PROPOSED ZIP WIRE - NOISE, WILDLIFE, LOOK & SOUND INFORMATION

In this post I’d like to address the thorny issue of privacy, noise and the affect on wildlife.

 

Firstly lets look at the proximity of the planned Zip Wires to houses in the village.

On the north side of the village the Zip Wire closest to a house will be 225m away. That house and the houses close to it (but further to the east and therefore further from the Zip wire) have hillside within 100m of them. With this in mind, the likelihood of their garden being overlooked by someone on the hillside is far higher than by someone traversing the valley at 40mph.

 

Consider Corrie Road where some of the gardens face west and the Zip Wire will be over 500m from these back gardens.  IMPORTANT:  The Zip Wires WILL NOT go over people's property.

 

We are aware of the comments regarding noise that the Zip Wire and the riders would generate. To demonstrate this people have posted videos of the zip wire in Wales, which has specifically advertised itself as fast and scary. I think if I were shot down a wire head first at 100mph I’d scream too! However, that’s not the same type of ride that we are proposing.

 

The fact is, we could have made our Zip Wires faster than the ones in Wales but why would we? Our riders speed will be limited, specifically because we want to give them time to appreciate the fantastic views while enjoying an adventure activity. Carefully designing and engineering both the trolley and the wire have reduced the noise generated by the trolley going down the wire to an almost imperceptible level (approximately 45db).

 

With this difference in the ride the reaction of the rider can surely be expected to be somewhat different too. The reaction, we believe, will be more one of awe and elation (the WOW factor) while flying across a Scottish valley rather than screaming fear while hurtling across a Welsh quarry!

 

Take a look at the 2 videos that I'll post. The distance from the wire is more realistic than in the video that has been circulated from Wales and the sound has not been doctored in any way. Make sure you turn the sound right up, as the noise of the wires is very difficult to hear over the noise of the bird song. (EDIT April 2021 - we now have newer improved technology behind the zip wire trolleys and breaking system reducing any sound even further).  A video will be posted on our blog to show this.

 

From the two videos you’ll also see that the wires are quite difficult to see. In one of the posts I have seen, people are stating that riders will be sky-lined and photos have been produced with imaginary (straight) wires across the sky-line. None of these posts take into account the catenary (the natural curve) of the wire. If you can visualize the wires between telegraph poles or pylons, these wires are not stretched tight. They drop in an arch, which when the two end points are at different heights forms a concave curve loosely hugging the hillside.

 

Very few places around the village would put you in the correct vantage point to be able to sky-line a rider. As I’m sure you can all appreciate the wires themselves will be difficult to see, as an example just look at the power lines on the hillside. Occasionally you can see them when the light is just right but most of the time you can’t.

 

Finally, in this post (and this is entirely a personal opinion and not scientific) I’d like to look at the affect on wildlife.

 

I think we can all agree that wild animals are eminently capable of adapting to life close to humans. The Power lines don’t seem to have scared much wild life off nor the road or the village itself (or the events in the village). We have probably all been confronted by a stag in the middle of the road in the middle of the village (usually insisting you are the one to move). Many of you will have seen the pine martins that live in the area (and come into the village). I’ve recently heard of bunnies being spotted in the village again after a long absence.

 

The footprint of the launch and landing structures have been kept small deliberately to cause as little upheaval as possible to the environment. They have been designed sympathetically to blend in with the environment NOT stand out against it. We plan to up-cycle modular units to build the reception area, in-fact the whole design principle for the project was to make it as low impact and as village/environment friendly as possible while generating well paying, full time, year round jobs.

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As part of the planning process prior to construction there will have been environmental surveys looking at the trees affected and protected wildlife that could be affected.

 

One of those surveys was carried out for the initial planning process and the second will be carried out shortly before construction commences.

 

These surveys follow a statutory format and identify trees that need to be removed and any compensatory planting to mitigate the removal of these trees and Identify any protected species that are protected by law.

 

These surveys are carried out by third party specialists to ensure they are accurate and that planning law is being followed.

 

Our intentions are positive and good and we know and understand that you can’t please all the people all the time even if you want to.