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.
Join the discussion on our Forum.