ScotWays enters the Furnace-Inveraray right of way issue – vote for your solution here
published this on 12:32 pm, Thursday, 15th January, 2009Community News| Tourism | Comments (rss) | Respond | Ping |
Diving is a major sport in Argyll – which has some of the top diving grounds in the UK. Loch Fyne, the longest sea loch in the UK, offers some very interesting and varied diving and has long been a popular area for the sport.
The village of Furnace in Mid Argyll, on the western shores of upper Loch Fyne, is a focus for many worthwhile dive sites on that part of the loch. These include the sites known as Stallion Rock and Furnace Quarry – actually the waters below and around Furnace Pier which used to ship out stone from the quarry that paved the streets of Glasgow.
The quarry is separated from the now-derelict pier – currently the subject of a potential rebuild to ship out locally harvested timber – by the old shore road north to Inveraray.
And this road – or track – is the nub of the matter.
Swing barriers were installed some time ago in 2008, at both ends of this single-track unmetalled ‘road’ which emerges on to the A83 south of Inveraray at the Argyll Caravan Park. These barriers were left fixed open at the roadside and no one, including walkers, divers and local mothers pushing prams for an afternoon’s fresh air and exercise, gave much notice to them.
Then, in the Autumn of 2008 the barriers were suddenly closed and padlocked. While it was – clearly intentionally – possible for walkers to get round the sides of the vertical side posts supporting the barriers, vehicles carrying divers and their equipment could not get through. Mothers from the village quite reasonably did not feel that there was safe room for them to manoevre a pram or buggy around the side posts. The choice they face at the barriers at the Furnace end of the road is between a drop into the loch on one side or a ditch on the other.
How has this situation come about? Some residents living in houses accessed by the old road got fed up with two consequences of weekend leisure traffic on the road – surface erosion of the rough track and rubbish – including bottles, cans, plastics, food and sometimes human waste.
They were constantly repairing the unadopted road, filling in potholes, rolling and doing bits of tarmac-ing at their own expense and seeing their work lost too quickly under the visitors’ wheels. They were distressed by the unsightly and insanitary rubbish and concerned at its environmental consequences.
They put their case to the landowners, the Argyll Estates, who were sympathetic to their situation and who installed the barriers. The barriers are now open during most of the working week but closed and padlocked from either side of the weekend.
There is of course a ‘right of way’ issue and the divers have taken this up both locally and with ScotWays, a charity existing ‘to protect and develop access to the Scottish countryside for all’. ScotWays now has petitions available in the village for those sympathising with the divers to sign in support of their position.
The issue in the broadest sense involves other factors. If there is an accident or a traffic stoppage for any other reason on the main A83 road through the area, the old road has traditionally been used as a diversion by those in the know. While Strathclyde Police (and some unnamed locals) have the combination to open the padlocks on the barriers, this has not always proved effective or timely in relieving traffic congestion in such circumstances.
Ironically, the greatest erosion of the surface of the track occurs on these re-routing occasions which the Argyl Estates and houseowners alike facilitate – and which see heavy and steady traffic on the little road.
Then there is the impact on the businesses in the village of little more than 200 people, perpetually struggling to survive and in need of what weekend and visiting trade they can get. The loss of business is already felt from the absence of the sports diving community who cannot now conveniently access enough of the dive sites in the area.
The divers themselves insist that they are not responsible for the rubbish left behind. They – and some locals – finger weekend and overnight-camping anglers from Glasgow, bringing with them the city attitudes to litter which is such a blight on the countryside city-dwellers themselves need to access.
No one could feel anything but sympathetic to the householders and businesses located on the road and the Furnace and Inveraray folk who regularly walk it.
Everyone wants to see visitors coming to the area and sports diving is important to Argyll. Everyone also wants to see visitors treat places like this with respect rather than contempt – and treat local residents with the same respect. There is first hand evidence from some of our correspondents that some divers have been aggressive and unpleasant.
The argument is a finely and evenly balanced one with real and reasonable feeling on both sides. It does need to be resolved. For Argyll would never recommend expensive recourse to law if it can be avoided. It cannot be beyond human resourcefulness and common sense to find a better solution than a lockout.
Let us have your views – answer our informal poll or comment in the form below – and try to see what for you is ‘the other side’ of the argument before you vote.
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January 27th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Being a resident in the area, I know only too well the mess left lying about. I would comment however, that the area at the quarry and slightly further on (towards Pennymore) is by far the worst, with litter,empty beer cans, tents, duvets, single socks, items of clothing, being just a few of the things I have seen personally (I’ve never really wanted to look to closely at ‘poo’ to be able to say for definate where it came from!!). The area beyond the barrier never seemed at all bad and that is why I can’t understand why the barrier has been put where it is.
I don’t think Argyll Estates should have erected a barrier on the say so of a few people without consulting the majority. We all use the road, prams & bikes should not be excluded from this.
The divers always seem to be decent people, I’ve met and talked to quite a few of them. They drive and therefore don’t drink and so don’t leave the litter or mess discussed in the article. I wouild say it is probably is the fishermen, in the main, who leave the mess and I think it’s disgraceful. No-one seems to want to address this issue
May 4th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
There can be no disputing the fact that this coast road has been a byway open to all traffic in living memory.
Under Section 46 of the Countryside Scotland Act 1967 Protection and maintenance of rights of way paragraph (1) It shall be the duty of a local planning authority to assert, protect and keep open and free from obstruction or encroachment any public right of way which is wholly or partly within their area, and they may for these purposes institute and defend legal proceedings and generally take such steps as they may deem expedient.
You all know full well if you or I had installed locked gates across a public right of way on land we owned, the local constabulary would have told us to refrain from such practices on threat of arrest for obstruction and breach of the peace and the local council would have been demanding we remove on threat of a civil action. This isn’t you or I, its the Duke of Argylls estate. So much for equality under the law.
It does beg the question to whom do you appeal to when its blatantly obvious that the council and the police will not uphold the law?
August 1st, 2009 at 11:13 am
having stayed in the area previously i can see the argument from both sides, we actually stayed along the road in question and as is the case the minority spoilt it for the magority. i do feel sorry for the resident’s as they put in a lot of effort to maintain the road to an acceptable standard with no support from the council or estate. the road is being used more and more and i feel it is time the council took this on and maintained it.
February 25th, 2010 at 3:50 pm
I think its wrong to leave litter anywhere and participated in the cleanup three years ago. The road should be looked after by the Council, as its a right of access and has been used for 25 years that I know off and others longer than that. Don’t let a few hooligans spoil it for everyone.
February 25th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
As a diver, who did most of his original training at Kenmore, it was always instilled into me that we should respect the privacy of the local residents and never leave anything behind. I have seen the disgusting mess frequently left at the Quarry pier, most of which tends to be beer cans and can categorically state that this would never be left by 99% of the divers I’ve met over the years. The very nature of our sport tends to make us more environmentally aware.
I have never met a diver who took tins of beer to a dive site. Drinking before a dive is a definite no no in any case. Most of us enjoy a beer after diving but prefer to enjoy this in the comfort of the Furnace Inn or other local pubs, business which is being lost to the local community by preventing divers from accessing some of their favourite sites locally.
There must surely be a way to resolve this amicably and allow divers to enjoy their sport, and contribute to the local economy, whilst ensuring the interests of the local residents are protected?
February 26th, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Whilst litter is an offence and is a problem throughout Scotland. The action of littering by does not confer the right to prevent access along an established public right of way.
June 13th, 2010 at 8:56 am
Think it shocking that in this day and age some pompus ass thinks they can lock gates and prevent right of access. We should be allowed to treat said pompus ass to the whiplashing from the days of old they seem to still be living in
DD
June 13th, 2010 at 10:25 am
Divers are acutely aware of litter, the bulk of it ends up in the loch despoiling the very sites we’ve travelled so far to visit. Strangely though, the site at Kenmore features domestic appliances that have been dumped into the loch, I wonder who by?
We’re also far more ‘visible’ than anglers, so people tend to ‘see’ divers more, then see litter and blame us.
You only have to look at the problems with anglers camping and littering round Loch Lomond, where hardly anyone dives, to realise the true source of the problem.
Mind you, I don’t expect Argyll & Bute Council to do anything about it; Loch Fyne and Loch Long are some of the most popular areas for diving in Scotland and the local authority does nothing to promote diving tourism and the income it brings to the area. Hillwalkers get car parks, divers get abuse and roads blocked purposely to exclude them.