Calls for Hillend upgrades to be shelved

from Skier & Snowboarder magazine - Spring 2023

Shop talk

A multi-million-pound upgrade for Hillend ski slope, part of the Midlothian Snowsports Centre (formerly the Hillend Ski Centre) near Edinburgh, should be shelved amid the current financial crisis, says a local council member.

Councillor Peter Smaill, Conservative group leader at Midlothian Council, said it was the wrong time to be making the investment, which he said now stood at £33 million.

Initially, the council agreed £13.8 million in capital funding for the ambitious ‘Destination Hillend’, which would see the redevelopment of the ski centre, home to the longest dry ski slope in the UK and second longest dry slope in Europe.

It included a promise to create the highest zip wire in the UK and create an activity dome, hotel accommodation, a glamping site for wigwams, plus shopping and food retail areas.

Despite rising costs, the council announced plans to go ahead with the new junction, access road and car park that are key to the development following the December meeting. A planning application for the new centre will be lodged this spring.

Scottish ski centre closure fears

Polmonthill dry ski slope near Falkirk in Scotland is under threat of closure as the local council says it can no longer afford to run it.

Used by around 300 people per week, the centre has a 100m main slope and a small nursery slope.

More than 2,000 people have already signed a petition against the proposed closure, with many warning it would mean skiing and snowboarding would become unaffordable for local people.

This is the latest in a long list of dry ski slopes in Britian to be faced with closure. Scotland’s only indoor snow centre, Snow Factor at Braehead near Glasgow, closed in the autumn, the Bracknell ski centre has gone, but two other threatened slopes, Exeter and Gosling Sports Park in Welwyn Garden City, appear to have been reprieved for now.

Sheffield suffers another setback

Plans to reopen Sheffield Ski Village have suffered a further setback. Once Europe’s largest dry ski centre, it was damaged by arson attacks in 2012. Sheffield City Council had been in discussion with developer Extreme Leisure, which planned a £25 million ski resort, since 2017, but eventually the plans came to nothing.

New proposals by a New Zealand-based company to create a world-first ‘Gravity Park’ with sledging and zip wires have now also been dropped, with the company reportedly opting for a location in Swansea instead.

Future plans

Loch Insh Outdoor Centre in the Cairngorm National Park, Scotland, is appealing for help to raise £55,000 to replace its ageing artificial slope. See the full story on the Skier & Snowboarder website

* For more UK Slope & Club News, go to the special section on the Skier & Snowboarder magazine website at: www.skierandsnowboarder.com

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National Snow Week is a week celebrating everything the UK snowsports scene has to offer. Kicking off with the third edition of The National Snow Show at the NEC, Birmingham on 14-15th Oct 2023, the week will play host to mini events across the country for brands, associations, resorts and destinations and will culminate in our newly launched London Snow Show at the ExCeL on 21-22nd October.