Skye's Fairy Pools seeks £500k to improve visitor attraction
Visitor numbers at the popular toursit attraction has grown to over 108,000 in 2016, with every sign that that will increase this year.
Richard Powell, project officer for Minginish Community Hall Association, claims the visitor facilities have simply not kept pace with the number of tourists.
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Hide AdHe said: “The only car park holds only 35 cars and at times there have been over 150 cars parked on the narrow single track approach road. They park on verges and in all the passing places.
“Unfortunately this means the local residents at Glenbrittle struggle to get in and out of their homes, can’t get deliveries and have the real danger that the emergency services won’t be able to get to them if needed.”
He added: “With locals reaching the end of their tether, the local community decided something needed to be done.
“Sadly despite the Scottish Government entering into a deal to encourage more visitors to come to Scotland, they seem less keen to empower local communities to deal with the problems tourism brings.
“Our local MSP seemed to feel it was a problem for the Highland Council to deal with, the Highland Council are trying to help but we are low on their list of priorities.
“We were dismissed by the Big Lottery Fund as “just a car park” and many other funders feel the same way.
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Hide Ad“So as a community we are trying to raise the £500,000 needed ourselves, using a combination of donations and an online appeal.”
Mr Powell added: “It seems madness that a community has to resort to fundraising to put in basic facilities but the Scottish Government seem to have different priorities at the moment despite tourism generating billions in income for Scotland.
“Some might dismiss it as just a car park but we feel we may have the car park with the best view in the world.”