Work by the partnership on Ben Nevis will be suspended from April

A cash shortage has forced a charity that helps manage Britain’s highest mountain to suspend its operations.

The Nevis Partnership, which has responsibility for co-ordinating environmental and visitor management on and around Ben Nevis, is pinning its hopes on a lottery fund application which would enable it to restart its work.

But managers at the partnership, which was formed in 2003, expressed their disappointment at the forced decision to cease its work after a failed attempt to attract funds 18 months ago. A skeleton staff will be kept on after 1 April.

The partnership includes bodies such as the John Muir Trust, which owns much of the 1,344m (4,409ft) mountain, local councils, the Mountaineering Council of Scotland and sportscotland.

A statement today said: “The partnership now has no realistic alternative other than to halt new work, initially for the period April to July 2012.

“During this period the voluntary board of directors will continue to meet and keep a watching brief for potential funding opportunities.

“However, there is some hope on the horizon, as the partnership has recently resubmitted an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a large-scale landscape partnership agreement.

“A similar application last year was unsuccessful, but following discussions with both HLF representatives and Scottish Government ministers, a reworked and revised application was dispatched in February with the outcome expected to be revealed in mid July 2012.”

The Nevis Partnership said that, for the next two to three years at least, there is little prospect of much-needed restoration or upgrading work on the lower half of the main mountain track to the summit of the ben, a route used by about 160,000 walkers and climbers every year.

Nevis Partnership manager Liz Wilshaw said: “For the period from April to July we will be retaining office premises and a skeleton staff pending the HLF decision.

“If our application is successful, August 2012 will see the start of a six-year programme of wide-ranging action in the Nevis area, including £3m of investment; creation of six new staff posts, restoration of the lower half of the famous Ben Nevis mountain track and a wealth of other cultural, heritage and environmental projects.

“It’s really sad that we have reached this stage, but we have to remain positive about the longer term.”

The charity’s chairman Patricia Jordan added: “We are upbeat and optimistic about the chances of success with our HLF application, but at the same time, NP directors and members remain committed to seeking a secure, long term management and funding solution for Ben Nevis and the surrounding special landscape that does not depend on lottery and other grant-based funding.

“I’m also pleased to be able to say that although this is a very worrying time for the Nevis Partnership and indeed for anyone concerned with the future of Ben Nevis, thanks to careful planning over the last two years, we have been able to set aside funding for maintenance of both the upper half of the ben track and the recently completed Allt a’Mhuilinn path to the North Face of Ben Nevis for the foreseeable future.”

In March 2006 the HLF awarded £345,000 to the Ben Nevis Mountain Path Heritage Project for restoration of the upper section of the historic pony track path and a range of conservation and training projects in the area.

The Nevis Partnership also set up the Glen Nevis Sense of Place, to allow tributes to be set up in the valley by bereaved relatives of loved ones as a means of tackling the growing problem of unauthorised memorials being built on the mountain.