An article in the Scotland on Sunday newspaper (19/5/02) has suggested that Tourism Minister, Mike Watson, is under pressure to scrap the 'closed system' restrictions which are in force at the Funicular Visitor Attraction. This system dictates that passengers who ride on the railway to the Ptarmigan Visitor Centre, close to the summit of the mountain, are not permitted to leave the visitor centre to walk on the mountain top and, conversely, walkers who are on the mountain are not permitted to enter the visitor centre and make use of its facilities. The system was introduced as a condition of the funicular opening to prevent inordinate numbers of people taking the train and then walking on the delicate ecostructure of the Cairngorm plateau. The funicular has been in operation since last December.

The article quotes Fergus Ewing MSP as describing the Visitor Management Plan (VMP) restrictions as ludicrous.     read the full article

In fact, the EU grant of £2.7M which helped build the railway is repayable by the UK government if any of the grant conditions are broken, and the closed system is a condition that has to be kept for 25 years. If Fergus Ewing, or the people who want to be let in or out, want to find their own £2.7M then they should stump up the money, otherwise they should not come looking for even more money from the UK taxpayers. The Chairlift Company invented the closed system in order to gain planning permission and now they are allowing people like Fergus Ewing to make this case for scrapping the closed system, without standing up and saying that they are legally obliged to honour, and enforce, the closed system.

Bob Kinnaird, from the funicular operators, The Cairngorm Mountain Company, recently said that the closed system was the company's least favoured option. That is not true, speaking to other interested groups about alternatives to a funicular was their least favoured option. They chose the closed system, and signed a legally binding agreement to abide by it for 25 years. Nobody forced them to do that. There was a consultation exercise on the Visitor Management Plan (VMP) about 3 years ago. That was the time for those who wanted to be let in or out to make their views known, because soon after that consultation was closed the legally binding agreements were agreed and signed.

The Company, and Fergus Ewing, should realise that the Chairlift Company cannot afford the court case that would be necessary for them to attempt to wriggle out of this grant condition. If public money is used to help them in such a court case then there are plenty of people waiting to come down on them like a ton of bricks.

These attempts to change the rules the moment the concrete has set and other people's money been spent, are totally despicable. Public money was given to this company with conditions attached, and it is outrageous that they are now trying to change those rules.

If the company thinks that the closed system is unworkable, then it should have listened to its critics, including ourselves, a few years ago and stopped to think then. Legally binding agreements are for keeping, not just for gaining planning consent and funding.

The Visitor Management Plan
The Funicular Campaign