Call to act now to keep rockfall road open
Action must be taken now to stop Gallanach Road becoming a mini Rest and be Thankful, a councillor has warned.
The road has been a no-go zone since boulders split from cliffs above the road on Friday just missing a house below.
Argyll and Bute Council says it is still tracing whoever owns the cliffs, but Oban councillor Roddy McCuish says there is no time for delay.
He wants the council to do whatever it takes to re-open the road now and to ‘pursue’ whoever owns the cliffs later.
Checks are still ongoing for more loose rocks, with concerns that other landslides could follow. Under Section 89 of the Roads Scotland Act, the council has been able to take some action to protect the public road – even though the cliffs are beyond its control.
At the time of going to press, a spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: ‘The road remains closed due to concerns that more rocks could fall. We are in the process of assessing the rockface and tracing the landowner so that we can have discussions with them about the best way to make things safe so that the road can re-open and the owner of the nearby house can return home.’
Jennifer Shaw, who has lived there for 23 years, was asleep on Friday when three giant boulders crashed down from the cliff top, narrowly avoiding hitting her home.
One blocked the road, another stuck fast on her garden steps and a third rolled towards the foreshore leaving her house unscathed thanks, she believes, to a tree that got in the way and changed the direction of one of the giant rocks.
A school service bus and a works van also had a lucky escape.
Mrs Shaw followed advice to leave her property soon after on Friday to wait for news only returning to feed her cats. ‘I’m anxious, of course, and worried it could happen again, so I moved out.
‘The first thing I knew what happened was when the dog barked and woke me up. I got out of bed and there was a man stood in the road in a hi-vis next to a big boulder,’ she said.
Alchemy employee John Maclean said: ‘When the van came round the corner there was a lot of dust floating in the air. It was a near-miss. There was a school bus too. Luckily I don’t think there were any children on it. It was a nasty surprise for everyone.’
Councillor McCuish said: ‘The last thing we want is for it to become a mini Rest and be Thankful, but it’s well known if you get one landslide there will be more to come. We have to make sure it is safe up there. We have to do what we can to keep the road safe and open.
Continued from page 1.
‘It’s an arterial route into Oban.
‘In my view the council needs to act now. Get the work done and then pursue who owns it.’
Back in 2001 Gallanach Road faced possible permanent closure when cracks further along the cliff face, after the Kerrera jetty, revealed about 600 tonnes of unstable rock. Costly mitigation work was opted for instead, putting up wire meshing to hold back any loose rocks.
After Friday’s rockfall the council soon had stability experts on the scene and brought in a drone to asses the situation from above.
Workers from Alchemey Plant and Contracting services on Gallanach Road, who started dismantling the boulder that was blocking the road, had to stop for fear of vibrations bringing more rocks down.