OATS is now at the forefront of developing partnership solutions to find new sources of income for the conservation of upland and lowland paths and surrounding habitats, and sustainable public access at popular trail heads.
The Fairy Pools Car Park and Toilets
After years of serious tourism congestion on the Isle of Skye, primarily caused by a long-term lack of basic tourist infrastructure around renowned and remote visitor hotspots, including the Fairy Pools at the foot of the Black Cuillins near Glenbrittle, an innovative collaboration between the Minginish Community Hall Association (MCHA), the local community volunteer organisation, and OATS began in 2017.
With an already unsustainable 80,000 recorded visitors to the Fairy Pools in 2016/17 to more than 180,000 in 2019, the narrow single-track access road was regularly blocked with parked cars, verges were damaged and local residents, businesses and emergency services had to deal with significant disruption. This also led to path and habitat degradation, litter and human fouling issues.
The development project to build and manage essential car parking and public toilets for the Fairy Pools was spearheaded by OATS and MCHA. MCHA was one of the first organisations to make use of the Community Asset Transfer scheme to acquire the land from Forestry and Land Scotland. The land was then leased to OATS for 20 years on the condition that they construct the car-park and toilets, and operate and maintain the site and facilities. OATS had the experience, expertise and capacity to deliver the scheme and handle the liabilities.
OATS was responsible for raising £823,900 for the scheme and delivering the construction work. Despite challenges stemming from the site’s remote location, ground conditions, and constantly increasing visitor numbers [an off-grid sewage system and processing tank with sufficient capacity for 200,000 annual visitors!], and Covid, the new facilities have been fully operational since October 2020.
The formal opening of the 148-space Fairy Pools car park and off-grid toilets by Finance and Economy Secretary Kate Forbes in July 2021 marked a big step towards establishing OATS as a major force in sustainable development of tourism infrastructure in remote areas.
Ms Forbes said: “Scotland has world-leading legislation giving people rights to access our countryside, but it’s important that these are exercised responsibly and with respect for others, for wildlife and for the land itself.
“Investing in visitor management and supporting our rural communities is a crucial part of sustainable tourism growth.”
OATS’ believes this collaborative model is a major development in partnerships with communities to address the chronic lack of tourist infrastructure in remote rural areas, while providing funds for conservation and community objectives, and could be a model for future projects.
At the opening OATS Chief Executive Dougie Baird said: “The hugely successful landlord/tenant collaboration forged between MCHA and OATS is the perfect model to demonstrate how effective third-sector partnerships can address the issues caused by the lack of infrastructure at popular visitor destinations.
“As well as actively protecting important and fragile assets in remote locations and ensuring visitors enjoy a positive experience, this project generates revenue that will continue to provide funds for local community objectives and local and national environmental conservation. The legacy for the Fairy Pools project will be significant.”
Since opening with the first 100 parking spaces in January 2019, and despite closing for Covid-19 lockdowns, the car park has already generated enough revenue to pay for two full-time and eight casual support staff, the rent, PPE equipment, an onsite defibrillator, and further site infrastructure development costs.
The operating surplus is being re-invested as seed-corn funding for access and conservation work including for the Skye Iconic Sites Project, and funding Minginish community benefit projects.
The Fairy Pools project had a budget of £823,900 (car park £382,898 / toilets £441,002) with funds raised from a range of sources including OATS £127,871, LEADER £200,000, Highland Council £1000,000, the Scottish Government’s Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund £341,140, MCHA £4,889, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise £50,000.
