Cairn Gorm Access Road
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Attached is the MCofS objection to the HIE application to back out of its commitment to repair the road on Cairn Gorm, as sent to the Highland Council. |
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16 January 2003 Cairn Gorm Access Road Planning Amendment - 02/382/FULBS The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) objects to the proposal to amend the planning consent associated with the access road on Cairn Gorm. We believe that the original planning conditions should be held to for a number of reasons as outlined below. This road is a major landscape scar that should be removed as fully and quickly as possible. Unfortunately, this application represents a significant dereliction of HIE and the operating company's duty to restore the damaged landscape on Cairn Gorm. A massive amount of public money has been spent on Cairn Gorm in recent years, with many planning conditions attached. It is simply not tolerable for those conditions to be traded afterwards, and for the public benefits, that the conditions are designed to protect, being disregarded for the operating company's convenience and cost savings. The requirement for maintenance and emergency access should not have been difficult to predict in advance. In fact it is astounding that so much money should be spent on this development, and then for a public body to claim a year or two later that they require to continue using a track that they thought they could manage without. This gives the strong appearance that this condition was signed up to with the intention of backing out of it at a later date already in mind. We note with interest that emergency access is given as a reason for seeking this change in the planning condition. This is extremely alarming given that the road is usually covered in snow during the skiing season, and therefore unusable by emergency vehicles. This infers that safety is of less concern in winter than in the summer season. We do not see how the road can be required for emergency access in summer, but that same access not be required in winter. There is a worrying contradiction in the HIE argument here, and this planning application should not be passed until the clear reasons for the inclusion of emergency vehicles has been made public. The ambiguity that currently exists is of great concern, and allowing this application to be passed would give the appearance of disregarding a huge safety issue. For the landscape, moral and safety reasons given in this letter, the MCofS is of the firm belief that this application must be rejected. |
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