Comments from Rhoda Grant MSP for the Strathspey and Badenoch Herald on the proposed expansion of the Aviemore Highland Resort

"I was invited to attend a 'confidential meeting' of 'great importance' by the SNP’s Fergus Ewing with fellow Highlands and Islands politicians.

"Mr Ewing said the project in Aviemore was in danger of collapsing if planning was refused and we were asked for our cross party support to ensure that reports which were necessary from SEPA, Highland Council and Transport Scotland were available for the planning committee.

"As the development is important for the area and as the absence of these reports could have held up the process I was happy to offer that support."

"I wrote to these organisations and to the First Minister, Alex Salmond, in good faith urging that due process be carried out competently and that the necessary reports for the committee were made available on time - I didn't call for any interference in the decision making process of these bodies.

"Given the use of our attendance as a smokescreen by the SNP over their activities my concern now is that there was another agenda in our invitation to this meeting.

"I would not expect that ministers would behave improperly in their involvement in any planning issue and the ministers must judge whether their actions were appropriate.

"What the Scottish Government should explain to Parliament is not why it intervened in the case but when it intervened and if the way it did so was proper."

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