P&K Clearance for Garry Bridge Bungee Jumping
21.01.10
Proposals for the first purpose-built bungee jump platform in Britain have been given the go-ahead by P&K Council. A platform will be erected under the Garry Bridge from which ‘white knuckle’ customers will plunge off towards the river 131ft below (pictured). The operation is expected to be underway by May this year.
 P&K has placed a number of conditions, including one prohibiting jumps before 10am and another there can only be only three jumps a month after dark.
The local authority has stipulated that the platform must be completely removed and the bridge fully restored if the project is not a commercial success.
The company behind the proposal hopes the attraction will bring more thrill-seekers to the area. But conservation groups warned there was a danger such developments could damage the very wilderness and landscape that people come to enjoy.
Murray Trail of Highland Fling, the company which aims to run the bungee jump, said: “Obviously the area is incredibly beautiful. That’s one of the reasons we chose the site. We know the restrictions and rules and laws that we need to abide by, and we’ll certainly be doing that.”
Support
Philip Riddle from VisitScotland agreed that adventure tourism was a vital and growing market for Scottish businesses. “It’s worth about £120m a year to Scotland’s economy,” he said.
He addedd that, increasingly, visitors wanted to do more than simply enjoying the scenery when they came to Scotland. “They want to do something with, effectively, the scenery as a back-drop.”
“So adventure tourism - whether it’s climbing, or walking, sailing, or bungee jumping - fits in spectacularly well. It allows people to do something exhilarating and thrilling but in an absolutely magnificent setting.”
Reserve
Stuart Brooks, chief executive for the Pitlochry-based John Muir Trust said his organisation was “very supportive” of people being out in the countryside and experiencing Scotland’s “fantastic” wild landscapes. But, he warned, there was a right and a wrong way of implementing developments such as the proposed bungee jump.
“I guess it’s about respect for the landscape, and for other users,” he explained. “It’s about taking the precautionary approach, and trying to protect the best areas of wild land.”
“We also have to accept that people have legitimate uses in the landscape”, he added.
Dissent
Annie Hibberd, of Coille Bhrochain, Pitlochry, said the currently “idyllic scene … would be shattered by the blood-curdling screams every few minutes in each and every hour of daylight, as crazed thrill seekers hurl themselves off the … road bridge on an elastic bungee rope, oblivious to the stunning landscape around them.”
She said, “It’s had to believe but in the interests of boosting the local tourist economy – and here’s to that, but done properly – the preservation of this precious landscape for the peaceful enjoyment of visitors and locals alike is being hurled as something meaningless off the Garry Bridge as well.
“This is the start of the Linn of Tummel National Trust for Scotland (NTS)-owned walk, with its ‘unspoilt’ woodland, river and wildlife, including pine marten, otters, red squirrels and rare visiting flycatchers. Not any more! They will be gone.
“Is this not too high a price to pay for the sake of a few seconds of blood curdling screaming on an elastic bungee rope, repeated over and over and over? This is pollution of the very worst kind. It is a desecration of our historic landscape. It is “Play-park” Scotland.”
Dr Ronald Campbell, Tigh-Ur, Pitlochry, is also unimpressed. He said, “Anyone for whom Scotland’s landscapes have a fourth dimension – of time and historic memories – had better get to the Pass of Killiecrankie now to be able to experience that dimension there; you soon won’t be able to.
“You can’t conjure up feelings of the past and of battles long ago when you’ve got screaming adrenalin-junkies bouncing up and down on bits of elastic like demented yo-yos, interrupting your thoughts.
“What next – the Culloden Burger Bar and Bouncy Castle? Unthinkable? Don’t be so sure – that battlefield is also run by the NTS.”
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