Comment posted Transport Minister’s letter to Michael Russell MSP reveals council’s double whammy on Craignure Passenger Access by neil macintyre.
Argyll and the Isles hits warp speed, not if you are trying to get off the ferry at craignure.Take the money from the Oban Chord project and fix the gangway.Why will it take another 15 to 18 months to get a replacement?At least fix it and argue in court later.The transport debate which our economy depends on seems to stutter along from one mess to the next.Will the rest be operational and safe when the lochside road improvements start?will the business community have a quarantee that we will not be left high and dry if the whole thing goes pear shaped.As one local haulier told me if I have to put my lorries on the Inverary route it costs me another £500 in diesel a week so its important the closure of the lochside is managed properly.
We have a railway which is still dumping its human waste from the toilet system onto the track.Why are there no moves to upgrade the line to not only cut the travel times for passengers but also to take more of the freight of our roads.Even locally in Oban and surrounding areas the addition of local commutor trains for workers through the day would help the traffic congestion in the town.We have had nothing positive come out of any proposals through Chord so we must start to deliver or captain Kirk will need to beam us all up to travel anywhere.
Recent comments by neil macintyre
- Walsh to lead all but Lib Dems, Conservatives and George Freeman
Very interesting newsroom so the SNP are now big buddies with Dick Walsh. What will poor Fletcher make of it?
Surely there will be another revolt within the party ranks at this alliance with the enemy or was it all the fault of the Tories and Liberals the last time.
The Schools debate when it raises its ugly head again will bring us back to square one so where does that leave the SNP.
If the numbers stack up like you say what,s the point of the opposition why not just pitch in together and use the experience of councillor Freeman and the rest without them having to join a certain group which seems to be a stumbling block. After the shambles of the last few months we can ill afford to sideline the input of experienced councillors who are not just there for the money.
The Argyll people who voted these councillors into office deserve to have them representing them properly especially after what we got from the SNP.
Cheers Neil. - Council latest: meaning well is not enough
I take it Ian by modernisers you mean Breslin and Hall as the other councillors have been around for a while.
So what will they bring to the table that we can look forward to.
Cheers Neil. - SNP departures from administration – was money a factor?
For Integrity.
He is quoted in the paper as saying,
“people who I thought were pretty solid said to me if they didn,t get that extra money they,d be getting divorced”.
He qualified that with his own thoughts that if that’s what drives them to be involved with the council its the wrong driver.
You certainly don,t need to be a genius to work out who they were so let the battle commence.
Cheers Neil - SNP departures from administration – was money a factor?
As councillor Ian MacDonald has now confirmed that money was the main motive for other councillors in this weeks Oban Times will he name and shame them.
If this New Way group are to succeed surely this would be a great way to start.
The front page shows what decent people do compared to some of the councillors we have representing us .
Brilliant effort from Roddy,Archie and John and congratulations to young Robert MacIntyre
Argyll is full of great people’ from the very young to our elderly they all deserve better so the best of luck to Ian.
CHeers Neil. - SNP departures from administration – was money a factor?
Hold your breath folks till the councillors expenses are published then we will see that a certain lady has obviously been touring the world to spread the word about how good a job she is doing for Argyll and Bute and the SNP.
Abba had it spot on Money,Money ,Money.
Cheers Neil.
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I don’t understand why CMAL don’t just stop paying harbour dues at Craignure – the council is obviously in default until they bring the passenger facilities up to standard.
Councillor Duncan McIntyre might have more questions to answer than Newsroom lists – in Lochgilphead the steel footbridge that provides the pedestrian link from the Highbank Park residential area to the town centre is in an advanced state of neglect – and steel structures don’t always decay gracefully, they occasionally collapse.
I know from talking to my time-expired local councillor that he doesn’t approve of walking rather than driving, so perhaps our council prefers to close this route rather than maintain it.
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Argyll and the Isles hits warp speed, not if you are trying to get off the ferry at craignure.Take the money from the Oban Chord project and fix the gangway.Why will it take another 15 to 18 months to get a replacement?At least fix it and argue in court later.The transport debate which our economy depends on seems to stutter along from one mess to the next.Will the rest be operational and safe when the lochside road improvements start?will the business community have a quarantee that we will not be left high and dry if the whole thing goes pear shaped.As one local haulier told me if I have to put my lorries on the Inverary route it costs me another £500 in diesel a week so its important the closure of the lochside is managed properly.
We have a railway which is still dumping its human waste from the toilet system onto the track.Why are there no moves to upgrade the line to not only cut the travel times for passengers but also to take more of the freight of our roads.Even locally in Oban and surrounding areas the addition of local commutor trains for workers through the day would help the traffic congestion in the town.We have had nothing positive come out of any proposals through Chord so we must start to deliver or captain Kirk will need to beam us all up to travel anywhere.
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One can only hope (but work for) the replacement of this incompetent lot in May, when, hopefully, the new SNP administation will provide a Transport head with a degree of competence greater than the present one – not too great a task!
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There still seems to be confusion about the dues paid to the council. There are two lots paid. CalMac pay berthing dues but it is us the travelling public that pay a percentage on each ticket we buy. CalMac collect this and pay this at a later date to Council, thus arriving at the large annual total.
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So, as someone unfamiliar with the set-up – what are the council actually doing at Craignure for the money that they collect there?
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To Robert – they don’t appear to be doing very much. There is a covered walkway the length of the pier, but when you compare that to the lush facilities in Oban, where you are catered for in what is more like a modern airport terminal. Craignure is more appropriate for herding cattle. This scenario compares well with the totally dire facilities at Dunoon, with not much better at Gourock. Time for an investigation as to where all the pier dues are actually being spent, as it is obviously not where the passenger numbers need it.
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