SnowFactory is on the up at Cairngorm resort
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The SnowFactory is to be moved higher up the slopes at Cairngorm Mountain but only after a condition was agreed to stop it from potentially becoming a white elephant.
Several members of the Cairngorms National Park Authority’s planning committee expressed concerns that the snow-making machine could become an unwanted relic after its lifetime if the resort was taken over by a private company.
In the end a planning condition requiring a bond for the future removal of the SnowFactory was agreed if the site should be transferred by current owners the public sector organisation Highland and Islands Enterprise.
Committee member Xander McDade had asked what would happen if any other future operator went bust with the requirement for the SnowFactory to be removed and the site reinstated once it was no longer in use.
He said later in the debate: “Given the situation with skiing and climate change, I would want a condition if ownership changes (from HIE) that a bond would be required at that point.
“That is my only concern and the risk of having an industrial object deteriorating on the mountain is quite high.”
CNPA legal advisor Peter Ferguson confirmed this was a ‘reasonable request’.
Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Limited’s application to relocate the existing facility from the Coire Cas car park to 350 metres south-east of the ranger base station on the slopes itself was unanimously approved in the end at the latest planning committee meeting held in Grantown.
But the hearing lasting nearly an hour also included claims about diesel fuel from the unit already polluting a watercourse and concerns over further ‘industrialisation’ of the slopes and that the steel framed units would stick out like a sore thumb.
At one point there was a call from planning committee member Douglas MacAdam for wood cladding to camouflage the machine comprising two shipping containers but that was rejected.
The SnowFactory has been at a temporary home by the Day Lodge for more than five years.
Committee member Derek Ross said of a visit to see the SnowFactory: “What struck me most of all was the smell of diesel coming from it. Do we have any information about that and whether there has been any mitigation? I also remember there was a film of diesel in the burn too the day I went up.”
CNPA chief planner Gavin Miles said that there was an aspiration to electrify operations at the resort.
He continued there were other regulations in place for the compliance of the diesel power generators to prevent pollution, any breaches should be reported to SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) and this was not a material planning issue.
Mr Ross said he had contacted SEPA at the time.
Robert Evans, partner and head of the planning team at Ryden, had later told the meeting the new location would provide ‘maximum benefit’ to the ski resort.
He continued: “It will lead to more skier days which will enable more group bookings for schools and instruction and make this more reliable throughout the season...
“The precise number of skier days the SnowFactory actually brings is difficult to estimate but without it SkiScotland has suggested that the number of days might be down by 35 per cent over the season so it is a significant part of maintaining the operation of the ski runs.”
The SnowFactory will be installed on a new reinforced, concrete plinth, measuring 15 metres by five metres.
A shed is also proposed as part of the proposal to be used for the storage of tools and maintenance equipment and to house 2000 litre holding tank.
