Danger hill
A 25-FOOT rock face in the middle of a residential area is causing concern as children are using it as a shortcut.
A 25-FOOT rock face in the middle of a residential area in Oban is causing concern as children are using it as a shortcut.
The exposed cliff, situated behind Lorn and Islands District General Hospital, below Catalina Avenue, has been deemed ‘an accident waiting to happen’.
Developer MacLeod Construction says the adjacent road is under review to be adopted by Argyll and Bute Council. As part of the conditions for this, MacLeod Construction has pressure washed the cliff in order to remove any unstable rocks.
However, a resident in the area took to social media to highlight the issues, saying: ‘Blasting loose rock on a permanently soaked and unstable rock face will not mitigate against children accessing it without a barrier. Much of the neat pebbled verge is now covered in black rock and sludge.
‘The solution is clearly not an easy undertaking. My view on this lies between a barrier or re-contouring the hill.’
Jim Lynch, councillor for Oban South and the Isles, said: ‘Children are using it as a shortcut. If some child falls, we are not going to forgive ourselves if we have known that it is happening. You have to make the effort of building a fence.
‘The concern I have is that it’s not safe. To me it is quite urgent.
‘They [McLeod Contruction] have washed it off, but that’s not the problem. I would prefer a net across it so it’s safe.
‘I am not having a go at anyone in particular, all I am saying is we need to work together to get it done. There’s a definite feeling here within the community that no-one is listening.’
Councillor for Oban North and Lorn Julie McKenzie is a resident in the area.
She said: ‘This issue has been raised time and time again. What I see here is profit before people in the community.
‘We are councillors, not engineers. It’s up to us to highlight the issue.
‘It’s an accident waiting to happen.’
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘This road and area has not been adopted by the council and is the responsibility of the landowner to maintain.
‘If there are any concerns about this area we will, of course, raise it with the owners of the site.’
A spokesman for MacLeod Construction said: ‘The recent removal of “loose” rock from a section of the rock face adjacent to the new McKelvie Road/Glenshellach Road link road was carried out by Macleod Construction in response to a specific request from Argyll and Bute Council roads department.
‘This was one of the last remaining items required by the roads department as part of the on-going road adoption process which we hope to conclude shortly.’