Swim campaign supported by international delegates

THERE was plenty of support from across Europe for Aviemore's SOS campaign 2018 to reinstate affordable swimming for locals at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort.

Many of the delegates attending the Europarc conference were only too happy to stop and listen to the 40 plus group of campaigners explaining the reason behind their peaceful protest on Thursday evening.

The petition being collected by SOS 2018 was boosted by more than 350 signatures with names added from England, Italy, Greece, France, Germany and Finland amongst others.

Many said that the campaign resonated with their own views about big business having a responsibility to support the communities they are in, especially in rural areas.

Veikko Virkkunen, from the coastal town of Oulu, Finland, was one of those who read the leaflet. He could not understand why locals should not be able to access the pool facilities at this time.

He said: "I work with sustainable tourism myself. This does not sound like sustainable tourism to me. In my opinion tourism should benefit local communities. The best reason to have tourism in the first place is so that it can benefit local residents in a different way.

"It can increase services locally, create job opportunities and more vibrant communities. To me it is almost impossible to imagine that we should have a situation like this happening here."

David Butterworth, chief executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, told the Strathy: "In smaller rural communities you have to have facilities like this shared with the local population.

"I think in many instances local authorities when giving planning permissions for ventures like this have a condition in there that the facilities must be made available to local people.

"That to me seems the right thing to do. If Macdonald Hotels have come up with a reason not to do that then it has to be pretty good reason to change it.

"It's a nonsense. Surely they want the best in terms of future sustainability of the area; they want this area to attract people and families in particular and facilities such as this are part of that, so I am more than happy to support the cause."

Italian delegate Stefano Sardi, from Udine in the north-east of the country, said: "Children have the right to practise this type of activity and recreation as it is very important for them to have this skill. To grant them the chance to learn to swim is very important for any community in Scotland, Italy and anywhere else in the world."

Organisers were delighted with the response they received from delegates.

Janet Lowin, of Aviemore, said: "I have spent a lot of time at the pool with my grandson Riley. These children have been explaining things to the resort visitors and they have actually got lots of people to sign the petition as well.

"The kids are saying 'We can't go swimming anymore'. We've found those that we have talked to have been very receptive to the cause. A lot of the traffic that was going by on the road was tooting and waving. The delegates on the coaches were all waving and supportive.

"We have had long conversations with people from Greece and all over the place."

Campaigner Dan Green said: "Some of the delegates here are from national parks in other countries and they have been interested to hear what we are going through. They took it on board and hopefully they will be talking about it at their dinner tables this evening."

Ian Sherrington, who was part of the peaceful protest, said: "We are standing here and so many of Macdonald's clientele have been happy to come up and ask what is going on and then sign the petition.

"Why wouldn't Macdonald's listen to their own clientele?"

The SOS 2018 campaigners started at the bottom of the centre brae and marched up with the banner just after 6.30pm to highlight the campaign at the entrance to the resort's conference venue as delegates were heading in for dinner.

Mr Kirby said: "It's been very well received and a fantastic turn-out from locals.

"The Europarc conference delegates have stopped and taken the time to listen to our explanation; they have taken the fliers and signed the petition. We have gathered more than 350 signatures here."

The annual Europarc conference is the largest gathering of protected areas and national park professionals in Europe.

They represent thousands of regions across 37 countries.

The colourful SOS banner is now on display in the village centre above the Mountain Warehouse outlet.

A Highland Council spokeswoman said that they had not been approached by Macdonald Hotels despite the company informing the Strathy last week it intended to reopen talks on September 24.

The Strathy contacted Macdonald Hotels for a comment yesterday but did not receive a response.