Depressing Cairngorm Housing Plan News

[THOaken]

http://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/news...fight-against-mass-cairngorms-housing/009153/

This is truly depressing. I dread to think that this might have an effect, however small, on our mighty Abernethy Forest if there'll be development at Nethy Bridge.

 

[Dogoak]

Really disapointing but to be honest it was always going to happen, money and bureaucracy I'm afraid. Living in the area it's sometimes hard to believe it's a National Park at all. I just don't know how some of the planning gets through as some of it seems contradictory to the Park Plan and their policies.

2 years ago we were fighting proposed planning permissions in our corner of the Park. I asked for an environmental report from the CNPA, well I reckon the person involved didn't even bother to get out of the car. The report actually stated that 'There is no mammal habitat'. To say we were gobsmacked was an understatement, not sure what the local owl and other raptors in the area would say about it as we regularly see them hunting, obviously catching Scotch Mist! There are also Water Shrews which I believe are quite scarce in Scotland (and, along with other shrews and Water Voles, protected). Waders are on the decline in the UK generally and this area has been a favoured nesting area but again, the Park Authority were not really bothered, just saying the numbers were insignificant and they would probably nest elsewhere, what an attitude!

I think what gets a lot of locals annoyed is that there are few enough amenities in the area already. Shopping in Aviemore is not designed for locals but for tourists and believe it or not, the Tescos there did (or possibly still 'has') the highest profit per square foot of all the UK branches. Many of the local villages have enough trouble with mains water, and locally to me, if enough people are having showers etc; in the evening the houses at the end barely get a dribble.

Hopefully this development will satisfy the 'numbers' game for a few years to come and there will be some respite for a while. Living up here is still a privillage and we do still have plenty of wild space to enjoy, but I for one, will always try to fight these developments and protect what's left.

 

[THOaken]

Really disapointing but to be honest it was always going to happen, money and bureaucracy I'm afraid. Living in the area it's sometimes hard to believe it's a National Park at all. I just don't know how some of the planning gets through as some of it seems contradictory to the Park Plan and their policies.

2 years ago we were fighting proposed planning permissions in our corner of the Park. I asked for an environmental report from the CNPA, well I reckon the person involved didn't even bother to get out of the car. The report actually stated that 'There is no mammal habitat'. To say we were gobsmacked was an understatement, not sure what the local owl and other raptors in the area would say about it as we regularly see them hunting, obviously catching Scotch Mist! There are also Water Shrews which I believe are quite scarce in Scotland (and, along with other shrews and Water Voles, protected). Waders are on the decline in the UK generally and this area has been a favoured nesting area but again, the Park Authority were not really bothered, just saying the numbers were insignificant and they would probably nest elsewhere, what an attitude!

I think what gets a lot of locals annoyed is that there are few enough amenities in the area already. Shopping in Aviemore is not designed for locals but for tourists and believe it or not, the Tescos there did (or possibly still 'has') the highest profit per square foot of all the UK branches. Many of the local villages have enough trouble with mains water, and locally to me, if enough people are having showers etc; in the evening the houses at the end barely get a dribble.

Hopefully this development will satisfy the 'numbers' game for a few years to come and there will be some respite for a while. Living up here is still a privillage and we do still have plenty of wild space to enjoy, but I for one, will always try to fight these developments and protect what's left.

Very informative response, Dogoak. It's good to here from a local. I've spent just over a week in the Cairngorms on two separate holidays this and last month. I stayed at the Star Hotel in Kingussie and in Silverglades Holiday Homes in Aviemore just a week ago! I'm from the Lowlands, but I really care for the Park.

 

[Dogoak]

Very informative response, Dogoak. It's good to here from a local. I've spent just over a week in the Cairngorms on two separate holidays this and last month. I stayed at the Star Hotel in Kingussie and in Silverglades Holiday Homes in Aviemore just a week ago! I'm from the Lowlands, but I really care for the Park.

Ah, local as in living, yes, local as in local, never! Glad you've enjoyed your visits, give us a shout next time your up.

 

[Ronnie]

Population density is very low and the Cairngorm is a big place. These are living communities characterised by relatively low earnings and high property prices. I am very fond of this part of the world, but I don't want to see it turning into a museum.

 

[Dogoak]

I don't think it's ever going to turn into a 'museum', there is always going to be some new development, people are always needing somewhere to live and that's fine. I just think that the so called 'aims' of the park have been overlooked here and on several other occasions too.

Earnings round here vary, as they do everywhere, and there are some high property prices but generally it's still cheaper than a lot of the places in the UK and you can get more bang for your buck. In every area of the UK some people are struggling to get on the property ladder and I think in modern society that will always be the way. The local area to where I was born in Dorset has property prices that are among the most expensive in the world, it was estimated to be around £20 million an acre a only few years back!
It's very common for people to build their own house round these parts and in the Highlands as a whole. These are hard working folks who live and work in the Park area and contribute to the local economy.

The proposed An Camas Mor development is huge, basically and new village/town plonked into the park, Yes there will be some affordable housing which is a good thing (you can't really put any multi dwelling application forward without proposing this) but unfortunately there will be many more sold which will become second/holiday homes. There are already too many of these in the Park, which as driven the house prices up a degree, and the owners/ tenants often arrive with all their shopping with them which means they are not spending locally.

An Camas Mor is an area of undisturbed heath so you can imagine the diversity of wildlife and the imapact of 1,500 homes to that area. Unfortunately the whole thing comes down to housing targets and money, you can be sure some people are going to make huge amounts of dosh out of this and I'm sure, whatever they say, those people don't care one iota for the wildlife.

If the fora & fauna dissapears we lose the ability to attract visitors and therefore an income which is valuable to the local economy.

 

[Ronnie]

Earnings are 75% of the national average, property prices are 130% of the national average - I stand by my statement:

http://cairngorms.co.uk/resource/do...ms National Park 2010 - complete document.pdf
(5.2meg PDF)

 

[Toddy]

I've worked in schools right across the Highlands where there are more names on the cenotaphs than on the school roles

This idea that the Highlands are somehow empty, always were and should be preserved as such as a tourist attraction smacks of elitism of the worst kind.
Locals live in caravans while good houses lie empty for over half of the year; families move away simply to have access to decent housing. it's a pathetic situation. Vibrant healthy communities thrive, retirement villages and holiday homes are just waiting for the grim reaper to get a move on.

Why should the folks who live there not have access to decent local housing, water, electicity and social services too ? It's one small country and they're our family and friends.

Shops, marinas, sports centres, restaurants, pubs that only open in 'tourist season' are a blot on the landscape more than thriving communities will ever be.

M

 

[Ronnie]

Thanks, Toddy - you put that far more eloquently than I could. Managing the competing needs of conservation and the needs of the communities which live in these places is a difficult balance - and it always is going to be a balance. People need houses to live in, even in national parks.

The holiday home thing is an issue, but one that needs addressed nationally through fiscal policy rather than locally via housing policy. But that's getting distressingly close to a political discussion, so I'll shy away right there.

 

[Dogoak]

As I stated above, some new development is always needed and I don't have any problem with that. Lets make no mistake, this is a huge intrusive development of 1,500 homes on wild land that is known to be habitat for some rare species, it's a stunning but fragile landscape, once it's gone, it's gone.
A lot of people are very dissapointed with the Park Authority over this issue, the area and the species within it are mean't to be protected. Sir David Attenborough once described the Rothimurcus area as “one of the glories of wild Scotland”.
If more money was spent in the existing communities improving existing housing, infrastructure and ammenities it would benefit those communities, the visitors and therefore the Park as a whole. There are many building plots with permission available in the Park, some of them have not been developed in over 10 years so there is some availability already, I think affordable housing needs to be in the communities that are already in existence, local folks don't want to move miles from other parts of the Park just to get housing.
There's always going to be differing view points over this kind of issue, but my view is that we know how vulnerable our planet is and we should use this knowledge to protect fragile environments such as this.

 

[EdS]

can really comment on this particular case but----
1) they are a National Park Authority, not a conservation agency and economic development is part of their remit.

2) at least the local Park Authority are allowing some development and trying to keep the places alive -- unlike the Yorkshire Dales where the Park's board and the planning panel don't want anyone living in the area. They seem to just want to preserve it in Aspic as some sort of 1950's toffee box picture. So much so they have killed several buisnesses

House prices are so high local younger people cant' afford to buy, its + £600 per month to rent 3 bed roomed ex-council house even.

They for get that there used to be massive industry in the area - Grassington at one time had 20 000 residents, thanks to lead mining.

most of my friends love living the Dales but hate living under the Park Authority -- several that are born and breed in the village before the park was even set up. Others have moved to the boundary areas jsut outside the APrk boundary ie Nidderdale