Applecross to decide whether to pull out of NC500 driving route promotion
Residents of the Applecross peninsula in the north west Highlands are set to have their say on whether to pull out of promotion for the North Coast 500 driving route.
The Applecross peninsula has become a key destination on the 190-mile road trip, not least given the challenging drive to over the winding Bealach na Ba mountain pass.
But the peninsula, like many parts of the Highlands, has experienced a swell in visitors as lockdown eases with problems of overcrowding, dirty camping and poor driving with the impact of high levels of motorists on the road also an issue.
Jess Whistance, of the Applecross Trust, which owns much of the peninsula, denied reports that residents would vote on whether to remove Applecross from the driving route.
She said: “We are looking at whether we would ask people if Applecross should be removed from the marketing of North Coast 500 or if they want to stay on the marketing.
"We are on the route regardless. To remove ourselves from the route would involve contacting Ordnance Survey mapping and we certainly won’t be doing that.
“There are so many benefits of the North Coast 500 along with the negatives. It has brought in a huge amount of income and it has allowed additional businesses to flourish. It has brought visitors who have grown to love the area and return here and stay longer. It has given us a wider audience.”
However, work has been going on since December by the Applecross Tourism Management Group to plan ahead for this summer given experiences in 2020.
Ms Whistance added: “Like most of the Highlands, we had an influx of visitors and perhaps some of them wouldn’t be here by choice, maybe they had nowhere else to go. There were problemswithpeoplecamping everywhere,withhumanwaste, with litter.”
A ranger was hired, signs put
up, camping spaces designated by the bay and more litter bins put in place. The consultation on the direction of tourism in Applecross will follow
with surveys to be sent to the 230 residents of the peninsula. Research found the NC500, which loops from Inverness through Easter Ross, Caithness,
Sutherland and Wester Ross, boosted the Highland economy by £22m in 2018.
A schoolboy has written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon imploring her to help fund life-saving treatment for his younger brother.
Thirteen-year-old Dean Gray's brother Murray has Doose Syndrome, a profound and complex form of epilepsy that used to cause hundreds of seizures each day.
Thanks to a private prescription for Bedrolite, a cannabis oil from the Netherlands, the eight-year-old has been seizure-free for more than two years.
The medication costs £1,300 each month and the Edinburgh family has to pay hundreds of pounds for the treatment.
Dean wrote to Ms Sturgeon asking for assistance. He said it was not fair that his parents have to spend so much on medicine that the government has agreed is safe and legal for use in the UK. He also said that cannabis oil has transformed his brother’s life.
He wrote: “My little brother used to have really bad seizures. He has not had a seizure now in two years because my mum got him cannabis oils. This means I get to spend more time with my mum and brother, which I love to do.”
The teenager finished his letter by asking Ms Sturgeon: “Please can you do something to help us.”
The brothers’ mother Karen Gray, 47, said the letter “brought a tear to my eye”.
She added: “He wrote the letter all by himself. I think he sees how much I struggle everyday, constantly trying to
campaign and he wanted to help.”
She has contacted NHS Scotland, The UK Government and the Scottish Government for support but “nobody wants to take ownership of paying”.
Covid-19 has paused the family's regular fundraising activities and forced them to rely on handouts of family and friends.
Ms Gray said they “can't rely on this forever” and need to find a permanent solution to the monthly cost immediately.
She said: “A private paediatric neurologist writes the prescription and we have an importer in Scotland that sorts out the home office licence and delivers it to us. But we have to pay for it.
“The worrying thing is, when our family can’t help us anymore we are out of money.
We will have to take him off this medicine and there is no doubt that these seizures will return.”
She said it is “really disappointing” that despite twoyears evidence showing that the oil helped cure her son’s “life-risking” seizures she is still unable to secure financial backing from the government.
The law was changed in November 2018 to allow prescription of medical cannabis, but only containing cannabidiol (CBD), not tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the active ingredient Murray requires.
The British Paediatric Neurology Association says that THC may negatively affect brain development, structure and mental health. Local MSP and Scottish Liberaldemocrathealthspokesper son Alex Cole-hamilton said: “The Government must step in and cover the cost of private prescriptions that many people like Karen are currently having to cover themselves.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said they have “enormous sympathy” for Murray and Dean and will respond to the letter privately.