News Release
For immediate use
Ramblers Call For Access Investigation and Charging Boycott
President of Ramblers’ Association Scotland, Cameron McNeish, today called on the Cairngorms National Park Authority to investigate access and charging arrangements on Rothiemurchus Estate in the Cairngorms.
Cameron McNeish said:
“We are very concerned at the way that this estate appears to be undermining the principles established by Scotland’s right to roam legislation. We want officials of the national park to investigate why things appear to be going wrong on an estate that should be setting access standards, not eroding them.”
The call came at the Ramblers annual meeting of their Scottish Council, held at the Marine Hotel, Troon, Ayrshire, on 11/12 March.
Cameron McNeish added:
“We are amazed that Rothiemurchus Estate published a visitor leaflet in 2005, which has still not been corrected, which gives access information incompatible with the new legislation. The leaflet asks visitors to keep to paths on the large Cairngorms estate or, failing this, to ‘tell us where you are going’. There is no such requirement in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, or the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which came into effect in Feb 2005. Campers are asked by the estate to stay ‘for one night only’ when the Code says wild camping should take place ‘only for two or three nights in any one place’.
The Ramblers are equally surprised that Rothiemurchus have received grant aid from Scottish Natural Heritage for this leaflet and printed an extract from the Code, along with the Code logo, within the leaflet.
Cameron McNeish said:
“We cannot understand why John Grant of Rothiemurchus is getting official endorsement from SNH for this publication. Instead of giving him financial support they should be demanding that an access health warning is printed across the inaccurate text.”
Delegates also heard of concerns about car parking charges on Rothiemurchus.
Cameron McNeish said:
“One delegate said he was charged £10 to park at Loch an Eilein (£2 for the car and £2 for each of the four people in the car). My response is to suggest that everyone refuses to pay any charges on Rothiemurchus until this is all sorted out. The National Park Authority needs to be satisfied that any charging arrangements on land and water at Rothiemurchus are fully compatible with access legislation and any other requirements relating to the proper expenditure of public funds in support of land management.”
