Page 28 - NTS Culloden 300 Report

In-depth one-to-one conversations
In addition to the town and community hall events and online survey, key stakeholders were invited to one-to-
one conversations to gain a better understanding of not only the logistics of the wider conservation area but also how Culloden and its landscape impacted on their work. These stakeholders included historians, practitioners and politicians.
The conversations centred on the sense of place associated with the battlefield and development in
the area. It was clear that stakeholders felt there was
an obligation to protect the landscape around the battlefield while still providing opportunities for the area to economically thrive. Specifically, ‘Local people need to be given fair opportunities to live and work around the battlefield.’ Additionally, ‘The Highland Council Conservation Area designation is not a tool to stop development. It is a tool to enable the right kind of development which will not harm the character of the area’.
There was also recognition that the National Trust for Scotland site is a major tourist attraction and that it is important not to compromise the visitor experience.
This is linked to the sense of place associated with the Culloden Battlefield cultural landscape, a unique resource – ‘We still have the opportunity to protect one of the world’s most special and intact historic battle sites. There are precious few sites like Culloden left, where the site itself and the views around it are relatively unchanged from the time of the battle’. Additionally, there was a recognition that the landscape associated with the battle was larger than that cared for by the National Trust for Scotland: ‘It is not necessarily about protecting
just the land which soldiers fought upon, it is also the big views around the site which matter just as much.’
For our stakeholders there’s a balance to be made – creating opportunities for the economy to thrive and developing opportunities in the area, but also protecting the resource of the cultural landscape associated with the battle. This is not mutually exclusive. The site is culturally significant to Scotland and indeed the wider world, and it is by creatively harnessing that power that we can manage the whole of the cultural landscape.
28 . Living with the Battlefield
Crown copyright. The Highland Council 2015 100023369.