As the temperatures soar and more people take to the hills, Ramblers Scotland has called for a full debate of Cairn Gorm access arrangements. Earlier this week it was announced that the Cairngorms funicular railway is to be opened up for guided walks to the summit of Cairn Gorm. Access from the top of the controversial railway was one of the biggest concerns of conservationists when the railway was originally granted planning permission. Due to the extremely fragile and rare habitat on the plateau general walking access from the railway is not allowed as a condition of the management plan. Now Scottish Natural Heritage and the Highland Council have granted permission for a trial of guided walks operated by Cairngorm Mountain Limited (CML) who also operate the railway.
CML say that the trial will be closely controlled and will offer the opportunity for visitors to undertake a short walk in the company of a guide, who will lead them on a circular tour to the summit and back in groups of up to 10 people. The guided walks will not enter the European sites and will remain wholly within the ski area. They will last up to 90 minutes and will cost £13 for adults and £10 for children.
In response Ramblers Scotland Director, Dave Morris, has called for a full public consultation on the future of public access to the northern Cairngorms.
Dave Morris said, “We welcome the forthcoming introduction of guided walks along the path from the top of the funicular railway to the summit of Cairn Gorm. This will increase the opportunity for public enjoyment of the mountain without compromising the restrictions on general public access from the funicular. These restrictions are an essential feature of the planning consent for the funicular which were agreed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise when it promoted this development in the 1990s”.
But Dave Morris also emphasised that this was now the time to develop a new plan for access to the whole northern side of the mountain range, “Guided walks to the summit are just a small step in the right direction. But we must now ask questions about access in general – fundamental to this is whether we should continue to drive up to 2,000 ft on Cairn Gorm. Lessons from other skiing areas, such as Aonach Mor near Fort William and other European and North American resorts, suggest that it is far better, environmentally and economically, to park the car in the forest zone at the foot of the mountain. On Cairn Gorm, if new parking provision was made within the Glenmore forest everyone could travel from there to the upper mountain slopes either by a shuttle bus service on the existing road, or by a new gondola system travelling through the forest. Such a plan would overcome the frustration in winter of skiers and mountaineers losing days on the hill because of snow drifts blocking the road. In the rest of the year a shuttle bus/gondola system, linked into the funicular railway, would provide a fantastic introduction to the Cairngorms landscape as visitors journeyed from the heart of the Caledonian pine forest to the arctic wilderness of the plateau. And linked into a shuttle bus/gondola system would be new paths for walking and mountain biking that joined mountain and forest together into a fully integrated access framework.”
Dave Morris called on the Cairngorms National Park Authority to take the lead, “The key stakeholders, local and national, need to get round the table to devise a plan for the northern Cairngorms which is fit for the 21st Century. This must be one of the prime functions of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, with its remit for conservation, recreation and promoting sustainable development. If they cannot take the lead many will begin to wonder what extra benefit the national park is bringing to these world famous mountains.”
But a warning was also given by Dave Morris, “In any future discussions about development in the Cairngorms, or any other mountain area, we must be extremely wary of the role of HIE. Since their predecessor organisation (Highlands and Island Development Board) seized ownership of the upper slopes of Cairn Gorm from the Forestry Commission in 1971 there have been a series of disastrous HIDB/HIE inspired projects which have produced endless controversy and excessive expenditure of public money. Within the last year both the Auditor General for Scotland and the Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit Committee have criticised and exposed the inept business management skills of HIE in their development of the funicular railway. The funicular project, which was initially supposed to be a private sector led venture costing £14.87 million, finished up costing £26.8m of which £23m came from public funds. Without doubt Scotland’s very own Millennium Dome – HIE is the wrong organisation in the wrong place and should be removed from Cairn Gorm at the earliest opportunity.”
Dave Morris also called for a debate on how public and private funding contribute to Cairngorms development, “HIE are currently proposing to spend another £4m on developments on Cairn Gorm. This must not go ahead until all options are considered. Few people are going to trust HIE to spend such money wisely given their past track record. Furthermore we need to ask what is the role of the private sector in future development. Over the years the tourist industry of Badenoch and Strathspey has benefited enormously from the large sums of public money spent in the Cairngorms. Now is surely the time for the private sector to put some investment back into the mountains whose beauty and challenge underpin their whole industry. Perhaps it is time to talk about a “Bed Tax”, so that everyone who stays a night in a hotel, B&B or camp site can contribute a little extra, when paying their bill, to a fund which helps to promote sustainable development in the Cairngorms.”
This debate is likely to grow, with a meeting this week between Scottish ski centre operators and Jim Mather, the relevant Scottish Government Minister, calling for ski centres to diversify and make more of their summer activities including hill walking. Earlier in the year, local councillor, David Fallows, suggested allowing visitors out at the top station at Cairn Gorm and the management plan has already been changed this year to allow people who have walked up the mountain to access the top of the ski area and take the railway down. As pressure grows for the railway to pay its way in the current economic climate it is likely that this debate will run and run with conservationists revisiting their previous concerns about increased access to the plateau.