Car park charges at Bennachie - What do you think?
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 4:23PM 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
Reader Comments (3)
My husband and I were amazed on Sunday to discover the introduction of car parking charges in an area that I have been walking on for over 50 years! What upset us most was the introduction of £1 for an hour, and only £1.50 for all day (Back of Bennachie). That really impacts on people taking shorter walks i.e. older folks, families with very young children and those dog walking and not impacting on those there all day especially those that would cause the most environmental impact i.e. those with mountain bikes, those hiking up Bennachie and horse riders who would end up paying nothing! Doubly worse when it appears that the monies raised will not be going towards this type of general maintenance. Surely not charging at all for the first hour would be fairer in these financially restricted times if charging can be considered fair at all! We always used to joke that we would be charged to breath fresh air eventually and lo and behold, here we are! Many years ago (and we do realise that many more people use these areas to exercise nowadays) we would never have been bothered if car parks had been maintained etc. We were there for the walk in peaceful surroundings not to admire the upkeep of parking areas!
The other issue that we both commented on was the fact that it would only be a very short matter of time before vandals, realising the availability of monies in these machines, would come back equiped with some hefty equipment to demolish and raid the parking machines! Are the Forestery Commission not aware that weekend evenings see many 'undersirable' elements frequenting the area to party?
On the subject of monies raised, how much will it cost the Forestery Commission to employ someone to check the machines, the cost of maintenance, the initial cost of these machines and the fancy stone 'bollards' round some of them, etc? How many times are they going to breakdown? And how on earth are they going to patrol all these areas especially considering the cost of fuel these days? What idiot came up with this hairbrained idea in the first place? Both my husband and I were in agreement that should an 'honesty' machine be available to donate towards ALL upkeep on Bennachie 90% of those using the area, including ourselves, would be only too happy to contribute, whereas being forced to pay to enjoy an area that has been maintained by wonderful volunteers (and not by landowners or Forestery Commission) all these years really hits hard. Don't the FC raise enough cash through tree felling? More 'granny' tax for us all and monies in the pockets of rich landowners - usually not even living in the area? sigh... another sign of the times...
I can see a number of arguments against the car park fees-
1- they are charging volunteers who actually maintain the hill to park there.
2- they have not promised any benefit in return.
3- public transport to Bennachie is null- therefore forcing people to pay fees, when they are already forced to drive.
4- The Bennachie Centre is not a FC asset and while it may be on their land was paid for with Heritage funding and is run by Aberdeenshire Council and Bailies of Bennachie. It goes to follow that the money for the parking lot, which I hear is more expensive on that side, should help maintain the excellent Bennachie Centre.
Utterly appalling!!! I’ve been enjoying fell running and mountain biking in this area, and others locally, for some time now. I would have absolutely no issue if a substantial percentage of the makings were used to maintain, upgrade and re-build current or new trail systems. This is simply a profit making scheme dreamed up by FC’s upper management without any public consultation.
Until such time we are convinced parking fees will be used for good not profit, I for one will be parking outside the parking area and biking/running in from there.