Project aiming to improve Achmelvich Beach Car park, Toilets and Rangers Hut

ADT have been involved since 2020 in local efforts to improve the provision of car parking and public toilets at Achmelvich Beach, which is a key local tourism location and pressure point. The site is owned by Highland Council. ADT’s main role has been in organising and fundraising for community consultation, business planning and design work, with grant funding including from the Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund. Through this process, planning permission was achieved along with significant funding being approved towards the construction costs. Highland Council as site owners then took on the role of further fundraising and project management. Through 2024, the majority of the project works went ahead, with the new improved car park being opened to the public in early autumn. The new public toilets open in April 2025, once utilities connections were in place, and are expected to be closed during winter periods thereafter.

​before works

during works

More detailed background information:

ADT were approached around 2020 by Assynt Community Council (ACC) to see if a way could be found to improve the Highland Council (HC) owned car park and public toilets at Achmelvich beach.  The main problems with the site were quite clear

  1. The Car park was small, with poor drainage, and the surface breaking up and regularly forming large potholes, with puddles and floods developing.
  2. The Toilets were beyond their design life, in very poor condition and not fully accessible.
  3. The Rangers Hut was in poor structural condition.

ADT applied for a Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund (RTIF) design work grant, to carry out feasibility work and design. Additional funding from Assynt Community Council and Highland Council allowed this work to go ahead, including community consultation and business planning. A partnership of Fraser Livingstone Architects, Community Enterprise and Liane Bauer Landscape Architects were appointed to carry out the work.  A full application to RTIF for funding towards the actual physical works was then submitted by ADT, and the detailed designs were submitted as part of a full planning application to Highland Council Planning Department. The planning application was approved, in November 2021, and while the first RTIF application was rejected, a second attempt was welcomed to the following funding round, and that was successful.

Highland Council themselves agreed to take on management and future maintenance of the car park and public toilets planned to be created. Unfortunately the Ranger’s Hut element had to be dropped from the project as neither Highland Council or the arm’s-length charity connected with HC, Highlife Highland, which runs the wildlife ranger service, were willing or able to take on future management of a new Ranger’s Hut.

Highland Council then raised the match funding required to pay for the project alongside the RTIF grant secured by ADT. This additional funding includes loan based on future income from parking charges which are intended to be made mandatory in the car park.