The recommendation concerning the possible removal of high-level shelters was to become a cause of major disagreement. Traditional bothies were built for stalkers and gamekeepers and were in the valleys. The shelters being questioned were modern ones built high up on the plateau. The argument to keep them was that any shelter in an emergency was better than none - Cairngorm MRT, Banffshire County Council and local estate owners were of this opinion. However the Braemar MRT, most mountaineering bodies, the Chief Constable of police and Adam Watson thought they should be removed. More and more experts and politicians became involved and in July 1973 the Secretary of State for Scotland launched a formal consultation. Eventually, the Scottish Office decided it had no powers in the matter. In February 1974 at a meeting which excluded everyone except the local authority, police, and mountaineering experts, a decision for removal was taken and after further argument they were indeed removed.