At random

Appeal for information

I have been suitably chastised for the piece I wrote two weeks ago calling for Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) to get its finger out and help a distressed resident who has complained about unkempt gardens at ACHA-owned properties.

If you read our letters page this week, you will see the missive from Alastair MacGregor, chief executive of ACHA, accusing me of failing to check out 'all aspects of the story'. He's got me bang to rights, guv.

As I wrote back then, the complaint was anonymous and did not provide addresses for the properties in question but I understand ACHA officers - I spoke to one of them last week - have striven to find out where in Oban these homes are located, without success, in an attempt to address the issue.

If the mystery correspondent would get back to me with more information, I'll happily pass it on and ACHA will respond to make the recalcitrant tenants sort out their gardens.

New hotel welcome

We reported last week the budget chain Travelodge has written to Argyll and Bute Council with a proposal for a joint development of a new hotel in Oban.

Travelodge said it had 'identified Oban as an up-and-coming tourism destination'. Really?

That is a little patronising as I think the company will find Oban has been a magnet for tourists for a very long time.

But, seriously, this would be good news for the town, coming on the back of the construction of a new Premier Inn, which is already under way.

However, I'm not sure the council should be getting into bed with a private sector hotel chain. If Travelodge wants to build a hotel here, it should buy a plot of land and pay for the development from its own resources.

The council is hard-pressed financially so I don't think it would be the best use of public money.

What do you think?

Write to me at mlaing@obantimes.co.uk or The Oban Times, Crannog Lane, Oban, PA34 4HB, or call 01631 568021.