‘Listen to us, we’ll work with you’, planners told
Mull is imploring Argyll and Bute Council to listen to its views on potential plans to redevelop Craignure pier.
More than 25 people joined Monday’s Zoom meeting called by Mull Community Council after concerns the proposals had been sprung on the island with a claim half of the population was not aware of a consultation going on.
Plans being developed cover not just the long-term future of the pier and its marshalling area, but also what needs to be done now to continue working.
A three-week online consultation by the council is advertising options on social media and asking for comments but worries were expressed at Monday’s virtual meeting that Argyll and Bute had already made its choice.
Mull councillor Mary Jean Devon asked why the council had repeatedly used the wording ‘preferred option’ in its online presentation of available options if the decision had not already been made.
She said: ‘To the public it appears the council has made a decision against their backs,’ adding a lot of people felt the consultation was flawed. She said the views of people who live and work day-to-day on Mull should come ‘first and foremost’.
Marines manager for Argyll and Bute Stewart Clark told the meeting no decision had been made yet, adding: ‘Rest assured we’re not going to appear with a planning application in the next few months.’
He also said any community feedback coming after the end of the three-week consultation would not be ignored and would go before council members.
The question of a possible community buyout of the pier was also raised at the meeting.
Councillor Devon said: ‘Craignure is a village. We don’t want a giant infrastructure that means it will lose its identity. We implore you to listen to the public. Please, please listen to what the people are saying. We are a force to be reckoned with.’
Villagers in Craignure want any development to be sympathetic to their ‘amazing’ community. They are worried how businesses could be impacted, fearing the wrong option could result in job losses. There are also anxieties about traffic decanted on the island’s roads from bigger ferries coming, as well as light pollution at night and overnight noise.
Norman Hickson, chairman of Craignure Bay Community Group, said villagers were not ‘nimbys’, but overall the majority of people in Craignure could see the advantage of keeping any redevelopment small and considerate, urging the council to heed the ‘spirit of the place’.
‘Always enhance it, never hurt it,’ he said, insisting there should be no reason for any development not to be attractive or for the new terminal to ruin anyone’s view
‘That would just be lazy design. I’d hate for this to get to planning for us to say if we like it or not. We want to work with you.’
Mr Hickson told Mr Clark the village had such a small area of land left that it would be ‘defended by the last person standing in Craignure, if anyone tried to take it away’.