5.Mountaineering Council of Scotland
Page 10
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The Cairngorms is an incredibly popular area for mountaineering and hillwalking and the VMP goes against Scottish Executive's move to secure better rights of access to the countryside. What's made the whole situation worse is that our views and the views of others opposed to the development were constantly ignored. Really the planning system throughout has been woeful. Did you know that the planning system treats an important area like the Cairngorms the same way as it would deal with an extension to a residential house? A 2 week consultation process was advertised in Strathspey & Badenoch Herald - yet this development is of national importance. |
This consulatation process resulted in 164 objections and 2 letters of support. The Chairman of Cairngorm Mountain Ltd dismissed the objections because 87% of them were from outside the area. That meant that 21 were from the local area - 19 more than there were who supported the scheme! Doesn't this suggest to you that the Cairngorm Chairlift Company are quite happy for people outwith the area to come and spend their money but woe betide them if they dare to express an opinion! Anyway, why wasn't the funicular subject to a public enquiry? - the most rigorous of all planning procedures. I'll tell you why - because they weren't interested in hearing the views of all those who opposed it.
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