DEVELOPERS looking to build a visitor centre at an “iconic” viewpoint where a loch looks like a map of Scotland have submitted revised proposals after binning their initial plans.
The proposals are for a visitor centre, café, shop, and associated car and coach parking at Glen Garry Viewpoint West, north of Fort William at Invergarry. The £20 million plans have been put in by the Mars group, which runs hotels and takeaways across the Highlands.
However, initial proposals were met with trepidation from locals, who raised various concerns including about water supply and drainage. One person wrote an objection on the Highland Council planning portal stating: “The proposed application documents show the soil from numerous toilets etc being discharged into an adjacent burn which runs through land owned by my neighbours into Loch Garry.”
Mars Commercial said that they withdrew the first planning application “following detailed consideration of a localised water supply and related drainage issue raised at a late stage in the application process”.
“This necessitated a material change to the proposals to satisfactorily address the technical matters raised,” a spokesperson said.
Previously, locals also raised concerns that the privatisation of a free-to-access view could set a “dangerous precedent”, and the Glengarry Community Development Trust said it was “unusual” that nobody had been informed of the plans before they were submitted.
Currently, there is a lay-by with space for around a dozen vehicles to stop at the viewpoint.
Mars Commercial said this would be “closed and converted to a standard grass verge to ensure that no motorists stop at this location, and they use the proposed designated car park, greatly enhancing road safety”.
The firm said the final visitor centre would create around 50 jobs and be “very similar in scale and nature to established visitor centres and associated facilities at the Old Man of Storr, Corrieshalloch Gorge, Ben Nevis, and Glencoe”.
Onsite facilities will also include a dedicated space within the proposed visitor centre for local artisans to display and sell their products, developers said.
A spokesperson for Mars Commercial said: “Our proposed development of Glengarry Viewpoint will deliver significant investment in rural tourism support infrastructure, with minimal environmental impacts and enhance the visitor experience.
“The previous planning application to Highland Council was withdrawn following detailed consideration of a localised water supply and related drainage issue very recently raised at a late stage in the application process. Our revised proposals satisfactorily address this.
“In addition to delivering a cleaner environment, significantly improved visitor facilities and addressing road safety issues, the development will also deliver local employment opportunities, both directly and via the supply chain. We are also providing local artisans with the opportunity to promote their wares in our visitor centre.
“Visitor centre developments such as these, be it Corrieshalloch Gorge or the Old Man of Storr in the Highlands which, by their very nature, are located in remoter locations, bring considerable socio-economic benefits to the local area, while attracting and supporting visitors to the Highlands from other parts of the UK and wider afield."
Mars Commercial is holding two drop-in events in a bid to convince the local community to support their proposals. They will be on Thursday June 11 and Thursday June 25 at Glengarry Community Hall between 3.30pm and 6.30pm.
