Glen Lyon looking towards Meall Garbh and Càrn Gorm. Photo: Gordon Hatton CC-BY-SA-2.0
Mountaineers are appealing to a Scottish Government minister to intervene in a dispute between hillwalkers and a Highland estate.
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland said the North Chesthill Estate in Glen Lyon is flouting access laws.
The council said walkers have faced locked gates, intimidating signs and abusive behaviour for several years when venturing on to the estate, near Invervar.
It has now contacted John Swinney, MSP for Perthshire North, and Holyrood finance secretary, after it said the local council had given up the fight with the sporting estate.
It said: “Reports of problems have been made over a number of years to the access officer for Perth and Kinross Council, but the issue has still not been resolved.”
There are four munros on the land: Càrn Mairg, Meall Garbh, Meall nan Aighean and Càrn Gorm, but the MCofS said a gate at the starting point for the walk is regularly locked and signs imply that access of forbidden.
David Gibson: 'estate is closed to access'
In his letter to Mr Swinney, David Gibson, MCofS chief officer, said: “The North Chesthill Estate has been restricting the statutory right of access for many years.
“There has been a considerable amount of time spent by several organisations in endeavouring to solve the issue of locked gates, intimidatory signs and abusive behaviour, but this still continues.
“Perth and Kinross Council, the Perth and Kinross Local Access Forum, Ramblers Scotland and the Mountaineering Council of Scotland have all been involved in discussions with the owner but he still continues to lock gates and erect signs stating ‘Deer management in progress – please walk elsewhere.
“The locked gates and signs effectively close the whole estate to access.”
“There have recently been a number of complaints made to Perth and Kinross Council about the removal of access rights but the authority’s response has been that their powers to pursue the matter any further are limited.
“Scotland’s world class access legislation is being undermined and devalued, and the local authority, which has powers in the legislation to address this, appears to have given up.”
He said previous communications between the MCofS access officer and Perth and Kinross Council have left the MCofS with the impression that the council considers too much time has been spent on the matter and that there is no more they can do to resolve it.
“In effect, the landowner is being allowed to prohibit access and responsible walkers are being denied their statutory rights,” Mr Gibson said.
“Our members and other hillwalkers are becoming increasingly frustrated by this blatant flouting of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code.”
The Chesthill Estate website says: “The deer management programme here is very important to the livelihoods of local people and our employees and the welfare of the deer herd, so we would ask you to respect the guidance we offer.
“Walking needs to be fitted into the estate business and has to be managed.
“The estate is subject to ever increasing access which is affecting our wildlife operations and business. We would ask you to cooperate to mitigate these adverse environmental impacts.
“A sensible balance is needed if the uplands here are to remain sustainable.
“The adverse impacts are felt particularly acutely by the animals and birds during the breeding seasons April to July.”
The estate asks walkers to follow a designated route, using waymarking signs and to stay on ridges, avoiding corries.
Visitors should also walk quietly, it said, and be off the hills by 7pm ‘to allow the hinds to return peacefully to their calves’.
It adds: “When we are on the hill carrying out our programme, August to October, but mainly September and October, we will tell you at Inverar with very clear notices and we ask that you respect these by staying off the hills allowing us to do our work.
“Please walk elsewhere at the local alternative areas offered. You can always come back here at another time.
“If we indicate we are out please walk on the alternative areas. This is in accordance with the wishes expressed by [Scottish Natural Heritage] and is asked for in the access code.
“These small requests will assist in preventing this upland wilderness becoming a wildlife desert, which is currently where it is heading if human access impacts are not more actively managed, carried out responsibly, or curtailed.”
Mr Gibson said in his letter to Mr Swinney, who is also Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Employment and Sustainable Growth in the Scottish Government: “Many walkers travel a significant distance to access the hills and in 2009 the value to the Scottish economy from walking tourism was estimated to be £533m per year.”
Jaya John
16 December 2013I passed this way in May and was struck by a poster from the estate, illustrating how hillwalkers interact with the lifecycle of deer. This made it clear that the estate views hillwalkers simply as creating problems at all times of the year.
This seems to be motivated by seemingly disproportionate concerns (out of proportion compared with other estates, at any rate) that hillwalkers will disturb deer, and perhaps the estate relying mostly on stalking for income.
With 4 relatively easy munros on the estate, that many hillwalkers and baggers would like to visit at some point, I've often wondered since:
What if the estate instead created a welcoming tearoom and a good car park?
This could give them a long-term, sustainable and diversified income.
Surely worth a thought?
OutdoorsAndy
17 December 2013Very interesting. I walked these very hills last September and the land owner had a go at me, but I had him banged to rights.
He tried to claim I had broken the law and had ruined the days hunting. Which of course I knew the better and put him right on Scottish access laws.
Was great, in the end I had him totally on the back foot. He said his family had owned the land for 150 years, (said in the poshest southern English accent I have heard for a long time). My reply, “wasn’t that around the time of the clearances?” His reply, “there was no clearances round here”. My reply, “so what are all these shealings on the map?”, said getting my map out. His reply, get in the land rover and leave. A thoroughly unpleasant man!
He’s not the first laird to have a go and it won’t be the last. These guys need to realize, tourism IS the Scottish sustainable industry, of which they are a small part, NOT the whole. These idiots can and do do a lot of damage and need tackling for the good of all.
P.S. Ben Lawers IMO is a better climb and is quite near ;)
Margaret
17 December 2013Who is this gentleman you met?
R Webb
17 December 2013Correct - no clearances here.
Worth noting that until recently the owner of the estate was on the Perth and Kinross Council Access Committee.
It is not just the hills. Lowland Perthshire is covered in keep out signs and barbed wire, even on the Perth and Kinross Council's core paths. Time they were brought to heel.
Steve Harris
17 December 2013No sympathy for these estate owners from me - they know full well the access laws when they buy these tracts of land. They should do, the laws are old enough are were specifically designed to prevent this nonsense. The onus is on the estate owner to manage his land WITHIN the laws of the country.
If left unchecked this will be the thin end of the wedge. Before you know it estate owners all over the place will be using 'deer management' and the like as cover to close off large areas of wilderness to the public.
John Gell
17 December 2013I walked the Glen Lyon Munros many years ago ( before access legislation) and can recall being faced with a similar "welcome". The Red Deer season was over but roe were still legal quarry.
Knowing that, I climbed the locked gate carefully and headed for the hill. I was apprehensive on noting the keeper and his dogs on the open high ground, but we passed within a hundred metres of each other without incident, the keeper choosing to avert his gaze from my presence.
It just took the edge off the day a bit and made me feel an intruder.
It's a difficult issue which requires a measured approach from both sides: Deer management and sport shooting are important elements of Scottish life and the rural economy, as is hillwalking, and all these activities need to co-exist with mutual respect and tolerance. When individuals on either side choose to pull the balance in their favour that causes difficulties.
I'm entirely happy to avoid the hills where stalking is important in the short stalking season. Ii'd like to feel free to wander responsibly outwith those short months however.
I make no comment on the Council's position other than to observe it with some bemusement.
Leslie Simpson
17 December 2013what annoys me more than anything else is that this estate refuses to join hillphones and refuses to publish their intentions on their own website. I drove a long way from Edinburgh only to be met with a "please climb elsewhere sign". I'd already climbed the surrounding munros so I just plodded on, albeit using their recommended path. Personally I find the whole land ownership thing absurd, ie. did you build the mountain yourself? did you breed the deer in your barn? how did your family come to own this land in the first place? If they bought it, how did they come by the money, but that's an aside. I'd love to see this bunch taken to task...
Margaret
18 December 2013CelticCountries web magazine and Glenlyon History Society refer to Clearances in Glen Lyon and there were also clearances on the nearby Atholl Estate.
Possible confusion; David Stewart of Garth (next to Glen Lyon) was a prominent opponent of the Clearances and it is said that he provided land on his estates for those who wanted it.
The wider process began in the early 1700s when farming improvements started to spread from the south across Scotland, bringing with it evictions long before the Highland Clearances.
ian
18 December 2013disgraceful attitude by PKC. No longer a resident of Perthshire but I would suggest those that can complain to their PKC councillor should do.. endlessly until they do something about it.
OudoorsAndy
21 December 2013He claimed to be the land owner Margaret. I would not have described him as a gentleman. I did enjoy destroying his poor arguments.
Would agree with the above, the land is not owned by anyone, our existence here is transient at best.
The recent story about another Golden Eagle killed by an estate was sickening to the core.
All we can do is keep the faith and report what we can and fight for our rights! (and a good starting place is knowing them, so we can put idiots like this in their place when they start to have a go!)
highland drover
23 January 2014I have followed this issue for a while now although I have not walked in that area for a long time. The estate owner's actions are wrong and unjustifiable and he needs to be reminded of his obligations as a "responsible land owner?"
Firstly, between 16th February until 30th June every year there is NO deer stalking or use of firearms in deer management....why because it is closed season for red deer.
Stalking season
Red deer stags 1st July until 20th October
Red deer hinds 21st October until 15th February
Red deer may only be shot at other times if marauding and causing damage to crops by the land owner only. I know I have stalked and own a wee parcel of land.
The "responsible land owner" bit....one might like to view the following public information via the link
http://farmsubsidy.openspending.org
http://farmsubsidy.openspending.org/search/?q=chesthill
Mr Riddel has received a fair sum of taxpayers’ money to maintain his estate from various subsidy schemes, thank you very much.
Hence because we have paid him generously, a few of us would like to walk on the hills we have paid him to look after. That is why he is paid via these schemes if you weren't aware.