Concerns have been raised that weekend visitors to a Perthshire town are missing out on seeing one of its most famous attractions.
Since the closure of the visitor centre at Pitlochry dam, special viewing chambers at the salmon ladder have been closed at weekends.
The viewing windows allow visitors to see into two of the three resting pools of the fish ladder, permitting them to see salmon using the device.
Andrew Holmes of Pitlochry and Moulin Community Council said the situation had been going on for some time.
“SSE closed the visitor centre at the dam two years ago and when they did that it also meant the viewing chamber at the salmon ladder had no one to open and close the window at weekends,” he said.
“It’s a significant tourist attraction in Pitlochry but people haven’t been able to get in at weekends and see the salmon coming up the ladder.
“SSE’s position is that they have a project to build a replacement visitor centre at the other side of the dam. We were involved in some consultation about that but we have no word as to whether it’s going to go ahead and, in the meantime, nothing is happening.
“We offered more than a year ago to see if we could find volunteers to open the chambers at weekends but we’ve no response.”
A spokesman for SSE said that weekend closure was down to lack of staff.
He said: “Since the closure of the old visitor centre we no longer have staff on site at the weekends and are, therefore, unable to open the viewing window.
“We are currently working on a new visitor centre, which we hope to make a final investment decision on soon, meaning we will have staff on site at the weekends again and able to open the viewing window.”
The old visitor centre at Pitlochry was closed because of access problems. It charted the history of hydro generation in Scotland from its origins in the 1940s.
The company submitted plans for a new £3 million centre to Perth and Kinross Council. However, it is not known when it will welcome its first visitors.