UKH

Anyone heading for Carn a' Coire Ghairbh and Aonach Shasuinn from Glen Affric there is now a hydro scheme with access road still under construction up the approach route. No problem using it but a bit muddy in places - looks a bit of a mess at the moment, unfortunately .

In reply to the thread:

There was a post on WalkHighlands back in May with some fairly horrifying pictures of whats being done to the glen:

https://www.walkhighlands.co.uk/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=72222

In the end I guess it will be less intrusive than a wind power station on Carn Eighe or whatever, but this kind of industrialisation of the landscape still makes me sad.

In reply to andyjohnson0:

A planning condition of such schemes is normally that any access roads for construction should be removed afterwards and any remaining tracks for maintenance should be well hidden. Unfortunately it seems that such conditions are regularly ignored with no enforcement.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

I suspect it'll be like the Maldie Burn development at Loch Glendhu, with permanent access roads carved out of the hillside and visible from miles away.

In reply to andyjohnson0:

Thanks Andy - I completely forgot about this so it came as a bit of a surprise. There can hardly be a single Highland estate, irrespective of owner, which doesn't have at least one of these schemes. At my last count the Coulin Estate south of Torridon has at least 4. I must say it sticks in my craw the thought of a lot of wealthy landowners including faceless "trusts" and corporation getting grants for this. Is there a post-works inspection system of any kind to check if land restoration is actually carried out?

In reply to The Watch of Barrisdale:

From what I saw the forestry commission are behind this one? It’s up there as one of the worst I’ve seen.

In reply to Mike-W-99:

The developer is Green Highland Renewables, and the land is owned by Forest Enterprise Scotland, SSE and Wester Guisachan Estate.

http://www.greenhighland.co.uk/glen-affric-project/

In reply to The Watch of Barrisdale:

The Munro Society has some info on its website, as does Mountaineering Scotland, asking for reports of hydro track reinstatement, photos etc. See http://www.themunrosociety.com/latest-news/small-hydro-schemes-survey

also the bit about hydro on https://www.mountaineering.scot/campaigns/protecting-our-mountains/hilltrac...

More broadly, see also the LINK Hilltracks campaign which is looking at the wider issue of poorly constructed hilltracks which cause landscape and environmental damage, again you can contribute to this if you have concerns about tracks you've come across by sending in photos/reports. http://www.scotlink.org/workareas/hill-tracks/

In reply to The Watch of Barrisdale:

Do you think you'd be able to cycle up the road?
I've just moved up to Inverness and as this is my local patch, I'll be heading out that way soon no doubt.

In reply to Cozi:
I came down it a couple of weeks ago on the bike and it was fine.

If anyone knows the contractors for the work at approx 190260, I have a photo from earlier in the year showing an oil bottle on the side leaking into their new pipe, right next to the water. Not really coshh compliant or environmentally friendly. There was a saw lying flat on the ground next to it. I thought we'd moved on from sites like this 20 years ago.