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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