Beautiful Oban is blighted by litter

Sir,

I notice from talking to people and from posts on Facebook that an increasing number of residents are becoming exasperated by the amount of litter which pollutes our pavements and public places.

The street sweepers do a great job in keeping George Street and nearby areas as clean as possible, but you only have to leave the sea front and within 50 feet the rubbish is a serious problem.

I went on to the viewing platform at McCaig’s Tower the day after the Hogmanay fireworks display and leaned over the railings, along with a number of other people who were enjoying the view. Looking down, the view was less attractive; bottles, cans, carry-out boxes and coffee cups littered the ground.

At the foot of the steps I’ve seen people step over rubbish which has been dropped within a few feet of a litter bin. I walk down Jacob’s Ladder regularly and on every visit more rubbish is evident, mostly thrown over the fence by those who use the two seats, or dropped beneath the seats by those who can’t be bothered to throw it.

Down below you can see cans lodged in the bushes, clothing caught up in the trees and years-worth of rubbish down the banks and lying behind the distillery wall.

Another of my favourite paths is Star Brae, a useful route if I’m going down in the direction of Tesco or Homebase. This path, with its wonderful views, is ruined by the amount of rubbish which is dropped here or thrown over the fence.

If, at the bottom of the Brae, you cross over into Gibraltar Place, you will be met by more rubbish, both at the entrance of Tesco car park and along the bank behind the recycling bins, while around the bins themselves regular heaps of recycling or rubbish are piled.

The car park is no better, with litter in the shrub beds, the trolley parks and the informal path up to the High Street, which is a disgrace. The car park on the other side of Lochavullin Road is no improvement and this leads up naturally to the much-maligned Black Lynn, a dumping ground for all the usual rubbish with the addition of supermarket trolleys. Rafts of bottles and cans clog the surface of the burn – far more, I expect, have sunk to the bottom.

Other parts of the town suffer equally, I’m sure, but these areas are the ones I know best. Can it be that many passers-by have become used to the situation and no longer notice it?

So what is the purpose, you may ask, of yet another letter on the subject of litter? We know that many caring people pick up litter in all of these areas and in other places, and have done for years. What makes it such a soul-destroying occupation is the knowledge that by tomorrow, the next day or next week it will be just as bad.

How come I’m writing under the banner of Keep Oban Beautiful when our professed intention is to stay positive at all times? The answer to that question is simple – we can do something about it!

Picking up the litter is a quick fix but not the long-term solution; the only way to stop it is to educate, to persuade and to reward, to find a way of generating pride in Oban. We discuss this on the Keep Oban Beautiful Facebook page.

Let’s get everyone involved, from young children upwards, though primary schools, high school and beyond. Let’s erect signs or banners to remind everyone of what we’d like to do, and let’s publicly thank those who do their best to make the town a cleaner place, as befits a beautiful West Coast fishing and ferry port and a major tourist destination.

Is it possible to imagine that Oban might one day be declared a litter-free town? Maurice Wilkins, Keep Oban Beautiful.