South Kintyre Councillor, John Semple, is calling on Argyll and Bute Council to repay a borrowed £480,000 to secure the future of the Campbeltown Marina project.
Last year, Kintyre Councillors reluctantly agreed to an administration proposal that money should be taken from the Campbeltown CHORD regeneration project’s funding and spent on an all-weather sports pitch.
This was controversial since doing it put the necessary development of the Campbeltown marina at risk – the specific budget pocket out of which the council took the money.
But now a very substantial council surplus has come to light in the draft budget papers issued last Thursday (26th January 2012).
Councillor Semple is demanding that, in the light of this surplus, the money taken for the All Weather Pitch be promptly restored to the marina project.
Mr Semple says: ‘Argyll and Bute Councils draft budget this year provides the opportunity to end the uncertainty of the Marina project.
‘When the SNP (Ed: his party)were part of the ruling administration, we set in motion a wide ranging service review which is now in its third year. That review is paying dividends – the Council Leader has a three year projected budget surplus of nearly £4.5 million.
‘I am calling on the administration to reinstate the funding which was diverted from the Campbeltown CHORD Project to the All Weather Pitch.
‘The marina project is important for the regeneration of Campbeltown’s waterfront. Consultants have calculated that it could bring one million pounds of income to the town centre every year.
‘If the present administration of the council is to salvage any credibility in the way they have handled CHORD they must repay Campbeltown’s missing regeneration funds.’
There was widespread support on Campbeltown for the All Weather Pitch – which, by rights should have been created long ago. So when there was a chance of getting it done and the council would only agree to viring funding from the CHORD projects for the town, Councillors agreed.
This was and remains a controversial fudge, with a first class marina essential to Campbeltown’s economic development, positioning itself as a serious player in the leisure and tourism industry – with a marina, a fast passenger ferry across the water to the north coast of Northern Ireland, an annual half marathon and 10K run (MOKRUN) that draws visitors to the area from a very wide geographical spectrum , surfing at West Beach, two world class golf courses at Machrihanish and two regenerated first class classic grand hotels – the Royal in Campbeltown and the Ugadale at Machrihanish.
The Campbeltown Marina development is also essential to Argyll’s economic development, with its unparalleled natural resources for leisure and competitive sailing left largely to chance and the private sector to earn for the area.
Councillor Semple’s well-taken challenge is onwe that must be answered positively and quickly for the sake of a sustainable future for Campbeltown and the entire Kintyre peninsula – achingly beautiful but economically and infrastructurally fragile to the point of real concern.
One little observation here (and nothing to do with Campbeltown): the reason for attempting to close down one third of all primary schools in Argyll was that it was imperative to save £2M otherwise the sky would fall on Argyll.
The schools remain open and yet, far from the sky falling, the Council appears to have a large budget surplus.
Does this mean, perchance, that the original claim that it was necessary to close these schools was bogus and that this was merely an excuse to implement a long-cherished project of cleansing rural areas of their primary schools?
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“Does this mean, perchance, that the original claim that it was necessary to close these schools was bogus and that this was merely an excuse to implement a long-cherished project of cleansing rural areas of their primary schools?”
I would have described it as “a long cherished project of cleansing rural areas.”
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For Dr Douglas Mackenzie: We understand that the adminstration has been aware of this surplus for some time – it is a three year accumulation to 2014- but have only just revealed it in the papers so opposition councillors had no idea of its reach.
What is there already is quite probably an effective war chest to be spent on popular projects in the effort to see the current administration re-elected.
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Where does this surplus feature in the annoucement from last week, about another raft of cuts totalling £8million to try to balance the books? Does anyone actually have a clue whats going on? I am sure the details will be very interesting when it comes out. My own personal theory is that good old Dick was keeping it under his bed for a rainy day.
Power to the people.
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Would like to think that this “war chest” may just become Pandora’s box!
Well,we can dream can’t we?
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If the Campbeltown CHORD project had been scrutinised properly then there would be no need to repay. Endless amounts of money being thrown at the former Park Square redevelopment which at the end of the day will provide a new road and social housing. The Council (and our councillors) had three choices last year to further fund the new housing at the former Park Square to improve the finishings of the housing – £1.2 million, £800,000 or £400,000. They chose the £800,000 option and this on top of the £1 million the Council promised to the £5.2 million ACHA development.
Why not choose £400,000 and there you have £400,000 in the coffers for other developments straight away.
What about all the money that is being thrown at high finish street furniture, roads etc? Savings could be made there.
The Council should never forced the hand of our local councillors by removing the “promised” funding for the All Weather Pitch from the capital budget and taking it from the CHORD project. But given the endless amounts of money being wasted elsewhere in the CHORD project it does actually give something to the community and the All Weather Pitch will actually be something for the people. The marina should be the same and the two should never be up against each other.
If the Marina project is so important then our Councillors should stand up for what they believe in and stop the cash being thrown at worthless project elsewhere.
How much exactly will the proposed new “garden” at the Bus Terminal triangle cost????
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For Davie P: Endless amounts of money thrown at consultants to this project – AECOM were awarded a contract worth something around £640,000 last year for more ‘work’ on the CHORD programmer
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So if A and B Council have 4.5 million quid to spare, then why are they so desperate to convince us that it is absolutely vital that they sack the janitors in the community centres to save a few thousand? The Lochgilphead Centre is a very busy place – 57 different groups use it for a wide variety of activities and this generates roughly 1500 visitors per week, many of them children. Without the janitors it would be reduced to a shambolic state and have to be shut down on health and safety grounds. Perhaps the answer is that there would be One less of those irritating public amenities, like primary schools, which the Kilmory cronies find so bothersome. Or maybe Sally has other plans for the £4.5 million, like another makeover for her office suite.
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