[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…
Tag: HIE
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
[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…
Looking back on my long involvement in conflicts on Cairn Gorm what always strikes me is that the main cause has not be tensions between landuses but simple incompetence – particularly by HIDB/HIE. Now Highlands and Islands Enterprise is having to take over a bankrupt company running the facility for the second time and there…
I have been looking at the most recent audited Report and Financial Statements of Cairngorm Mountain Limited (CML) and its parent company, Natural Assets Investments Limited (NAIL) , both for the year ended 31 December 2017, and signed on behalf of the Directors on 18 September 2018. These both show heavy losses for the year,…
Yesterday Highlands and Islands Enterprise announced (see here) that CairnGorm Mountain Ltd had gone into administration. This was the company they had set up to replace the Cairngorm Chairlift Company and later sold off on the cheap in 2014 to company owned by a hedge fund manager, David Michael Gorton. After four years of shocking…
Last weekend there was enough snow for skiing at Cairn Gorm but, with the funicular out of action, there was no way to get to the Ptarmigan Bowl for downhill skiers. A shame because Sunday was a beautiful day. With HIE’s announcement (see here) that the report into the funicular’s problems will not now be…
Despite all that is going on with the funicular and HIE’s new vision for Cairn Gorm (see here), I make no apology for looking again at the new car park charges at Cairn Gorm (see here) and (here). While they might appear a relatively minor issue, they illustrate the disastrous way in which Cairngorm…
Scottish Enterprise’s financial support for Flamingo Land Following the revelation from Jackie Baillie, the local Labour MSP, that Scottish Enterprise had valued the enormous West Riverside Site in Balloch at a paltry £200k, the Greens have discovered that Scottish Enterprise have been giving further help to Flamingo Land by paying for “site investigations”. “To date,…
Last week I wrote to Charlotte Wright, Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise, welcoming HIE’s recognition of the need for investment in new ski infrastructure at Cairn Gorm but suggesting it was now time for them to step aside and let others develop a new plan. Unfortunately HIE’s pronouncements about their new vision for…
Author’s Note: I withdrew this post minutes after it was first published last week because HIE asked me to do so to allow for further discussions. I did so in good faith and then received this email: Dear Mr Brattey Thank you for your email on Wednesday outlining the concerns of ‘Save the Ciste’ with…
HIE yesterday announced a new £27m vision for Cairn Gorm (see here), along with a video and Executive Summary (here). The figures dwarf the £4m they had previously identified as necessary to secure the future of CairnGorm Mountain Ltd and Natural Retreats. There are three good things about the announcement. First, that a public agency…
“Claims that the funicular railway is reliant on public money are totally absurd and without foundation” (Fergus Ewing MSP, 21 Dec 2000). Perhaps the greatest skill possessed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise is their ability to dupe most of our politicians, of every political party, in the European Parliament, Scottish Parliament or Highland Council. Never…
Apologies to readers who received notification of a post yesterday by Alan Brattey on HIE’s failure to maintain ski infrastructure at Cairn Gorm and then found the link broken. I removed the post a few minutes after it had been published because HIE, on receipt of the report featured in it, had asked Alan for…
There is no hope for the future of Cairn Gorm while Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) remain as owners of the land on this mountain, while also acting as funders of most of the developments on the upper slopes. This was evident from the time that their predecessor body, Highlands and Islands Development Board (HIDB),…
In my last post on Cairngorm, in which I called for the Cairngorms National Park Authority to take a proactive role in addressing the issues on the mountain (see here), I stated the problems with the funicular were far greater than Highlands and Islands Enterprise were admitting. That claim was vindicated within a few days. …
If Highlands and Island Enterprise and Natural Retreats fail to fix the funicular this winter that will have a huge impact on skiing at Cairngorm and serious short-term consequences for the local economy. I understand therefore HIE are under huge pressure to act but this should not be at the cost of abandoning all standards…
On Friday Cairngorms National Park Authority Board Members voted against the recommendations of their officers and rejected Natural Retreats’ Planning Application for a dry ski slope at Cairngorm. I must admit that, having just a week earlier praised the CNPA Board for being far more open and prepared to take other Public Authorities than…