The public agency which now runs the Cairngorm funicular railway has proposed that parking charges be introduced at the car park at the funicular to help fund running costs. Approximately half the people using the car park actually go on the funicular, the others being walkers, climbers and skiers.

The Scottish Parliament is due to release a report into the funding and running of the Cairngorms funicular railway today. Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) had to step in when the railway floundered under massive financial problems and has spent £19.42m in total towards the cost of building and running it. The development agency plans to spend a further £4m over the next 3 or 4 years to maintain the funicular.

HIE said the investment would bring the site up to a standard that would attract a new operator from the private sector. It has also proposed introducing charges at a car park serving the railway. This would affect walkers using the Coire Cas car park as the starting point for a number of walks, as well as summer users of the funicular and skiers. HIE said that about 400,000 people used the car park last year. Half of those visitors used the funicular.

The agency took the railway and CairnGorm Mountain ski resort over in May 2008. It followed agreements reached with Bank of Scotland Corporate and CairnGorm Mountain Trust on large debts owed by CairnGorm Mountain Limited (CML).

Highland Council also agreed to write off a £1m loan to CML. The Scottish Parliament’s audit committee reviewed the financing of the funicular following an investigation by spending watchdog Audit Scotland.

Explosions of a different kind were heard on Cairngorm yesterday as controlled blasts were used to remove a massive build up of snow from above the ski slopes where it posed an avalanche risk.

Highland Council decided today to renew Alladale Estate’s Dangerous Animals Licence despite objections from the Council’s own Access Officer and walking and mountaineering organisations. The licence relates to the keeping of captive elk and wild boar in fenced enclosures. The Estate also has a zoo licence pending which, if granted, will allow the keeping of wolves and other animals, in large enclosures with no general public access.

Highland Council’s Access Officer for Surtherland and Caithness, Matt Dent objected on the basis of concerns about the obstruction of access rights by the current scheme, following a complaint sent to Mr Dent by a mountaineer who had difficulty in descending from the hills past the enclosures.

Commenting on the renewal application, The Mountaineering Council of Scotland’s access and conservation officer Hebe Carus said, “It’s an important mountaineering area as the ridge on which the enclosures are on give access to a Corbett and some very good ground for hill walkers.

“Our members are also concerned about possible future expansion and plans for ever larger enclosures which we fear could end up with an application to remove access rights to the estate.”

Walkhighlands understands that various access issues regarding the current enclosures on the Alladale Estate currently remain unresolved.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority is to stop funding the Heather Hopper bus service which currently runs in the summer months. The heavily-subsidised service, which runs twice a day in the summer and connects Ballater to Grantown on Spey with connecting buses to Aberdeen, only carried an average of 40 passengers a week last year.

The National Park said it would consider how best to use funds to provide transport. As well as making the Park more accessible, one aim of the Heather Hopper service was to reduce car use and lower the carbon footprint of the Park.

The Westminster and Holyrood Governments have had a serious bust up over access to paths at Balmoral resulting in a humiliating climbdown by a Scottish Minister.

It is understood that the Home Office put Roseanna Cunningham, Scottish Environment Minister, under pressure to scrap plans to include two paths near Balmoral Castle on a new paths map because of alleged worries about royal security.

Previously Buckingham Palace, the UK Government and top police officers had expressed concerns about the inclusion of two paths on the new Core Paths Plan being developed by the Cairngorms National Park Authority. Ms Cunningham had dismissed the concerns on the basis that the two walks on the Balmoral Estate were already widely used.

The two routes are at Ballochbuie and Glen Muick and are already open to the public but are patrolled by royal security guards. It is understood that the Home Office threatened to overule Holyrood if these routes were included in the Core Path Plan.

Core paths are well-used routes which each Local Authority has a duty to identify and publicise. If included in the Plan the two Balmoral routes would be included on the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s website and any subsequent leaflets. Many of the shorter walks on Walkhighlands.co.uk follow core path routes.

Home Office minister David Hanson, who is responsible for security and counter-terrorism, said Home Secretary Alan Johnson and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy would force the Scottish Government to back down using provisions in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act to protect national security.

In a leaked letter to Ms Cunningham, Mr Hanson is understood to have said, “I would advise them that including paths on the Balmoral Estate at the start of a new and untested scheme presents such a security risk to the Queen and her immediate family that a direction is the only way forward.”

In response, Ms Cunningham told Mr Hanson that she was not persuaded by his arguments to scrap the plans. In a letter to him, which has also been leaked, she wrote, “Based on the information currently available to me, I am minded to proceed on the basis that those two paths should be included in the adopted core path plan.”

Since the leaks, a Scottish Government spokesman has denied that Ms Cunningham was forced to back down as a result of Home Office pressure.

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Speyside Way near Craigellachie

Most of the Speyside Way, which runs from Aviemore and Ballindalloch to Spey Bay, is in Moray. However part of the Aviemore branch, which opened in 2000, is located within Highland Council’s jurisdiction.

The National Park have offered to pay 70% of maintenance costs if Highland Council funds the remainder and takes over responsibility for the route. The Council is arguing that it is not legally obliged to manage it and does not have the staff to do so.

Highland Council currently has an agreement with Moray Council to contribute about £7,000 towards the maintenance of the 30-mile Ballindalloch to Aviemore stretch each year.

In the current financial year the National Park is expected to contribute £69,000 to the upkeep of the route, with some fencing needing to be replaced and stiles and other barriers removed to assist cyclists. The National Park is expected to argue that legal responsibility for the route lies with the relevant local authority. The issue is to be discussed at a Highland Council planning meeting later this week.

Photo by Tony Austin

Landowners Euan and Claire Snowie had sought to exclude walkers, cyclists and horseriders from 40 acres of their Boquhan estate near Kippen, claiming they needed such a large area for privacy and security. In April 2008, Ramblers Scotland and Stirling Council won their legal case against Euan Snowie and Claire Snowie, which came to court during May 2007. The judgement was appealed, and the case was set to be heard in the Court of Session. However the case was abandoned after legal arguments and costs awarded to The Ramblers and Stirling Council.

Dennis Canavan, Convener of Ramblers Scotland said: “I welcome the abandonment of the appeal and I think that Mr Snowie and his legal advisors have come to the right decision. Sheriff Andrew Cubie’s judgement at Stirling Sheriff Court will now be seen as a landmark decision in the interpretation of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. This gives Mr Snowie and his family a reasonable degree of privacy, while confirming the right of access to the rest of the estate.”

The case involved an application by the Snowies to declare 40 acres of their 70-acre Boquhan estate to be land on which access rights do not apply. This is the same process applied for by Ann Gloag at Kinfauns Castle, Perth, which Ramblers Scotland and Perth & Kinross Council opposed, but the Sheriff in this case agreed with Mrs Gloag.

In 2005, the Snowies, owners of the Boquhan Estate near Kippen, locked gates preventing public access across their land. This route had been used for many years by locals and so, after complaints from residents and discussions with the estate, one gate was opened. After further complaints, it was found that the gate had been locked again so Stirling Council served a legal notice on the owner to unlock the gate and enable access. The landowner appealed the notice and the case was due to be heard on 20th September 2006 at Stirling Sheriff Court. However, the case was delayed as it was then learnt that Mr Snowie had also applied for a “declarator” under Section 28 of the Land Reform Act to rule that the 70-acre estate should be declared land on which access rights do not apply. This area claimed as private was later reduced to 40-acres. Mr Snowie argued that excluding the public was essential to protect himself and his family, and for shooting on his estate. It was also found that the residents of the lodge at the locked gates were responsible for locking them and they were included in the court action.

Ramblers Scotland agreed with the council that the exclusion zone was unnecessarily large, and was supportive of the council’s opposition to this application, as well as the serving of the legal notice to unlock the gate. Crucially, Mr Snowie was seeking to declare the driveways of his estate to be areas on which access rights did not apply. Ramblers Scotland believed that the Scottish Outdoor Access Code was clear in paragraph 3.16 that driveways should be included, and that access could be taken past gatehouses. It was decided that Ramblers should become parties to the case as it was felt that a significant contribution to the case could be made, following similar experience in the Kinfauns case, and having extensive knowledge and understanding of the land reform legislation and the parliamentary process which led to its development.

The hearings took place in May 2007 and included a site visit by the sheriff and all three parties. The judgement was announced on 23rd April 2008 and costs were awarded to Stirling Council and the Ramblers’ Association. Mr Snowie then decided to appeal the decision and it is that appeal which has just been abandoned.