A north community has forced a power giant to consider changing the timing of its plans to close a scenic part of the North Coast 500 for six weeks, to avoid a “catastrophic” effect on local tourism.
The Bealach na Ba road is scheduled to shut on weekdays between 9am and 6pm from April 15, as fibre optic cabling needs to be laid to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) base at Sand.
But about 70 people from the Applecross community of 200 attended a public meeting at the village hall yesterday, hosted by local MP Ian Blackford, to ask contractor Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) for the works to be postponed until June, as longer daylight hours would allow for overnight working instead.
And Mr Blackford confirmed last night that SSE will look again at their proposals and report back to the community on the feasibility of delaying .
A decision is expected on Tuesday.
After yesterday’s meeting Jon Glover, proprietor of the Walled Garden restaurant and Applecross Community Council chairman, said: “The battle is not won but we have made a big case as SSE have had to stand up and listen. I hope they understand the strength of feeling in the community on this.
“The worst case scenario would be that they go ahead as planned. If they do, as far as we are concerned, it may be a battle for compensation for businesses and locals who are put out by this. It’s all hanging in the balance.”
Mr Glover also said that a “stop and go” traffic system on the road at weekends during the proposed works would be “utter chaos.”
He stressed that small businesses in the area rely on a busy April and May, adding: “The Bealach na Ba is the destination in Ross and Cromarty and when you take that away, you’re taking away half of the reason to come to Applecross.
“It would be catastrophic [for businesses]. I think we would survive it but it would wipe out our profits. I am angry and I am upset by it.”
Judith Fish, who has run the Applecross Inn for 29 years, has estimated that a six-week closure would mean a potential £400,000 loss to small businesses in the village.
Both she and Mr Glover said that the community had tried to ask the authorities not to shut off the lifeline road in April and May since the road closure was first raised in mid January.
Mrs Fish said: “It’s obviously going to go ahead. But I think we would have come to a much more amicable arrangement if they had listened to us properly from the start, and we would not be in a position where we could be losing hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
Mrs Fish said that she is aware that local bed and breakfasts and a hostel in the area have already had to cancel several bookings in April because of the road closure threat.
An SSE spokesman said they have had several meetings with the business community and local politicians in the run up to yesterday’s meeting. He confirmed a final decision would be made next week.
The 11-mile Bealach na Ba road is a hugely popular part of the NC500 and is a major cycling destination and climbs 2,000ft at gradients of up to 30%. There is a coastal alternative but it takes more than twice as long.
The road is being shut to lay a cable for an MoD torpedo testing station and to allow some council repairs to be carried out.
