£10 million Cairngorms gateway plan goes public
The public is to get their first chance to have a say on controversial plans for a £10 million facelift of the strath’s most popular beauty spot.
The blueprint to redevelop Glenmore – including Loch Morlich – over the next two decades as a world-class gateway to the Cairngorms is already creating waves.
The 20-page ‘Glenmore Outline Masterplan’, revealed by the ‘Strathy’ in May, includes:
Plans costing between £4 and £5 million for a new visitor hub, and a "refreshed and updated" watersports centre at the Loch Morlich beach;
A £2 million "arrival experience", pedestrian-based with high-quality built structures reflecting the ‘edge of wilderness’ character of the area;
A network of new paths costing £500,000;
A new ‘simpler’ car parking plan, including reducing the roadside spaces on the north shore of Loch Morlich, costing £500,000 to £1 million, and cutting speed limits to 10mph in some places; and
Developing the ‘outdoor experience’ (£500,000 to £1 million).
According to sources, the plan would also include the removal of the historic Glenmore Youth Hostel.
Those behind the project, including Forestry Commission Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park Authority, want to maximise views from the new visitor hub to the Northern Corries and the loch, and create an improved sense of arrival.
Members of the public are being invited to attend a drop-in session next Thursday (September 25) to find out about and give their views on the long-term management of publicly owned land in Glenmore and Upper Rothiemurchus forests.
The event will be held at Glenmore Visitor Centre from 1-7pm and will be hosted by staff from the Commission and the CNPA.
Mr Grant Moir, CNPA’s chief executive officer, said: "Cairngorm and Glenmore attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year because it is a uniquely beautiful location that stands on the edge of wildness.
"The masterplan we have been working on is all about protecting and enhancing the special character of the area."
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