Plans for Kingshouse are all about money

Sir,

I lived at Kingshouse for 16 years, working at White Corries Ski Centre.

Before the introduction of outside lights on the hotel, Kingshouse was on par with some of the darkest places in the UK for night skies, the aurora borealis being particularly spectacular.

The Kingshouse Hotel has long been associated with climbing and walking. The bar and bunkhouse were particularly busy at the weekends as it was where people from all over met and where dogs were welcome. The coming of the West Highland Way saw a huge change, with hundreds of walkers passing by and many using it to stay.

Living there allowed me to see wildlife up close and I still have a photograph of a red deer at my front window. Walking to work in the mornings I passed grouse, hares, capercaillies and red deer.

We all know that progress brings change and we all move on, but there are some things and places that should be kept precious, Kingshouse and Rannoch Moor among them.

I note that the expansion at White Corries Ski Centre is encroaching on the remoteness of an area that not so long ago was described as one of the last wilderness spaces left in northern Europe.

George Goldsmith’s vision for Kingshouse is purely a money-making one, advertised as closed but with bunkhouse open, at £20 per night, the hotel at present has only a bar open, called the Way Inn with no dogs allowed.

The existing extension was built by Robin Fleming and Philip Rankin, one the landowner and the other the ski centre owner. It was built to house the influx of skiers expected and, in the first year of opening, included a resident alpine ski instructor. There was also a curling rink.

The extension bears the brunt of the westerly weather and in the mid-eighties suffered severe damage during a gale that destroyed buildings at the ski centre.

Perhaps the time has come to modernise the building and bring it into the 21st century but at least it should be done in keeping with the character and the past of the original building.

The decision will ultimately lie with the planners but they must listen to the wider community and the people who have known and used and appreciated the uniqueness of the area for a long time.

The Kingshouse and its surrounding area are precious in a time when ‘modern’ is synonymous with destruction, and I feel that the modernising of Kingshouse is all about making money. Cyril Bonnett, Maccoll Terrace, Ballachulish.