Call for Argyll ark to be saved from sinking
A ‘Biblical scale’ sculpture of Noah’s Ark built without planning consent by the Kyles of Bute, to provoke thought about the climate crisis may not be wrecked by Argyll and Bute Council, writes Sandy Neil.
No sooner had local environmentalist David Blair, hammered the last nail into his 20 metre-long ark than council officers hit him with an enforcement notice requiring him to submit a planning application by September 22.
Now officers are recommending councillors keep the project from sinking.
The structure in Tighnabruaich, designed by Mr Blair for last November’s UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow, stands six metres high and over five metres wide, with a bench seat all the way around the base for people to sit and think about what lies before them.
‘The Ark is a form that most people will connect with,’ David told The Oban Times before COP26: ‘Its synchronicity with Noah and the great flood resonates with sea level rises due to climate change, with many species and habitats threatened with extinction.
The ‘arkitect’, a woodsman who has lived in Tighnabruaich for more than 25 years, added: ‘The art is all I can do to raise the debate where I live. It’s what I can do. The ark is a call to action – we cannot afford to miss this boat. Climate change is by far the greatest threat that humanity, and most of life on
Earth and it is only us that can do anything about it.’
The ark’s one objector, a resident of Tighnabruaich, said that ‘although the wooden structure is a laudable gesture’, it is ‘a political statement’ and ‘attacks various forms of political thought’.
‘The builder is known for his political views on the environment...There is a huge element of civil disobedience, which he seems to relish.’
NatureScot, a consultee, said: ‘Given the nature of the structure and its relatively small scale (compared to the adjacent telecommunications mast at Creag Rubha Bhain, for instance), it is not considered that it adversely affects the landscape character of the area.’