The information below has come Forestry Commission Scotland.

Some of you may not recognise the name, but if I tell you it is the main car park for that iconic mountain, Schiehallion, then you will probably know where I am talking about.

As most of you will be aware, the John Muir Trust owns most of the mountain, but the car park is part of the national forest estate and run solely by us, the Forestry Commission Scotland. It is almost unique, from our perspective, as it is a main access point servicing neighbouring land rather than land that we manage. We also have to cover the not insubstantial costs of running it.

How did this situation arise?

Schiehallion has always been a popular and highly accessible mountain. Increasing numbers of visitors began to park wherever they could along the public road, thus causing problems to other road users and blocking farm accesses. Therefore, in conjunction the local council, we agreed back in the early seventies to provide a car park and toilet facilities, in order to remove the parking problem from the main road. The car park is now recognised as the principle access point for the mountain.

Due to rising maintenance costs and our continued desire to ensure a suitable standard of facility to the public, we have decided to introduce contributory metered parking at the site. Money gathered from this will be directed towards the necessary up-keep of the car park including improvement work such as converting the toilet to composting so that it can remain open all year round.

Forestry Commission Scotland has had long discussions with the John Muir Trust about the potential joint management of the car park facility and the possibility of investing some of the contributions into mountain access improvements. To-date no agreement has been reached but we will continue to work with the JMT and other local partners to develop a shared long-term vision for Schiehallion and the surrounding area.

Further information is available from:

Hamish Murray
Forestry Commission
Tay FD
Inverpark
Dunkeld
Perthshire PH8 0JR
Tel: 01350 727284
e-mail: hamish.murray@forestry.gsi.gov.uk

Submit your comments on parking fees to 'Pitch-in'