Good news for Tobermory parking
Work is due to start later this year on a new car park for Tobermory, writes Kathie Griffiths.
Plans are progressing for the new site at Baliscate, close to the town’s cemetery, with £400,000 of Crown Estate support and £375,000 from rural tourism infrastructure funding.
Mull councillor Mary-Jean Devon says it is good news for the town.
Tender documents and designs are going before planners to get the go-ahead for the development that will include spaces for 66 cars, seven coaches and 21 campervans. It will also have six electric vehicle charging points.
Councillor Devon said: ‘There’s been a lot of hard work to get us to this point. It started about one year last September, the weekend of the local Mòd, when we had a meeting between Mull Traffic Management Group and council officials with us saying we couldn’t have another summer of parking chaos.
‘We identified the land at Baliscate and the council said it owned it.’
A spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘Tobermory is a popular visitor destination and we hope the new car build will ease some of the visitor pressures in the village centre.
‘Work is due to start later this year, once all regulatory consents are in place.’
Argyll and Bute Council’s application for a share of the rural recovery fund was one of the latest bids from local authorities and national parks to the Scottish Tourism Emergency Response Group which has £5.8 million available to be spent on improving infrastructure and creating jobs at a number of Scotland’s popular visitor destinations and nature hotspots.
Tourism Minister Ivan McKee MSP said: ‘Scotland has world-leading legislation giving people rights to access our countryside but it’s important these are exercised responsibly and with respect for others, for wildlife and for the land itself. Investing in visitor management and supporting our rural communities is a crucial part of sustainable tourism growth.’
Malcolm Roughead VisitScotland chief executive, said: ‘Tourism is a force for good and if managed responsibly, sustains communities in every corner of Scotland, creates jobs, tackles depopulation and improves the wellbeing of everyone who experiences it.’