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Funicular inquiry



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Published Date: 01 December 2008
The probe by Scotland's auditor general into the Cairngorms funicular railway is welcome. An investigation of the role of Highlands and Islands Enterprise in this project is long overdue. The financial viability of this project was always regarded as very suspect, but HIE brushed aside these concerns as they did to any other suggestions that there were better ways of developing the northern slopes of Cairn Gorm to meet environmental constraints and outdoor recreation opportunities.
Now we face the prospect of up to £50 million being required to remove the funicular railway from the mountain or, if it is to continue in operation, a long-term subsidy being provided. One expert analysis suggests that more than £10 subsidy will be
required per passenger through the 30 year life of this project. Who might be asked to pay this, surely not the public purse once again? Maybe all the large commercial hotels clustered around Aviemore should be asked to slice a bit off their profits to pay for the funicular, before those profits are dispersed amongst shareholders in far away places.

As for HIE, the parliamentary investigation of this situation must surely recommend that HIE are removed from the mountain as soon as possible. Ever since their predecessors, Highlands and Islands Development Board, wrenched this land off the Forestry Commission in 1971, there has been an endless story of crazy development schemes. This land needs to be returned to the Forestry Commission at the earliest opportunity. Only then will the northern Cairngorms receive the high quality integrated development, linked to stakeholder involvement, that they deserve.

DAVE MORRIS

Ramblers' Association Scotland

Milnathort, Kinross





The full article contains 273 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 30 November 2008 8:10 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

StuartAD,

West Lothian 01/12/2008 08:25:55
Here we have the perfect example of knowing the price of everything & the value of nothing. Have we not learned that to accumulate we must speculate.
The value of the Funicular railway out ways its expense, people come to Cairngorm Mountain to take a ride to the summit. What they spend is minimal in the cost of the ticket, but what the people spend in staying in the area is the bag of gold. People tell others who come, so I would suggest that an investment like the funicular cannot be simply a number on a balance sheet. When did any great new idea ever pay for itself over a small period in time?
Where is the vision once held by people who cared?
Even the London Dome will pay for itself in years to come.
No I see a purist here who does not wish the land to be made available to the masses but only a select few, as for returning the land to the Forestry Commision, it does not exist, & will soon be put in private hands if the Scottish Executive have their way.
2

Martinh,

01/12/2008 08:38:13
Well they were warned in no uncertain terms that this funicular was unsustainable, but they went ahead anyway, rejecting the viable and greener alternatives of a mountain cable car from Loch Morlich to Coire Cas,which would have been used by hillwalkers and a renewed ski uplift facillity beyond. The HIE claimed hundreds of local jobs would be created,that the funicular would be an attractive summer tourist attraction to the Aviemore area, and brushed aside criticisms that ultimately there was little demand for an expensive ride up a despoiled mountainside littered with bulldozed tracks and ironmongery to eat a hamburger in the mist. Well they ken noo, and watch this space re 'hundreds of local jobs' when the Trump project fails too to match the hyperbole.

The exponents of this overblown project should bail it out, not the public purse.
3

MoragfraeEdinburgh,

Edinburgh 01/12/2008 11:20:45
I hope the investigation gets to the bottom of the facts behind the contract being awarded by HIE to HIE's chairman and the then chief executive of HIE leaving to join that company before the ink was dry on the contract. It stank the whole deal.
Then all the rest of HIE's contracts over the last ten years can be opened up for scrutiny. Being in Inverness the country has missed out on what has being going on in that organisation with taxpayers' money.

 

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