Taynuilt residents question FLS parking fees at heated meeting

Taynuilt residents expressed their anger at forestry car park charges in a heated meeting with Forestry Land Scotland (FLS) representatives last week.

 

FLS West regional visitor services manager Robbie Layden and his colleague Jo Maclean attended the Thursday June 8 session at Taynuilt Sports Pavilion.

 

They were questioned on the necessity of the fees implemented in April at the nearby Fearnoch forest and at Sutherland's Grove near Barcaldine.

 

Visitors to the sites now pay £1 to park for less than an hour and £3 for longer, with FLS offering annual passes for £40 per year.

 

Mr Layden explained that FLS West Region were being challenged to become "financially sustainable" and that regional FLS visitor services have a forecast expenditure of £144 million on forestry land management.

 

Mr Layden said parking fees were "the primary revenue stream for visitor services", adding that "all other regions have been charging since 2011 and this is the first time it's been introduced here.

 

However, Taynuilt Community Council's convener, David Sloss, said: "The amount of money you're generating from the charges looks more like internal virtue signalling."

 

In his response, Mr Layden said: "If we get a 15 per cent honesty rate, which would be quite low for the organisation, we would be looking at around £80,000-£100,000 income. That's a huge proportion of our local budget."

 

FLS is not required to hold public consultations prior to changing parking charges, but Mr Layden said efforts had been made to notify community councils and other forest stakeholders.

 

Taynuilt resident, Undine Achilles-Day said: "If somebody gets a ticket - no matter if it is being enforced or not - it puts people off from using the car park. It is the principal of it because the forest should be free for all."

 

When tasked about whether any other methods of income generation were considered, Mr Layden explained that he had spent the last five years looking into alternatives.

 

However, one attendee said: "It's just such a harsh way to speak to a community that - up until now - you've had a good relationship with. There's a lot of anger here and frustration that this is being forced upon us."

 

Another added: "We can't get to Fearnoch or Sutherland's Grove without driving there, so you're putting an access charge on these sites."

 

While, another remarked: "It's about growing a healthier population for the future. You should be removing every obstacle you can to encourage people to go to these places."

 

Mr Layden said: "We are in the position of having to meet a financial sustainability challenge and if we don't meet that the decisions FLS will have to make will be way worse.

 

"Trails will no longer be maintained and bridges won't be fixed. We have to live in the real world and there is not a bottomless pit of money that we can access to maintain these places."

 

He also explained FLS West Region had made more than £7,000 from the charges in the last two months, but the controversy over the fees is likely to continue, with the next Taynuilt Community Council meeting on Monday July 17.