PLEA OVER GANAVAN PARKING
Argyll and Bute parking chiefs are being implored to take emergency action before it is too late to save Oban’s precious Ganavan from illegal overnighters this season.
The urgent demand was made at Monday’s meeting of Oban Community Council, and was prompted by the popular beachfront car park being taken over by a group of travellers on what was the busiest and sunniest weekend of the year so far.
Day visitors heading for the seaside spot had to turn back because there were no spaces left and Dougie Dan’s snack van remained closed because its owner Dougie Graham, who is also a community councillor, could not get to it.
People were reluctant to challenge the caravan owners, who had previously been camped at Pennyfuir Cemetery car park, the meeting heard.
Council officials and police had planned a joint visit to the car park for Tuesday morning, but the group of travellers left on Monday evening - apparently heading for Fort William and leaving behind two dogs.
“They wanted the whole place to themselves and they got it. It’s absolute nonsense people can come and take over the car park like that,” said Mr Graham. Ganavan has a long history of parking woes and despite repeated calls for help by Oban Community Council over the years, nothing has been done, its members said.
Now they want a short-term emergency policy brought in to better manage the car park for this year and to be reviewed again in winter.
New council leader and Oban ward representative Jim Lynch, who joined the meeting online, said Argyll and Bute needed to look at what lessons were
learned from the weekend, and agreed to “explore” the possibility of an emergency short-term policy.
Councillor Lynch said he heard what the community council was saying. Earlier in the meeting they listed their assumptions that “all was in hand”, being told CCTV cameras were on the way, but now no one at Argyll and Bute had any recollection of that, that a barrier to shut the car park at night could never be agreed on and that parking at the site, and other areas in the town, had continued to be a free for all with no enforcement at all.
Frustration levels ran high during the lengthy discussion. People defecating and urinating, spitting out toothpaste and leaving waste have been just some of the earlier troubles faced at Ganavan in the past.
Oban Community Council convener Frank Roberts at one stage even offered to volunteer as a traffic warden – and buy his own uniform – to help monitor the situation but Argyll and Bute Council never took him up on the offer.
According to reports at Monday’s meeting, all the traffic wardens were deployed to ticket hill walkers at Arrocher at the weekend, abandoning Oban.
This was the final straw for scunnered community councillors, in particular Mairi Malloy who has been fighting the cause for better parking management at Ganavan for 15 years and said speaking up about it at every Oban, Lorn and the Isles area committee was “laughed at”.
Convener Mr Roberts told Monday’s meeting the lack of parking management was “a gross dereliction of duty” by council officers who were “running themselves” and were “accountable to no one”.
The land the car park sits on was gifted to the people of Oban but its needs were being neglected and ignored, stopping townspeople from enjoying it, said Mr Roberts.
“I would implore our Argyll and Bute councillors to take the bull by the horns and make council officers accountable because at the moment they are accountable to no one,” he said, adding the community council is constantly being told that councillors are responsible for policy, but council officers are responsible for operational matters and “never the twain should meet”.
He asked ward councillors present: “Can we have a policy that says council officers will do their job? They are not doing their job about parking. I could use the same argument about flooding in the town. We are not prepared to be ignored any more.”
The Oban Times asked Argyll and Bute Council about Ganavan’s parking issues.
A spokesperson said: “Ganavan car park rules prohibit people from using vehicles overnight for camping or sleeping purposes. Sadly, there are a small minority of people who ignore this. Council staff visit Ganavan daily and are on site to open and close the toilets and either attend to or report back any issues. Our wardens cover the whole of Argyll and Bute, with some working mainly Oban, but with such a wide area to cover we won’t have parking wardens in all areas at all times.
“Barriers were discussed for Ganavan car park, but local feedback suggested this was not the best solution. CCTV is being considered as part of a wider scheme for Oban Bay.
“Argyll and Bute is a fantastic place to visit and tourism plays a major role in the local economy. Busy car parks are a sign people want to be here, although they should be used appropriately. The majority of visitors who come here behave responsibly, which we really appreciate, and we continue to urge people to use official campsites to help support local businesses.”