November 25, 2011
Scotland

Mountaineers urge halt to development in Cairngorms

By Leanna MacLarty, stv.tv 25 November 2011

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland wants to see all development in and around the national park stopped.

Mountaineers have called for a halt to all development in the Cairngorms National Park in a bid to stop the “loss of wildness”.

The Mountaineering Council of Scotland (MCofS) says development is the biggest threat to Scotland’s popular national park.

The body has called for no more development in and around the park for five years from 2012 and warns against the park becoming “a ring of wind farm developments”.

Mountaineers say “numerous” developments built or planned close to the park boundary already has a “significant” impact on the wild quality of the region.

A statement from the council said: “Many are highly visible from core upland areas within the park and are having a significant impact on the wild quality.

“These are primarily wind energy developments, which pose an immediate and growing threat as the cumulative impacts are already evidence, and there are more applications in the planning system.

“This is a challenge that needs to be urgently and consistently addressed by the CNPA, which should exert as much pressure as possible on decision outside the national park.

“The feeling of wildness is central to the special experience that the park offers.”

The call comes as a response to the Cairngorm National Park Authority’s draft national plan for 2012-17.

The draft plan is currently out for public consultation and people have until December 9 to respond.

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/11/25/mountaineers-urge-halt-to-development-in-cairngorms/