Our charity – Laich of Moray Active Travel Routes (“LoMATR”) – wants to see the construction of an Active Travel Route (“ATR”) between Lossiemouth and Hopeman.
The probable first phase of the ATR would be to connect Lossiemouth to COVESEA (WEST OF Silver Sands Caravan Park).
Covesea qualifies as a “settlement” of people and therefore being a valid destination for an official ATR to aim at.
An ATR from Lossiemouth to Covesea would have to pass almost entirely over ground owned and controlled by Moray Golf Club (“MGC”), which has two links golf courses – the Old Course and the New Course – on land which is located to the south of Lossiemouth’s West Beach and to the north of RAF Lossiemouth. The B9040 road, which connects Lossiemouth and Hopeman, meanders through MGC’s land, passing Silver Sands and Covesea as you head west.
The B9040 is unsuitable for walkers, wheelers and cyclists, given its lack of pavement, 60mph speed limit and multiple blind bends through mgc’s land.
LoMATR keeps trying to get MGC to discuss the details of a possible ATR.
This article is intended to bring you up to date with the correspondence that has passed between MGC and LoMATR during 2025. In spite of some encouraging signs at different points, unfortunately, it appears that MGC are still not prepared to have any meaningful discussions with LoMATR about an ATR.
(1) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO SECRETARY OF MGC – 20 FEBRUARY 2025
Subject Line: LoMATR Presentation to MGC Council
From Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
To Stevie Grant, Secretary of MGC
Dear Mr Grant,
I am responding to the Captain’s email of yesterday inviting LoMATR to present their proposals for the Lossiemouth to Hopeman Active Travel Route to the Council.
Please can you advise the dates for the Council Meetings and we will aim to present at anearly opportunity after 1 March. Aside from 14 and 20 and 25 March, I can rearrange any clashing dates next month. We would come mob-handed, but I would plan to bring a fellow Trustee and Neil Cameron or John Cowe assuming they are available.
Kind regards
Malcolm Campbell
Chair LoMATR
NOTE: The above email contains a typo in that, although it’s probably clear from the general context and tone of the email, it was meant to say “We would not come mob-handed”.
(2) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO SECRETARY OF MGC – 28 FEBRUARY 2025
Subject Line: LoMATR Presenting to Council
From Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
To Stevie Grant, Secretary of MGC
Dear Mr Grant,
I am just checking you received the note I sent regarding LoMATR briefing the Council on the proposed route for the Active Travel Route path.
I am happy to come along to an early meeting if you could let me know the dates that would suit the Club.
Kind regards
Malcolm Campbell
Chair LoMATR
(3) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO CAPTAIN OF MGC – 22 MAY 2025
Subject Line: LoMATR Meeting with MGC
From Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
To Christopher Pastakia, Captain of MGC
Dear Chris,
Thank you for the quick response to my note on Tuesday. It is disappointing that it will be September before we meet, however better late than never. Please can you advise the probable date for your September Council meeting {…}.
I will start working on a pack for you to circulate to your Council and will aim to deliver it before the end of June. It will include details of the proposed route from Muirton Road up to the junction with the B9040 at the Crash Road exit, all off which is on MGC or MoD land. As you will see on the map, our route would not require any changes to the Course, even where we “squeeze” past the 5th tee using the existing path. I will also explain our ideas for signage which would be installed to ensure those using the path are aware they must follow guidance on these signs for their own safety.
I understand your concern regarding health and safety – and we share it. It is worth noting that at present, there is public access along the proposed route without signage or protective barriers: the Active Travel Route with signage and safety areas should actually reduce the risks of individuals being struck by errant balls.
Finally, as we discussed at our meeting, LoMATR shares your concern that too many vehicles are driven at an excessive speed on the B9040 even if they are within the legal limit. We are planning an active campaign to petition Moray Council to reduce the speed limit to 40 or even 30 mph between Silver Sands and Muirton Road. A joint campaign would have more chance of success. Perhaps this is something we could progress even before September.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Campbell
Chair LoMATR
(4) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO CAPTAIN OF MGC – 29 JUNE 2025
Subject Line: Lossiemouth to Hopeman Active Travel Route – Section Crossing MGC Land
From Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
To Christopher Pastakia, Captain of MGC
1 attachment (857 KB) 20250629 – LoMATR MGC Route.pdf
Dear Chris,
As requested, we have prepared a short paper setting out the proposed route for the ATR where it crosses Moray Golf Club land (i.e. Muirton Road to RAF Crash Gate 8 Access Road). As the path will be adjacent to and may also cross MoD property, I have copied Wg Cdr Dowds and Councillor Cameron.
LoMATR looks forward to presenting to the Club Council later this year, ideally in September.
Meanwhile, if you would like further details or explanations, please give me a call.
Yours sincerely,
Malcolm Campbell
Chair LoMATR
(5) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO CAPTAIN OF MGC – 01 AUGUST 2025
Subject Line: LoMATR Meeting with MGC
From Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
To Christopher Pastakia, Captain of MGC
Chris,
I trust you have been able to read the report I sent at the end of June though I know you will have been busy with arrangements for the Open last week. I suspect the matter will be raised at your August Council meeting.
If you have any questions or would like to meet to discuss the contents prior to our presentation to the Council, please let me know. I will be around most of this month and would be happy to come over to Lossie.
I would appreciate knowing the date of the September meeting as my wife and I take a short break every September and I want to be sure I am available to attend the meeting.
Kind regards
Malcolm
Chair LoMATR
(6) EMAIL FROM CAPTAIN OF MGC TO CHAIR OF LOMATR – 01 AUGUST 2025
Subject Line : Re: Lighthouse Links Presentation to MGC
From: Christopher Pastakia, Captain of MGC
Sent: Friday, August 1, 2025 4:43 pm
To: Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
Dear Malcolm,
Thank you for your email and attachment, and my apologies for the delay in replying. The club is going through a number of imposed events that need serious action and these mount up.
With regard to your report, I am disappointed as much of the necessary detail we need to know, as suggested in my earlier email to you, is not there.
Your map is not clear as to where the path would run. For example, between Muirton Road and 5th tee. I made it clear that, for H&S reasons, our own security and storage, as well as our lease conditions, no access through our “sheds” land would be considered. My understanding was you would obtain permission from the RAF to place the ATR within the Muirton Crescent boundary.
Your maps also show the path along and crossing in front of the 5th tee, which would be a tremendous impediment to play (and again to H&S), and we could not accept that. I had asked for the size of the cycleways, and if these were placed on a map, I suspect we would find our tees and fairways greatly constricted. Would your cycleway accommodate the RAF requirements for access to the crash gates? So a scaled map would be a necessary detail for both our Council and members.
More surprisingly is the small 3-note summary on risks and mitigation, which frankly do not cover the risks, physical and social, that may occur in the immediate and longer-term future. Such risks will feature large in our members’ thinking not least because we will have to carry increased insurance premiums to cover these.
You have rightly noted that the use of the ATR is likely to increase with time, and we need to have an idea of the impacts of such changes, direct and indirect, including the increase in use by both pedestrians and cyclists, and potential powered machines.
Ultimately, the members of Moray Golf Club are being asked to change the nature of the play on a championship course not to their advantage and to pay for these changes. This is a very big ask, and LoMATR need to understand this, and seek to show how changes might be made, risks reduced and golf not disrupted. Without this detail, no consent, even in principle, can be considered.
May I suggest that you review this document and provide considerably more level of detail and information. I can then send it on and arrange a meeting with the Club Council, though with the time scale now so short the meeting at the beginning of September may not be possible.
Yours sincerely,
Chris
CMR Pastakia, Captain Moray Golf Club
(7) EMAIL FROM CHAIR OF LOMATR TO CAPTAIN OF MGC – 01 OCTOBER 2025
From: Malcolm Campbell, Chair of LoMATR
Sent: 01 October 2025 00:07
To: Christopher Pastakia, Captain of MGC
Subject Line: Lossiemouth to Hopeman Lighthouse Links Project
Dear Chris,
Thank you for the Club’s response to the report LoMATR submitted on 20 August setting out our draft proposals to create an Active Travel Route between Lossiemouth and Covesea.
I’d like to ensure you were able to access the 2018 Feasibility Study and 2021 Early Concept Design Work also referenced in the report, as you have only mentioned the 2007 Feasibility Study, which is almost 20 years old. With two feasibility studies both outlining a route along the B9040 (or close to) as the preferred option, in accordance with Cycling By Design, it seems unlikely LoMATR would be successful in obtaining funding to carry out a further study which is highly likely to come to the same conclusion.
The impact assessments and risk assessments you have suggested are not something outlined in the Royal Institute of British Architects Plan of Work, which is the process Active Travel Route design and construction must follow according to Scottish Government and Walk Wheel Cycle Trust guidelines. This process is already seen as rather onerous by many, resulting in great expense for something as simple as building a path.
I must express my disappointment at the position taken by Moray Golf Club’s Council. The Lighthouse Links project represents a significant community benefit, providing the missing link in a safe, sustainable, and accessible connection between Burghead, Cummingston, Hopeman, Duffus, Covesea and Lossiemouth.
I was sorry to read of the erosion to the dunes through MGC, which you believe is exacerbated by walkers using the core path (the official route of the Moray Coast Trail). The proven best way to deal with situations like this is to provide an alternative signed and mapped route. Through partnership working with LoMATR, the Moray Coast Trail could be split into a high and low tide routes between Covesea and Lossiemouth, with the low tide route being along the beach, and the high tide route along the Lighthouse Links route.
There is currently no safe route for people using wheelchairs or mobility scooters, people pushing prams, or children cycling and scooting between Lossiemouth and Silver Sands and Covesea. The section of the route that would pass over golf course land has been carefully considered, and our research shows that it offers the best balance of a direct safe route with minimal impact to the Club. The modifications required would be relatively minor compared to the long-term value this path would bring to the wider community.
I hope MGC will reconsider its stance as the success of projects such as this depends on collaboration and a shared commitment to community wellbeing.
Malcolm Campbell
Chair LoMATR
SUMMARY
LoMATR still hopes that MGC will review their position and see that there needs to be a walkable, wheelable and cyclable path for all ages and abilities heading west from Lossiemouth and that, from a practical point of view, that will need to cross land controlled by MGC.
The degree of inconvenience an ATR crossing the Old Course at Lossiemouth would cause to golfers is minimal. The benefit to the community in terms of accessibilty, safety and health would be huge.
As we have argued elsewhere on this website, LoMATR sees the former road along MGC’s boundary with the RAF as the obvious basis for an ATR. It is already used by plane spotters and dog walkers. It promises both a “high tide” option for the Moray Coast Trail and a fully accessible route to link Lossiemouth and Covesea.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO HELP LOMATR AND SUPPORT THE LIGHTHOUSE LINKS PROJECT?
You can find general information about what actions are possible and helpful on our website here.
Here are some specific options for things you could do:
- Become a member of LoMATR;
- Make a donation;
- Join our mailing list and keep up-to-date with latest news and information;
- Follow us on Facebook;
- Report a “near miss” on the B9040 using the form here;
- Keep an eye out for land owners trying to limit access to ground which could be used by the ATR and report it if you are concerned that it may be an unreasonable restriction.
Laich of Moray Active Travel Routes is a charity registered in Scotland: SC050571
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