable, whatever it thought of the roads, to do so. This was either because…
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…
Parkswatch was sent photos a couple of weeks ago of new road construction on the Balavil Estate. Earlier this year Balavil was granted planted permission by the Cairngorms National Park Authority to construct a controversial new road over into the heart of the Monadliath Wild Land Area (see here) and (here). (Work on that…
[A version of this post appeared as a letter in the Press and Journal on 14th September in response to a letter from Gordon Benton on 3rd September] A number of people and interests are advocating expansion of the facilities on Cairn Gorm to include a hill station to solve ongoing financial problems. It would…
The Cairngorms National Park Authority’s consultation on its new Economic Action Plan, 2019-22, will close on Friday (see here). While there are some good things in the plan, this post argues its exhortation for people to work together won’t work under our current system and it fails to address the one economic matter over which the…
In theory the Cairngorms Connect project appears to be a good thing. Four organisations are working together across 600 square kilometres of the western Cairngorms to deliver the rewilding of marsh, river, forest and mountain habitats. These organisations, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Scottish Natural Heritage, Forest and Land Scotland and Wildland…
This post takes a further look at the environmental implications of Highland and Island’s Enteprise current planning application to create a beginner’s ski area at Cairn Gorm and a new application to vary the conditions Highland Council attached to the temporary Adventure Play area in Coire Cas. Development, erosion and flood risks at Cairn Gorm…
[ [ [NB this post has been updated since first issued to correct I mistake. I had stated a planning application to build a car park in the site above had been refused in April. I have removed that and related comments and inserted correct sequence of events] Rob Edwards from the Ferret has continued…
Its now over 6 weeks since Scottish Natural Heritage opened its consultation on the General License (see here) which runs until Weds 9th October. This post takes a look at the consultation, how the licensing system for killing wild birds in Scotland operates and argues that different and higher standards should apply in our National…
Last week Audit Scotland, who are responsible for overseeing financial management by public authorities, published their annual audit of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (to March 2019) and a supplementary report “Cairngorm Mountain and the funicular railway”. The supplementary report (see here ) is succinct, extracts information which is hard to find in the main…
[This post has been updated since publication to correct two erroneous claims, that not all of Balmoral is included in the East Cairngorms Moorland Partnership and that Delnadamph, owned by Prince Charles, was not a member of the partnership. See below]. The news that mountain hare numbers have collapsed in Scotland (see here for excellent…
If the declaration of a climate emergency by the Scottish Government is to mean anything, we all need to think and act differently. Continuing to look at and treat the natural environment in the same old way, as a commodity to be used and exploited, just won’t do. We need to become far cleverer about…
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…
[UPDATE: This post was prompted by an article in the Guardian claiming NTS had decided to end driven grouse shooting at Mar Lodge. This was subsequently changed – thanks to James Shooter for pointing this out. I have since checked with NTS staff who have helpfully explained they adopted a new Vision and Master Plan…
Last year in the Pyrenees, after a couple of hours walking west from Bujaruelo along the GR11 we came across a large – 50 plus – group of young people packing up camp after a night of very heavy rain. I was struck at the time that you would be very unlikely to see such…