The executive summary of the VMP can be read here, or a full copy of the document can be downloaded from here. (link no longer live)

This response represents the views of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) Access and Conservation Committee. As a result of the short consultation period and the uncertainty over the dates of the consultation it was not possible for us to take this response to our Executive Committee. Given the length of time that the Cairngorm Chairlift Company (CCC) has taken to put this plan together it would have been reasonable to allow at least a two month, and preferably three month, public consultation period. Furthermore, the consultation was at the worst possible time of year as many walkers, climbers and skiers take their main summer holiday in July.

Before commenting on specific aspects of the Visitor Management Plan (VMP) we wish to re-iterate our total opposition to the whole concept of the Cairn Gorm funicular railway. We believe it is a fatally flawed plan that has an inadequate economic justification and is an inappropriate response to the operating problems faced by the CCC. Our calls for meetings and suggestions for alternative plans have been consistently ignored and we have been excluded from the research and decision-making processes. Despite the fact that construction work is now taking place on the mountain our position has not changed. We remain opposed to the whole scheme and our objective is to one day see the funicular removed from Cairn Gorm.

The VMP in the Context of the Wider Planning Agreement The VMP forms part of the section 50 planning agreement, and we are aware that Clause Tenth of this agreement sets out the conditions for the removal of the funicular in the event of its economic failure. The MCofS is pleased to see this clause in the agreement and will strive to ensure that removal is carried out when, as we feel is inevitable, the funicular runs into financial problems, or indeed, if the planning or funding processes run into intractable difficulties.

Given that other Scottish ski companies have had to set large sums of their own money aside in insurance bonds to remove their equipment in the event of financial failure, we feel that it is grossly unfair that the CCC can be allowed to rely on public funding to help it out if this business venture fails to work. Indeed, we have consistently stated that the UK taxpayer will pay for this facility four times over. To build it, to re-pay the EU when their conditions are broken, to throw more money at it when it begins to fail, and then finally demolition. This is the bottomless pit of public expenditure scenario that the UK taxpayer can look forward to.

We believe it is scandalous that public opinion has been ignored in this case when such large sums of public money are going into the facility. When the CCC re-applied for planning permission last year there were 164 letters of objection and only 2 letters of support. Over the last 6 years there have been in the region of 11,000 letters of objection to the funicular and only about 200 in support. International organisations such as the IUCN and UIAA have expressed serious concerns about the scheme, but they too have been ignored. Of the members of the public that have expressed an opinion on this issue there has been an overwhelming view against the development, and yet the scheme is being 100% funded by public money. This is disgraceful and the MCofS will never cease to highlight the injustice that is prevalent throughout this project.

next page - MCofS Comments on the VMP

Latest News
Background