Funds have been granted to rural Scottish areas for tourism projects in order to deal with steadily increasing numbers. £3m is shared among 18 projects, 13 of which are in the Highlands and islands.
Tourism secretary Fiona Hyslop announced the funding yesterday at Glenfinnan.
The Glennfinnan railway viewpoint gives a stunning view onto the viaduct. The viaduct opened in 1901 as the first and longest concrete viaduct in Scotland or England, and you can still see trains travelling across the glen on the 30m high structure.
However, the reason that it is a tourist attraction in need of funding is thanks to Harry Potter. The viaduct was used in four Harry Potter films to show the Hogwarts Express taking students to and from Hogwarts. There are car parks available, but they are small, in keeping with the size of the village, and cannot cope with the tourism numbers.
The car park proposed will have 120 spaces and will help relieve the pressure on the nearby road, though one local resident suggested they really need more than double that size to take the numbers of tourists.
Glenfinnan resident and a member of the community group who applied for funding, Ingrid Henderson, said: “We have a high number of visitors to the Glenfinnan railway view point that is continuing to grow.
“On a random Tuesday afternoon in July we counted 700 visitors – with no proper car park that was making things along the roadside very dangerous.
“We are delighted the Scottish Government have given us this money. We are now waiting to hear about other funding.
“All being well it means we will have the 120 space car park up and running for the season getting underway next year.”
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Any busy tourist car park needs a high-quality set of barriers and other techniques to control access into and out of the site. We sell a wide range of car park security options, including barriers, gates, turnstiles, bollards and fencing.
Our automatic barriers can work in any weather and are able to immediately recognise authorised personnel. They are supplied complete and ready to accept power and data connections. The barrier arms are available in several different lengths, in order to suit all road widths and car park sizes.
If you need a barrier arm which is longer than 3m, you should also install a support post to support the lifting mechanism.
If you are worried about people gaining access when they shouldn’t be by just ducking under the barrier, then you should look into a barrier “skirt”. These block access to the space underneath the barrier arm, and are suitable for manual and automatic barriers.
Our turnstiles offer queue control at entrances and other possible pedestrian chokepoints. They come in full height or half height, and in single or double layout. In order to avoid accidents in the carp ark, we would recommend well-placed bollards. Bollards are a fantastic way to control car park flow and minimise the possibility of accidents. We offer both static and automatic bollards.
Many elements of our car park equipment can be produced in any classic RAL colour you wish for an extra fee. This is great if you are focused on brand continuity throughout your site, or simply want to make the barriers stand out clearly. Glenfinnan could, for example, divide the car park into four and colour them in red, green, yellow and blue for the four houses of Hogwarts!
For more information on any of our barriers and turnstiles, bollards or posts, or if you just need some advice on physical security, please ring us on 01480 215530 or email enquiries@carpark-barriers-turnstiles.com.