THE Highland Council is looking to introduce parking restrictions on a popular road in a Scottish national park amid a crackdown on motorhomes.
The local authority is running a consultation on restrictions on overnight parking on the Glenmore Road, C1126, which runs from Coylumbridge up to the Coire Cas Ski Lift Car Park in the Cairngorms.
The route is popular with visitors to the Cairngorms as it runs from near the tourist hotspot of Aviemore south-east into the wilder areas of the UK’s largest national park.
The council is also looking to bring in daytime parking charges along the road near Loch Morlich, a famed beauty spot in the area.
A council spokesperson said the move came amid “pressures” on the road system, saying that managing visitors to that area of the Cairngorms National Park has been a “challenge”.
The proposals, which are currently out for public consultation, would see a maximum stay limit of 12 hours imposed between 7am and 10pm, with no overnight parking allowed.
Charges would be £2 for one hour, £4 for six hours, and £5 for 12 hours.
Campaigners told the Badenoch and Strathspey Herald that due to the rural area of the road hardly anyone would be parking for less than an hour, making £4 the default charge.
“While disallowing any parking whatsoever between 10pm and 7am can be seen as a means to control campervan and motorhome parking, no provision has been made for those simply enjoying longer days out or for those undertaking multiple day journeys,” Cairngorm Runners member Colin Cadden told that paper.
A Highland Council spokesperson said: “Visitor management in the area of Glenmore has been a challenge in this part of the national park.
“In light of the pressures being experienced and as the Roads Authority, the Highland Council has published some additional proposals to improve the control of vehicle activities.
“These proposals are at the public consultation stage and all feedback will be reviewed before further steps are taken in this process. Any restrictions on the public road are enforced by Highland Council Parking Enforcement staff.”
A “statement of reasons” for the proposals says that the order “will assist with traffic management in general and specifically relating to congestion and unsafe / unmanaged parking experienced on the C1126 Glenmore main Road and Glenmore Lodge access road”.
The council’s consultation says restrictions would “introduce waiting and loading restrictions and on-street pay and display parking and affects the roads at C1126 Glenmore Road between its junction with Rothiemurchus Lodge Access Road eastwards to the snow gates for Cairngorm Mountain and a section of road at the entrance to the Coire Cas Ski Lift Car Park [and] the access road leading to Glenmore Lodge from its junction with the C1126 eastwards to its junction with the Glenmore Lodge".
