The beleaguered operators of the Cairngorm resort face local resistance to plans for a dry ski slope when it reaches decision day this week.
Cairngorm National Park Authority’s officials are recommending approval for proposals by Cairngorm Mountain Ltd to build a £1.5million artificial ski slope – but local businesses have given it a frosty reception.
The row, prior to a CPNA meeting on Friday, comes as the operators have been forced to close the funicular railway for at least a month as engineers examine it, leaving dozens of people without work.
The L shaped development, north-east of the Coire Cas car parking area, is designed for beginner and intermediate skiers in an area of almost two acres.
It would be covered with ‘mid-toned bright green’ matting, and have travelators, or moving walkways, to take people to the top of the slope.
Cairngorm Mountain projects that 7,000 people would use the facility, including year round, for learning and progression. It would reduce demand on the other slopes and uplift facilities, provide practise opportunities and wouldn’t be dependent on snow, the company says.
But Aviemore Business Association (ABA) has lodge objections to the plans and say visitors have been voting with their feet over the past five years.
ABA spokesman Alan Brattey said: “Cairngorm hasn’t got the uplift, catering or service levels that people are looking for, so they’re deserting it and going to Glenshee.
“An artificial slope won’t stop that, it’s a total waste of money. It’s been tried and failed in the Lecht, Glenshee and Glencoe.
“People don’t come here to ski on plastic. And they certainly don’t come to ski in summer, they come to do all the other outdoor activities we have at Aviemore.”
Aviemore & Vicinity community council has also lodged objections, saying the plans will ‘do nothing to conserve and enhance the natural or cultural heritage of the area.’
Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group have also objected to the proposal.
A spokesman for the group said: “We are concerned that the Cairngorms National Park Authority planners are recommending these artificial ski slopes for approval at such a highly inappropriate location.
“Irreplaceable upland habitats for which the Authority has special responsibility would be destroyed for this development, that is widely recognised as hopelessly unsustainable and apparently requires £1.5million of taxpayer funding support.”
The proposals have been received favourably by others, saying the artificial slope will fulfil a need and create extra employment.
