News Snippets

Rob Mackey

Access to Bennachie

Access to Bennachie Hill is currently not permitted by Forestry & Land Scotland (FLS) due to storm damage caused by Storm Arwen. The car park at the Bennachie Visitor Centre is closed. Work to clear the fallen trees has been ongoing during March from the car park and the trails.

FLS state they hope to re-open the car park in April but no date has been given. My understanding is that access to Millstone Hill is possible from the Donview car park and by ascending on the original and steeper route. This involves following the Gordon Way for part of the way and then heading up through the forest to reach the Millstone track at a higher point. And it is also possible to access the plateau from the west, along the Gordon Way.

The State of Wild Land in the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Wild Land Group report: Summary - Full Report (22Mb)

This report, commissioned by the Scottish Wild Land Group in association with Scottish Mountaineering Trust and the Cairngorms Campaign, indicates that development has a continuing negative impact on wild land in Scotland; the types of development include the expansion of hilltracks and new structures, such as Windfarms.

The report is highly critical of existing planning policies in Scotland, suggesting there is no Council-led strategy and that it is location specific with each application decided individually. In their view, this leads to an entirely random decision making process.

Their recommendation is that 3 things need to happen:

1. A development plan put in place for each Council area (as happens in England)
2. “The process has to be driven by local democracy, community and place”
3. A legislative change will probably be required to set out a map-based framework

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