Scotland’s most famous glen to receive funding to improve visitor experience

Shaped by a wide range of views

This project has been informed by local collaboration, extensive traffic monitoring and the results of an online survey. Our survey was launched on social media to gather views on the current challenges in the Glens and test ideas for how best to address them. Over 3,000 people completed the questionnaire, spending an average of 18 minutes doing so and providing the equivalent of 945 hours of feedback. It’s one of the most extensive and detailed surveys of public opinion on outdoor access and visitor behaviour in Scotland in recent years.

Emily Bryce explains: ‘We were keen to focus on positive and practical solutions to address issues of littering, dirty camping, road safety and parking capacity. We provided a range of suggestions and asked for respondents to rate them and share their ideas too. We got over 6,000 comments in total, which showed us just how much passion people feel for this place and their shared concern for the challenges we face.’

The survey results underlined the need for action with 70% of respondents believing that Glencoe and Glen Etive’s ‘natural beauty and landscape are being negatively impacted by popularity’. Three-quarters of those who took part said they had observed litter on their visit, almost half had felt unsafe or inconvenienced by the parking and driving they experienced, and more than 40% had encountered human waste or soiled wipes and tissues in the landscape.

On the subject of parking capacity, only 40% of those surveyed supported the idea of building new car parks in the Glens, highlighting concerns about infrastructure impacting on the views and landscape people come to enjoy. The top two choices, favoured by over 90% of people, were to invest in existing parking areas to improve their safety and efficient use of the space and to enhance footpaths and cycle routes to provide better access to the Glens without a car. The concept of a park-and-ride, hop-on/hop-off shuttle bus, like often found in America’s national parks, was supported by 85% of respondents.

Our survey results showed a debate on littering between those who think people should be responsible for taking away everything they bring with them when visiting the countryside and those who think more facilities should be provided; and between those who think more education is needed and those who think more enforcement and penalties are the way forward.

Respondents preferred the idea of purpose-built visitor waste hubs, rather than introducing extra bins throughout the landscape. 80% also liked the idea of providing litter-picking kit to enable sight-seers and walkers to help with the clear up while visiting. The least popular option was the introduction of camping management zones or permits, though respondents felt it was reasonable to ask campers to give highly used areas a rest to enable the landscape to recover.

80% of those who completed our survey backed the introduction of alcohol byelaws to target excessive alcohol consumption in locations which suffer from anti-social camping. There was also recognition for the need to employ people on the ground, both rangers to chat with walkers and campers, encouraging responsible access, and police or traffic officers to enforce laws around illegal parking or anti-social behaviour.

Survey respondents were asked their views on how best to fund the solutions and whether they would be willing to contribute. 96% felt that the area should receive additional local authority and government funding and 90% said they would pay a reasonable contribution when parking in popular car parks, if they knew it was going towards maintenance and conservation. Two-thirds of respondents would also donate to a fundraising appeal.

We then asked what was considered to be a ‘reasonable’ parking contribution for vehicles to pay towards investing in and maintaining visitor facilities, infrastructure and ranger services in Glencoe and Glen Etive. The most popular choices ranged from £3–£4 for two to four hours, to £5–£6 for a full day and £9–£10 for an overnight stay.

Emily Bryce says, ‘We were heartened to see that the vast majority of people who completed our survey supported the need for visitors to make a contribution towards caring for the places they visit and the provision of facilities here. Grants like the RTIF provide a fantastic injection of investment, but we need sustainable ongoing income to help maintain facilities, look after the landscape and encourage visitors to respect nature while exploring the outdoors.’

What next?

The Glencoe and Glen Etive RTIF project hopes to be ready to begin the introduction of new facilities and infrastructure improvements in autumn and winter 2021. Watch this space for updates.