Kilmartin Museum car park proposal divides opinion

More spaces needed but Glebe Field location questioned

More than 40 representations, both for and against, have been made on Kilmartin Museum’s plans for an overflow car park in the village.

The public planning consultation period for the proposed car park, in the village’s Glebe Field, near to the historic Glebe Cairn, closed on Wednesday (May 31).

The museum expects 40,000 more visitors when it reopens again this summer, which it says will prompt a need to almost double the car parking capacity.

In its application, Kilmartin Museum said: “When it opens, our redeveloped museum will have extra parking capacity on site, with space for 39 cars in total, including three accessible parking spaces with improved access to the museum building.

“However... even with this increase in parking capacity we expect that during the busiest periods additional parking will be needed to ensure safe travel around and through Kilmartin.”

Tim Lister, a Kilmartin Museum trustee, wrote in support of the proposal: “The parking in the grounds of the new museum will not be sufficient during the summer to accommodate the increased volume of visitors.

“The resulting indiscriminate parking will be detrimental to the village in general, and cause additional safety issues.”

Meanwhile, Jacquelyn Condie, resident of nearby Ardfern, wrote: “This should ease the parking situation in the village and keep the road clear.

“Staffing at the museum will double with the new café opening, as well as the new staff at reception and all their volunteers.”

A number of objections have also been lodged, including from William Beattie snr and son William jnr, who run Kilmartin Auto Repairs garage near the proposed site.

After submitting a comment “strongly rejecting” the plan, Mr Beattie snr told the Advertiser: “My objections are two-fold. A business has stood on these premises for 100 years; first off as a [horse-powered] coach repair stop.

“We have been here for 20 years and we feel that our business would be under threat should there be a turn off the main road into the

field next door. We routinely have to help customers back out on to the road. It would be chaos.”

Mr Beattie’s second complaint was about the damage that could be done to a site of “worldwide” historical interest.

He added: “A car park in the Glebe Field would be misuse and destruction of such a historically important site.

“I want to make clear, I am not in opposition to a car park, per se, as long as it is done in a fashion that is sustainable for the village, and I do not believe that this plan is.”

Dunadd Community Council, which represents Kilmartin village, also objected to the car park plan in its current form.

Speaking after their AGM last Thursday evening in Ford Village Hall, a Dunadd CC spokesperson said: “The community council acknowledges that there is a parking problem in Kilmartin and that a solution must be found, but we do not feel that the proposal currently put forward is the solution. There is a widespread concern over road safety.

“For example, southbound traffic on the A816 cannot see what is coming down to the other side of the road from the top of the brae into the centre of Kilmartin.

“The community council also feels that altering the road and creating an entrance to a car park there would create a serious road safety issue.”

Kilmartin Museum states on its website that the Glebe Field was chosen after a community consultation in 2017 showed that 85 per cent preferred it as the overflow location.

It adds: “We have taken the importance of the site into account when drawing up plans and by siting the car park next to the water treatment works in the corner of the field.”

Earthwork screening is planned and an archaeological survey before any work starts.