Hipennine Wrote:
Actually Jabuzzard, I have some agreement with the point you are making. It could be argued that an area of the mountain where snow fencing is used to modify the snow lie for the purposes of effecting snowsports, coupled with the use of man-made snow-making and piste-bashing could be considered a specific recreation area within the terms of the act.
It most certainly could be argued that way, What makes a golf course a specific recreational area and a prepared and maintained ski slope on a mountain not? I can for the life of me see how you can make that distinction, the act is quite vague here specifically 6.1.e says
(e)which has been developed or set out—
(i)as a sports or playing field; or
(ii)for a particular recreational purpose;
How anyone could argue that skiing and snowboarding is not a particular recreational purpose or that building snow fencing, preparing pistes, etc. is not development is completely beyond me.
To make it more stark do the general public have the right to tramp all over man-made snow that CGM have produced? If so how is this any different from me taking my own gear and making use of the dry slope matting at Hillend? Perhaps I should turn up at Cairngorm next time some event is one and disrupt that; maybe dig a snow hole in the middle of the piste, or sit down and have a picnic?
It is certainly not the clear cut matter that some members of this forum seem to think. Until it is ruled upon by a court of law there is most certainly doubt and unless you can come up with a good argument that skiing and snowboarding is not a particular recreational purpose; and building snow fencing, preparing pistes, making snow etc, does not qualify as development then most reasonable people will have to concede the point.
I would further note that the while it might have been the intention of those who passed the act that ski areas would not be areas where someone could be excluded from, what actually matters is what the law says. That should have been made quite clear from the debacle over the way detention in police custody was calculated the other year which required parliament to pass a new act to make it clear what their intention was.