Car park charges at Bennachie - What do you think?

At the end of March, Moray and Aberdeenshire Forest District, Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) will be implementing car charges at The Bennachie Centre and at Back o' Bennachie Car park.

The Forestry Commission are implementing car park charges across Scotland mainly at their busiest car parks.

The Bailies Council have asked the Forest District if the money raised from car park charges at Bennachie will go directly back into the maintenance and improvement of paths on Bennachie, however we have been informed that the funds from the car park will go back into the district and be for all forest district facilities in Moray and Aberdeenshire.

 

Charges as detailed below are in line with similar FCS facilities across Scotland.

Site                               All Vehicles Up to 1 hr     Car Up to 3 hrs    Car All Day    Minibus/ Coach All Day

Bennachie Centre                        £1                               £2                        £3                             £12

Back of Bennachie                       £1                               £1.50                  £2                              £8

There are no plans to introduce charging at Donview at present

Season tickets are available for £30 per year. These give unlimited parking at any charged for FCS car park in Moray & Aberdeen City/Shire area, they also give unlimited entry for one person to Huntly Peregrine Wildwatch.

 We would like your comments please!  Leave a comment on our Forum or e-mail bailiesofbennachie@mail.com

Garioch Area Partnership Consultation

A consultation to discuss the formation of a Garioch Area Partnership was held at the Kintore Arms, Inverurie on Thursday, January 26, 2012.
The launch was attended by representatives from the Bailies of Bennachie council, Aberdeenshire Environmental Forum, Aberdeenshire councillors, community councils, rural community groups and other organisations from all over the Garioch area.

Among the aims of the draft vision are;-

*to assist, support, enhance, develop and build community projects across the Garioch;

*to be independent, objective and apolitical;

*to assist organisational sustainability and to empower communities to make a real difference throughout the Garioch. 

Guests from the Banffshire Partnership Ltd explained they were not there to tell the meeting what to do but to explain how they had gone about things and were happy to offer advice on any issues and problems community groups might come up against.
A question and answer session followed with queries and solutitions flying thick and fast.
Next the attendees formed into small informal groups to exchange views and discuss future plans.

Bennachie Centre New Opening Times

February: The Centre will be closed

March: The Centre will be open at the weekends 9.30am - 4pm

Please note: our winter opening hours may change during times of severe weather conditions.

Summer Opening
From 1st April the Centre will be open 10.30am - 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday, closed on a Monday.

Holiday Opening
The Centre will be open 10.30am - 5pm on...

Monday 2nd April
Friday 6th April
Monday 9th April
Monday 16th April
Monday 7th May
Monday 4th June
Tuesday 5th June
Monday 27th August
Monday 24th September

Summer School Holidays
The Centre will have extended opening hours for the school holidays.
From Monday 2nd July to Sunday 19th August the Centre will be open 7 days a week from 9.30.5pm.  

For further information contact the Bennachie Centre on 01467 681470 or e-mail bennachie.warden@aberdeenshire.gov.uk

Bailies of Bennachie start Tuesday walks

On the second Tuesday of each month starting in April, the Bailies of Bennachie will be leading a series of guided walks on the hill. This will be a great opportunity to learn more about the hill's social and natural history. For more details please look at our events page!

Photo's of Bennachie

We are looking for more photo's to include in our Gallery, have you any that we can use? Old photo's would be very interesting, current photo's are wanted too. We will also be looking for photo's suitable for our 2013 Calendar so if you have some nice views of Bennachie we would like to see them.