Following the failure of the Funicular Railway and the predictably adverse impact that this would have on the hill business and the wider local economy, Highlands and Islands Enterprise purchased a SnowFactory and 8 TR8 Snow Cannons from TechnoAlpin in an attempt to ensure at least some snowsports on CairnGorm, this winter. This post looks…
Category: Cairngorms
[This post was sent as a letter to the Badenoch and Strathspey Advertiser, which has been providing excellent coverage of the funicular failure, and should appear in that paper today] In March 2018 I applied to Highlands and Islands Enterprise under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act for the ADAC Structures report into the funicular…
A couple of weeks ago I drafted an article about the disgraceful state of the Coire na Ciste Car Park. I went up there at the weekend to find it had been cleared up. The appointment of Ross Harris as interim Chief Executive of the new ski area operating company, Cairngorm Mountain Scotland Ltd, would…
I had walked up Glen Prosen a couple of weeks ago to look at the new roads at the head of the Glen but was prompted by the 26 traps we saw to blog first on wildlife and trapping in the Cairngorms National Park (see here). This post will took at the two new roads…
A year after my post on how the signs in Glen Doll at the head of Glen Clova contravened access rights (see here) I revisited the glens. I was pleased to find that two of the three signs I had commented on have been removed. A number of regular visitors to the Glen commented on my…
The Report in the Strathy last week was based on the proposals for winding up the former Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) which the Administrator has lodged at Companies House (see here). This post takes a further look at what it reveals about the mismanagement of Cairngorm Mountain over the last five years. Background note…
I was up in Glen Clova with friends for the weekend and on Saturday, which was wild and very windy, went for a walk up Glen Prosen with Helen Todd who works as campaigns and policy manager for Ramblers Scotland. Our intention was to take a closer look at the restoration of the hydro…
Following my post on the Cairngorms National Park local elections (see here), which will be decided by postal vote on Thursdays 21st March, nominations for people wishing to stand close next week, at 4pm on Wednesday 13th February. Its really important for democracy and for the future of the National Park that local residents have…
Highland and Islands Enterprise’s announcement last week (see here) that the funicular would remain out of action for the summer and possibly longer, failed to explain what has caused the problems or the likely cost of the repairs that might be needed to make it safe to use again. Meantime it has announced that the…
The new draft Cairngorms National Park Local Development Plan 2020 was launched for consultation on 25 January (see here) and we all have until 5 April 2019 to plough through the 228 pages and the myriad of supporting documents and make our comments. This document is the outcome of the Main Issues Report which was…
Adam Watson and the Royal family On 24 Jan I was preparing a presentation (see here) to the planning committee of the Cairngorms National Park. This was in support of objections to a proposed new hill road on the Balavil estate in Badenoch. My preparation involved reference to material on hill tracks and roads published…
On Friday the Cairngorms National Park Planning Committee, which all Board Members sit on, will consider the Balavil Estate’s Planning Application to build 5km of new road into the Monadhliath Wild Land Area (see here for all papers). The December CNPA Planning Committee rightly agreed to defer the application because it had not been advertised properly…
Under Section 14 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 landowners are prohibited from erecting any sign whose main purpose is to deter or prevent people from exercising access rights. Glen Etive, like some parts of our National Parks, is littered with signs that contravene access rights. In the last week I have reported to…
Following my post (see here) on the flawed and unfair procurement process which resulted in Cairngorm Mountain Ltd being sold off to Natural Assets Investment Ltd, I have started to work out the costs to the public purse to date of that disastrous decision. The HIE Board should be doing this that would mean them…
While Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced last week that the funicular railway would be closed for the rest of the snowsport season on safety grounds, they have kept secret the three Improvement Notices served by the Health and Safety Executive in early December (see right above). While HIE has been keen to demonstrate that it…
Most of the Information Requests that activists have submitted to Highlands and Islands Enterprise about Cairngorm are now being deal with under the Environmental Information [Scotland] Regulations 2014 rather than the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act, though both pieces of legislation are broadly similar. The EIRs place a duty on public bodies to make environmental…
Following my post about the upgrade of the existing hill roads at Balavil (see here) , this post takes a look at the Balavil Estate’s proposal to drive 5km of new road into the heart of the Monadliath Wild Land Area. In December the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning Committee delayed the application to allow…
The Royal Family has, ever since Queen Victoria came to Deeside, played a central role in legitimising hunting culture, practice and consequent land-use across upland Scotland. As long as the way they manage their land at Balmoral and Delnadamph (see here) remains unchallenged, other landowners across Scotland will mimic what they do. That entails maintaining…
Last Friday, the Cairngorms National Park Authority Planning Committee agreed to their officers’ recommendation that the deadline for comments on the proposed 5km road over the Monadhliath and through a Wild Land Area should be extended until 10th January. That is very welcome. It rectifies CNPA’s failure to consult properly (see here) and gives people time…
Yesterday, Highlands and Islands Enterprise was forced to release the full copy of the Report it had commissioned from SE Group into ski infrastructure at Cairn Gorm. After HIE failed to publish the Report when launching its new vision for Cairn Gorm (see here), several people submitted freedom of information requests. Then, when the information…
On Friday, Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced that they had reached agreement with the Adminstrators to take back Cairngorm Mountain Ltd into public ownership (see here): “We are very pleased to have worked with the administrators to achieve a really positive outcome from a highly challenging situation. The deal that we’ve reached will protect jobs…
Last Friday the Cairngorm National Park Authority Board approved a “presumption against new hill tracks” in its new draft Local Development Plan which is about to be issued for consultation. This was welcome. Just a week later, those same Board Members, who all sit on the Planning Committee, were due to consider a report asking…
[This post is partially in response to comments made by Ray Sefton on Drennan Watson’s post “Time for a re-think at Cairn Gorm” https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2018/12/05/time-for-a-re-think-at-cairngorm/”] Rights of public access, as established by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, apply to all ground around the Ptarmigan restaurant and beyond, to the far reaches of land and water…
It has always been the case that snow for skiing on the lower slopes of the Cairn Gorm ski area Mountain is a bit hit and miss. While continuous snow lie above the Sheiling mid-station is fairly reliable, below that level it tends to come and go, even in good seasons. That was recognised long…
Notifications that two of the Glen Etive hydro applications had been withdrawn were issued by Highland Council last week but, before anyone celebrates, they have been replaced with new applications for the Allt Mheuran and the Allt Fhaolain. That re-starts the whole planning process. If you objected first time round, that objection is no longer…