Scottish opinions required

[cj]

My mate is about to embark on a geography dissertation on the objections to the creation of national parks in Scotland, in particular the Cairngorms one. Apparently loads of people including Aberdeenshire council, landowners and a mountaineering association were against it and there are lots of implications for Scottish politics.

Do any of you scots (or anyone else I guess) have any opinions on the matter, will it make that much difference, from all points of view, living there, visiting there, orienteering there etc.?

Also any recommendations for where she can stay for four weeks this summer, I figured the youth hostel in Aveimore was a good bet

[bendover]

it'll help the snae badgers.

[Domhnull Mor]

Hope I don't end up talking crap here given that I am currently exiled a couple of thousand miles from my home in the 'gorms but I'll add my tupenny's worth.

The main complaints when the park was planned was that it doesn't cover the entire Cairngorm range, missing out bits in the south and east from Blair Atholl across to the Angus hills.

At the moment, can't say that it has that big an impact on the folk who live there other than possibly new planning controls (although this really only seems to affect new plans - hence the mad rush of planning applications before the park was officially "opened"). This has been highlighted this week by the park athority calling in some of the plans for redevelopment of Aviemore (rightly or wrongly - I haven't seen the plans).

It may not be that much but you can find some comments in the local paper from Badenoch and Strathspey (http://www.sbherald.co.uk)

Hell, just realised I'm getting of the banter and heading towards something else......

Personally I remain to be convinced by this National Park gadgee. Can't see it making much difference for orienteering since the RSPB seem to be the biggest power in the area (one set of capercailie droppings put paid to the planned mountain bike centre in Glenmore, but now going ahead near Laggan for those interested) but we can live in hope.

[Godders]

The best place to stay in Speyside was the Stopover in Grantown-on-Spey. NEDS and SEDS used it several times a year and BOF used it for junior training tours in the summer.

Then along comes the National Park, one of the aims of which is surely to attract more tourists, and the Stopover gets shut down and turned into offices for bureaucrats.

Haven't seen any other signs of the National Park on a couple of trips this year. Don't really see the point. Scotland has pretty good land access, compared to England anyway. And surely everywhere north of the central belt should be included.

In the other park (Loch Lomond and the Trossachs) there are lots of fancy new road signs pointing to car parks.

[Asian]

To be fair I haven't been home to Kingussie for some time now, and have been out of contact with the motherland for over a year to a large extent. However the way I see it is that from a Social Economic point of view creating the national parks might not be such a bad idea. With the introduction of so many cheap airlines flying out from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Prestwick (and even Inverness and Dyce) and with the expansion of Europe there is ever increasing ease to fly off to Sweden or Czech for a short break than it is too stay in your own country and explore your own culture. I don't for one minute diss cheap airlines, in fact it's one of my bgiggest modes of transport these days, however from an environmental point of view they are bad, they are heavily polluting the skies with water vapour and other emmissions. It is cheaper these days to get from Glasgow to Gothenburg than it is to get to the Isle of Sky or the like.
For this reason it is important to promote our own assets, the beautiful natural environment of Scotland is unique in many ways and the people of Scotland (and Britain and the rest of the world for that matter) should have the opportunity to go and experience this. Therefore we must promote these areas so that the folks of the South know that they are there and bring valuable income into the highlands when they come to visit. A huge majority of the Highland populatiuon rely on tourism as their main income sourceand it is important to have a proper joined up plan to promote these areas but protect them at the same time. This is where I think national parks are a good idea in theory and in practice is managed right by the right people and not bureaucrats that just cause problems and put up walls where walls should not be.

Aviemore is a good example, it used to be a buzzing place in the 60's/70's and even 80's but now it is a delapidated village with little in it but sports shops. However with the introduction of the National park I have seen a lot of new development and construction going on to revitalise it and re-establish it as a tourism area and utilising its location in the heart of the highlands between the Cairngorms and the Monaliaths. Planning laws have changed in the vicinity of the National Parks and I suppose this is important as long social economic factors are taken into consideration along with environmental aspects when decisions are made on what can and can not be built.

The boundaries of the park are questionable in the Cairngorms however. I belive that the Lecht ski area is half in and half out of the park and therefore half of it is subject to certain controls where as the other half is not, so where should the line be drawn and what should that line encompass, this is a big question. Aviemore may flurish due to the creation of the park, however Tomintoul may crumble due to stricter legislation or planning controls preventing it form developing as it should. All these aspects should be taken into consideration when deciding the boundaries.

Interesting topic and I think if these parks are managed well (and that is the crux of the matter, you need a management commitee with diverse view points who can see the benifit of activities over the environmental impact, it's all about weighing things up against each other) then it could be a good thing for Scotaland and it's flailing tourism, it could be the start of new things because although the cheap flights I mentioned fly us all out of Scotland they also fly a lot of tourists in and if we have focal points such as National Parks to draw folk into the highlands and boast the economy then they are no bad thing.

Thats my piece

[Domhnull Mor]

Some quality points from the Asian meister there. Believe me, he knows his stuff.....

On the acommodation side, apart from my folks' house, the best käkstället in the Strath, you can check http://www.cairngormshostels.co.uk/ for some ideas.

[hitmanjon]

Well,,,, as a tourist to Scotland before i began orienteering, i have to say it is unparralleled in its nautral beauty, and should be kept that way for future generations. If national parks cause that then i hope they become more wide spread. I hate my concreate jungle, and one day hope to get away from it, and preferably, if not Scotland itself, somewhere similar.

It would be a sad day when city surrounds country side, not vice versa.