Year 7, and our efforts this year have been mainly centred on Construction Traffic and the increasingly dangerous road situation. Traffic Resource Upgraded to Include Calliachar & Beauly-Denny Traffic This non-affiliated, joint Community Council resource now provides details of the access routes used, safety incidents & scheduled delays of all three SSE\SSER projects which use the A822 & A826. Please also note to report incidents - accurate reporting will improve safety. Please click on the title above to access the Resource Griffin Windfarm & Beauly-Denny Traffic Cause Third A822 Collapse TrafficOn 4 September a call was made by the Amulree and Strathbraan Windfarm Action Group (ASWAG) to Keith Brown MSP, Murdo Fraser MSP and John Swinney MSP at the Scottish Parliament calling for their intervention following the closure of the Dunkeld to Crieff road on Saturday 3rd September after a large crane heading for Griffin Wind Farm became stuck when the road verge gave way as it was attempting to avoid a Beauly-Denny HGV. This is the third time that part of the A822 road has given way, or required immediate remedial work to prevent it doing so, under pressure from turbine transport traffic to the SSER Griffin windfarm. ASWAG, which was established in 2004, pointed out to the parliamentarians: “At Rumbling Bridge at least it was foreseen and work was put in place before the road collapsed. However, just a kilometre away from the current collapse and, ironically, whilst repairs were taking place on the opposite side of the road, there was another collapse, caught on camera, at the beginning of July. And there are numerous other places along the access route where similar problems are going to occur and although there is a section 96 agreement that the road would be maintained, and like replaced with like, earth verges the length of the route are being eroded away and replaced with aggregate. The stuck crane was removed overnight, however on Sunday 4th September, the road remains officially closed to through traffic, with three abnormal load lorries carrying turbine tower sections parked up on the A822 just west of Dunkeld. Local traffic is being diverted down the small single track Inver road. ASWAG asserted: “Yet again traffic is being forced onto an unlisted minor road to suit SSER (the windfarm developers). Why are their turbines being stored on an A road? Indeed, this is the nub of the whole problem: P&K Council’s continued and increasingly farcical claim that it is ‘an A road and it can cope’. Top Six Blackspot The ASWAG website records that the Road Safety Foundation 2010 survey identified this stretch of the A822 as one of the most dangerous roads in Britain, one of six such roads in Scotland. The dangers identified relate particularly to risk of head on collisions. “Yet we are still faced with Griffin, Calliachar and the Beauly-Denny developments all using this narrow twisting road,” remonstrates ASWAG. “Even with construction traffic not meant to be using the A822 whilst Ladywell bridge works were underway, the school bus has been run off the road and it is commonplace for HGVs to force others and themselves to use the verge to pass and even to reverse around blind bends. The Group, which consists of local residents, businesses and supporters, has long tried to get the powers that be to recognise the unsuitability of the road for the volumes of HGV traffic to which is it currently being subjected, but to no avail. Instead drivers have to face running a daily gauntlet of timber lorries, aggregate lorries, cranes like that which came a cropper and other HGVs which are, more often than not, well over the white line. Subjected to this HGV pressure, as winter approaches, further deterioration of the A822 is inevitable. Griffin Windfarm Traffic & Traffic Management Plan Resource Set up in collaboration with Dunkeld & Birnam, Kenmore and District, and Mid Atholl, Strathtay & Grandtully Community Councils and hosted by ASWAG. This non-affiliated, joint Community Council resource was set up to promote road safety and mitigate disruption within the implementation of the Traffic Management Plan for the construction of SSER's Griffin Windfarm. It provides details of the access routes used, safety incidents & scheduled delays. Please also note to report incidents - accurate reporting will improve safety. Please click on the title above to access the Resource Official Recognition of 'Dangerous Road'
The Road Safety Foundation 2010 survey identified this stretch of the A822 as one of the most dangerous roads in Britain, one of six such roads in Scotland. This relates particularly to risk of head on collisions. Yet we are still faced with Griffin, Calliachar and the Beauly-Denny developments all using this narrow twisting road. Even with construction traffic not meant to be using the A822 whilst Ladywell bridge works are underway the school bus has been run off the road and it is commonplace for HGVs to force others and themselves to use the verge to pass and even to reverse around blind bends. Locals Still Ignored & Isolated  Local businesses and people have had the A822 closed for SIX MONTHS and counting, and have been forced to use an unlisted track. Par for the course, the signage put in place to mitigate this initially gave no indication of local access from the A9 at all and now still relies on traffic leaving the A9 and driving down a seeming dead end before an additional sign lists local businesses.... Calliachar Increase in Turbine Size Application As expected, there is already an application in the works to increase the turbine size for the Calliachar site. This was seen as inevitable by locals as a result of the Ladywell bridge works. Still No Entry SSE are planning yet another dry run, and have refused to allow Community Councillors to attend as observers.And Still No News... Still nothing from the Scottish Government on community funding to help against these speculative attacks. Developments are passed on from one corporation to another as they discover that the expected return on investment is not forthcoming and will not be unless they are willing to spend considerably more than they have all been prepared to pay so far. Yet each time the same local community has to find the funds to oppose them.Please use the link above to access news & events from previous years
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