Item5Appendix3CCComments20230245DETDalwhinnie

CAIRNGORMS NATION­AL PARK AUTHOR­ITY Plan­ning Com­mit­tee Agenda Item 5 Appendix 3 26/04/2024

Agenda Item 5

Appendix 3

2023/0245/DET

Com­munity coun­cil comments

Emma Green­lees

From: Sent: 06 July 2023 12:15 To: Plan­ning Cc:

Sub­ject: Pro­posed camper/​motorhome park — Dal­whin­nie Cat­egor­ies: Con­sulta­tion Response

Dear CNPA plan­ning, We would like to sub­mit the fol­low­ing response from Dal­whin­nie com­munity coun­cil on behalf of the major­ity of res­id­ents. Thank you in advance,

DCC Chair

REF: 2022/0245/DET Dal­whin­nie Com­munity Coun­cil is fully in sup­port of the pro­posed camper/​motorhome and cara­van park for Dal­whin­nie. It is believed this will bene­fit the vil­lage, res­id­ents and area includ­ing Cairngorms Nation­al Park in the short and longer term. As I’m sure you are aware Dal­whin­nie is at the very bot­tom of the nation­al park and High­lands catch­ment area. This means our vil­lage is often for­got­ten or money for new/​extra devel­op­ment and ser­vices dis­trib­uted to des­tin­a­tions more ​“attract­ive” to tour­ists or where they are seen to be more eco­nom­ic­ally prof­it­able. Dalwhinnie’s loc­a­tion how­ever should be seen as the gate­way to the high­lands and it’s name itself means ​“Meet­ing Place”. With the main roads to the north, south and west from here, it will bene­fit from the fact it will catch a high per­cent­age of people going to/​from their Scot­tish High­land exper­i­ence. There­fore this will hope­fully help the vil­lage to offer more employ­ment and oppor­tun­it­ies to both per­man­ent and sea­son­al employ­ees. This in turn brings new res­id­ents and the chance for the vil­lage to remain, grow or have more loc­al ser­vices for res­id­ents liv­ing here. Cur­rently des­pite being on the main rail line and along­side the A9 and on the main road A889 to the west, our pub­lic trans­port if very poor with DCC hav­ing to fight for a bus to ensure stu­dents can get to col­lege in Inverness! With devel­op­ment and tour­ism there is a chance a bus ser­vice would be more viable to maintain…or even a small com­munity bus service/​business to begin to sup­port loc­als and vis­it­ors alike.

Back to the facil­it­ies offered dir­ectly by the pro­posed motorhome & cara­van park. One example of bene­fit is also ensur­ing no excuse for chem­ic­al waste dis­pos­al into the sur­round­ing area if we have facil­it­ies here in Dal­whin­nie! Loc­al res­id­ents are forever col­lect­ing rub­bish, waste includ­ing human waste some­times emp­tied from chem­ic­al toilets/​porta pot­ties, we’ve even found a full porta potti dumped at the side of the road near the Distillery.

With the increase in tour­ists and espe­cially those trav­el­ling in motorhomes, campers and cara­vans, we feel the infra­struc­ture across the high­lands and CNP is lack­ing to accom­mod­ate and facil­it­ate such an increase. With the pro­mo­tion of the NC 500 without appro­pri­ate waste facil­it­ies and campsite/​camper pull-up options for smal­ler campers it is no won­der that we loc­als are left pick­ing up the lit­ter, waste and deal­ing with the dam­age left. 1

If we hope to teach and ask people to be respons­ible (includ­ing those new to such activ­it­ies, rent­ing motorhomes for the first time), we need to provide adequate facil­it­ies such as chem­ic­al waste dis­pos­al, waste/​recycling facil­it­ies which we believe the park will offer. This is part of the bene­fit from the pro­pos­al, even if this is at a small cost to people only passing by, rather than staying/​using the motorhome park. As a camper­van own­er I would hap­pily pay to empty a toi­let respons­ibly if the ser­vice was available.

The pro­posed devel­op­ment offers loc­al eco­nom­ic growth, not only in employ­ment dir­ectly but also at oth­er busi­nesses in the vil­lage that will undoubtedly bene­fit. We expect the café’s and hotel are bound to see fur­ther increase in trade, the hostel too wel­come this as longer café/​restaurant/​hotel open­ing hours bene­fits their cli­ents and so their busi­ness. This pro­posed devel­op­ment is long over­due for Dal­whin­nie and offers resources and facil­it­ies the High­lands, Cairngorms Nation­al park and loc­als des­per­ately need.

Rest assured, two mem­bers of the DCC are camper­van own­ers who have spent most of the last 20years trav­el­ling around, liv­ing and work­ing in Europe from their camper. We recog­nise and feel Scot­land has some catch­ing up to do with Europe and as a nation­al park this should be a ​“no brain­i­er” to assist with devel­op­ing eco­nom­ies and infrastructure.

Dal­whin­nie Com­munity Coun­cil Chair­man 2