Brakes applied to battlefield plans
Road chiefs must rethink Killiecrankie route
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has slammed the brakes on a controversial plan to dual the A9 through the centuries-old site of the Battle of Killiecrankie.
It has said that Transport Scotland needs to do more work to convince it the route that has been chosen to dual the road from Killiecrankie to Glen Garry will do the least damage to the place where Jacobites loyal to King James VII and II fought troops supporting King William in 1689.
Ann MacSween, the public body’s head of casework, said: “We recognise that the upgrade of the A9 is a national infrastructure project identified in a number of plans and programmes of Scottish Ministers and accept the principle that the project proposal will follow the line of the existing A9 which already crosses the Killiecrankie battlefield.
“However, we have recommended Transport Scotland undertakes further work to provide evidence confirming that the final route will have the least impact on the battlefield site.
“In this process, our intention is not to be a barrier to development, and we will work constructively with Transport Scotland to consider if some of the impacts can be lessened.”
HES’s intervention was welcomed by James Rattray, the chairman of battle re-enactment group Soldiers of Killiecrankie, which is campaigning to preserve as much of the battlefield as possible and ideally would like to see the site left untouched.
“We are delighted to receive this news,” he said.
“Transport Scotland’s plans were very clearly not thought through properly.
“It was very obvious to anyone who has visited the battlefield and has any knowledge of the conflict that Transport Scotland were planning to cause massive damage to Killiecrankie battlefield.”
Speaking specifically about Transport Scotland’s plan to add laybys to the widened A9 through Killiecrankie as well, he went on: “We are very cynical about Transport Scotland and their plans when the Deputy First Minister (John Swinney MSP) attends a public meeting in Killiecrankie Village Hall and suggests to Transport Scotland that the removal of the two laybys on Killiecrankie battlefield should
A re-enactment on the site of the Battle of Killiecrankie seriously be considered and they chose to ignore it.
“Something seriously is not right.
“We see this as winning a skirmish, but not the battle.
“We envisage Transport Scotland offering to remove the laybys and doing a full archaeological survey of the battlefield areas they are proposing to destroy as a compromise.
“Let’s signal here and now that this will not be good enough.”