Terra Firma Vice Chairman, Douglas Armstrong QC, successfully represented the Cairngorms National Park Authority in a debate over access rights at Aviemore Highland Resort.  The central issue was whether rights created under Section 1 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 applied in circumstances where members of the public had exercised public access over land, but had been prevented from doing so due to the erection of a fence before Part 1 of the 2003 Act was brought into effect.  Sheriff MacFadyen decided that the fence impeded an existing access route, it continued to impede that route when Part 1 of the Act was brought into effect on 9 February 2005, and was still there when the Park Authority served its notice under Section 14 of the Act on 31 January 2008.  He rejected an argument that the 2003 Act was being given retrospective effect and stated that he would find it difficult to conclude that a route over which the public had enjoyed access and which was blocked off between the enactment of the Act and the bringing Part 1 into force was anything other than an area of land over which an access right existed in terms of Section 1 of the Act.  Sheriff MacFadyen's judgement was issued at Inverness on 14 January 2009 and is available here.