The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) – which represents Scotland’s hillwalkers and climbers – has called on John Swinney MSP to take action on an estate which is flouting Scotland's access laws.
The MCofS has appealed to John Swinney – MSP for Perthshire North – after concluding that the local council has given up on the problem. For several years walkers in Perthshire’s beautiful Glen Lyon have faced locked gates, intimidating signs and abusive behaviour when venturing onto the North Chesthill Estate, Inverar. Reports of such problems have been made over a number of years to the access officer for Perth and Kinross Council, but the issue has still not been resolved.
Besides being internationally renowned for its beauty, the glen is also home to a popular circuit of four Munros – mountains over 3000 feet – but at the starting point for the walk a gate is regularly locked and signs imply that access of forbidden.
In his letter to Mr Swinney, David Gibson, Chief Officer for the MCofS, says: “The North Chesthill Estate has been restricting the statutory right of access for many years.
“There has been a considerable amount of time spent by several organisations in endeavouring to solve the issue of locked gates, intimidatory signs and abusive behaviour, but this still continues.
“Perth and Kinross Council, the Perth and Kinross Local Access Forum, Ramblers Scotland and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland have all been involved in discussions with the owner but he still continues to lock gates and erect signs stating “Deer management in progress – please walk elsewhere”. The locked gates and signs effectively close the whole estate to access.”
Mr Gibson continued: “There have recently been a number of complaints made to Perth and Kinross Council about the removal of access rights but the authority’s response has been that their powers to pursue the matter any further are limited.
“This response means that this particular individual is breaking the law and being allowed to do it. How many other landowners might follow suit? Scotland’s world class access legislation is being undermined and devalued, and the local authority (which has powers in the legislation to address this) appears to have given up.”
Previous communications between the MCofS Access Officer and Perth and Kinross Council have left the MCofS with the impression that the Council considers too much time has been spent on the matter and that there is no more they can do to resolve it.
“In effect, the landowner is being allowed to prohibit access and responsible walkers are being denied their statutory rights,” said Mr Gibson.
“Our members and other hill walkers are becoming increasingly frustrated by this blatant flouting of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.
And he reminded Mr Swinney, who is also Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government: “Many walkers travel a significant distance to access the hills and in 2009 the value to the Scottish economy from walking tourism was estimated to be £533 million per year.”
In recent years Walkhighlands has received regular complaints from hillwalkers that this estate has imposed unreasonable restrictions on access to the four Munros of the Cairn Mairg group. Other stalking estates – such as the nearby Atholl Estate – provide excellent detailed daily information to hillwalkers enabling them to avoid areas where stalking is taking place that day, but complainants have alleged that Chesthill has instead continued to try to discourage access completely during the season. Walkhighlands has never received a single complaint about deer-stalking access restrictions on any estate other than Chesthill anywhere in Scotland.