Tree Felling of 12500 Tonnes Above Strathgarve
Garve and District Community Council
Added at 15:07 on 12 November 2025
We want to warn walkers, cyclists and road users in general of up coming hazardous conditions on the road between Strathgarve Lodge as far as Keeper's Cottage, Strathgarve for months to come.
This afternoon, 12th November 2025, we learned from Chris Bond at FLS that commercial tree felling is due to begin on the hill above Strathgarve. There is approximately 12,500 tonnes of wood being felled and it will be removed by RTS Forestry on 25 tonne logging lorries. To this end there will be in the region of 500 of these loads passing along the wee single track lane, Strathgarve Mains, between Strathgarve Lodge and Keeper's Cottage. Felling under the terms of harvesting is permitted 24 hours a day everyday.
The area marked in red on the map is the location of upcoming felling operations expected to start according to Chris in the next week and a half - although flyer he handed to residents today mentioned starting in December 2025. Felling will last approximately 6 to 8 months which may change depending on operational conditions. The timber haulage will follow the route marked by the orange dashed line with access from the A835 at Silverbridge following the forestry track down to Keeper's Cottage and then south along Strathgarve Mains down to past Strathgarve Lodge towards Loch Garve. We understand that the track from Strathgarve Lodge will be widened from its current 3 metres to 7 metres as will the existing forestry tracks through the woods.
This is to allow SSEN to lay the underground cable from the Western Isles.
If anyone has any questions they would like raised or any complaints;- in respect of this work while it is taking place, Chris has offered kindly offered to facilitate with SSEN.
Chris can be contacted by email chris.bond@forestryandland.gov.scot
As an update to the above GDCC emailed Chris at 19.20 today - 12 Nov. to request a site visit later this week or early next week at his earliest convenience.
13th November Update -
As a further update GDCC emailed Chris again at 01.50 with a long list of concerns raised against NPF4. Stating we believe no work detailed in the flyer should proceed until these concerns have been fully addressed and satisfied. The email has been shared on copy with Maree Todd MPS and Cllr. Kraft.
18th November Update -
After an unstatisfactory responce from FLS we have written again await a responce.
For the benefit of the community we share the content of our email verbatim below.
Subject: Outstanding safety, access and consultation concerns – Strathgarve Coupe 41 – response required before any works commence
Thank you for your reply.
We appreciate the acknowledgement; however, your response does not address the specific questions and substantive concerns raised by Garve and District Community Council (GDCC) in our emails of 12 November and again last week.
Given the imminent start date communicated to residents by FLS (within “a week and a half”), it is not acceptable for these matters to remain unresolved. The Community Council again requests that no works commence until a full response has been provided and a site meeting has taken place.
1. Lack of proposed meeting date – urgent requirement
Your reply states that a member of the regional management team “will be happy to meet on site next week”, but no date has been proposed, despite our clear request for a meeting last week or this week.
Given the scale of the operation and the significant safety concerns involved, we require a firm date within the next few days.
We again ask that no works begin prior to this meeting.
2. Haulage route clarification – inaccurate description
Your response states that haulage will involve:
“a short section of Matheson Road past Strathgarve Cottage, Stable Cottage West and surrounding buildings.”
This description is inaccurate.
The haulage route also passes:
Both entrances to Strathgarve Farm,
The entrance to Keeper’s Cottage,
And the entire length of the single-track lane from the coupe exit to Matheson Road, including a blind bend.
These locations are not on Matheson Road, and describing this as a “short section” materially understates the impact on residents and road users.
3. Public safety concerns remain unaddressed
None of the following issues have been acknowledged or answered:
There is no safe refuge for walkers, cyclists or horse riders on the lane.
The road includes a blind bend, where reversing the full length to avoid a logging lorry is unsafe and often impossible.
The route passes directly by a children’s play park.
The lane is the sole access for at least 11 full-time residents, crofters, deliveries and visitors.
The area has a known history of flooding, sinkholes, and natural culverts beneath the road. Heavy machinery and 25-tonne lorries present a real risk of collapse and road failure.
To suggest that these concerns fall under “the associated cost of occasional felling” is deeply disappointing.
Residents do not consider the prospect of being struck by an HGV, nor reversing blind around bends, as an acceptable “cost” of living near woodland.
This remark appears to dismiss legitimate public-safety concerns rather than engage with them.
4. Consultation and communication failures
You emphasise that consultation occurred in 2016, yet:
GDCC has no record of any consultation,
There is no mention of the LMP in minutes of that period,
Members who served then (and still serve now) have no recollection of being contacted,
And no follow-up correspondence confirming consultation was ever received.
Further:
Residents received no advance notification of felling before a flyer was delivered to a small number of households on 12 November.
GDCC received no direct communication at all, despite being the statutory community body.
Questions emailed to Chris Bond remain unanswered.
This is not consistent with the standards of openness and community engagement expected of a public body.
5. LMP interpretation and timing
We accept that Coupe 41 falls within Phase 2 of the 2017–2027 Land Management Plan.
However, the LMP:
Does not specify felling in winter 2025,
Does not authorise track widening to 7 m for the unconsented HVDC project,
Does not include haulage via the public single-track road, and
Does not replace your responsibility to engage with the community prior to operations that affect safety, access and wellbeing.
Your reply does not explain:
Why Coupe 41 has been selected at this moment, rather than at any other point within Phase 2;
Why GDCC and residents were not notified earlier, despite Phase 2 beginning in 2022;
Why the Strathgarve spur road identified in the LMP is not being used, despite being intended for timber extraction;
Why residents were told by FLS staff that tracks will be widened to 7 m to facilitate the Western Isles HVDC project, which has no planning consent.
These remain outstanding and serious concerns.
6. NPF4 applicability
Your reply states that:
“NPF4 does not apply to forestry operations approved under the Forest and Land Management (Scotland) Act 2018.”
GDCC notes that:
NPF4 is the statutory development plan for Scotland,
It applies to all public bodies, including FLS,
Policies on biodiversity, climate, water, amenity and community wellbeing apply irrespective of whether a felling licence exists,
And if the timing or nature of the works is influenced by the unconsented HVDC project, they are no longer purely forestry operations.
Four residents report that Chris Bond stated that the tracks would be widened to 7 m specifically to facilitate the HVDC link.
If correct, this work requires planning oversight and is subject to NPF4.
This requires urgent clarification.
7. Outstanding requests
Before any felling or haulage begins, GDCC requires:
(a) A confirmed site meeting within the next few days
—not “next week”, and not after works commence.
(b) Written responses to the following:
Why was no prior notification given to residents or GDCC?
Why is the Strathgarve spur road identified in the LMP not being used?
Has the timing been influenced by HVDC or other non-forestry factors?
What safety mitigation measures will be implemented?
Has Highland Council Roads been consulted formally regarding route safety?
Has a traffic management plan been prepared?
How will pedestrians, cyclists and residents be protected on a single-track road with blind bends?
Has road integrity been assessed given the known flooding and sinkholes?
Will night-time felling or haulage take place?
(c) Written confirmation that no work will commence until:
A site meeting takes place, and
All concerns are meaningfully addressed.
In conclusion
We wish to work constructively with FLS, but public safety, access and environmental protection must take precedence.
At present, these issues remain unresolved and unmitigated.
We therefore repeat our formal request that all works be paused until GDCC’s concerns have been addressed through a site meeting and written clarification.
Sent on 18th November at 09.51