Park wins expansion battle
Local councillors last week approved two separate planning applications by Cowal Leisure Ltd for Hunter’s Quay Holiday Village.
At a meeting of Cowal and Bute Area Committee on April 11, councillors decided to defer the verdict on these applications until objectors had more of an opportunity to present their cases. Last week’s hearing, held at Hunter’s Quay Holiday Park on June 14, provided the last opportunity for these points to be made.
The larger of the two planning applications proposed the installation of 66 static caravans with ancillary works to create a further three ‘holiday villages’ within the park. The second application included the retention of 31 static caravans, plus the erection of eight additional chalets close to existing lodges within the site.
Objectors to the original proposals argued that the planning process in this particular case had appeared to have been rushed through. Alongside this procedural concern, protestors raised practical issues over the likely damage to ancient woodlands on the former Hafton Estate, and the certain loss of open spaces within the park.
Since the April meeting, Cowal Leisure Ltd has submitted revised drawings to Argyll and Bute Council in respect of the proposal for eight chalets - providing additional information on access, hardstanding areas and repositioning some of the chalets.
On May 14, Hunter’s Quay Community Council submitted a formal response to the applications, and a separate letter of objection from local residents was lodged with Argyll and Bute Council.
Hunter’s Quay Community Council has also visited the site of the proposed development in the interim, and reportedly were satisfied with the plans. The view taken by the community council was that the proposals should be accepted, subject to the unqualified approval of Scottish Natural Heritage and the Woodland Trust.
The council has now recommended that seven of the eight proposed chalet units be accepted, with only the northernmost chalet being considered inappropriate, due to its close proximity to a mature tree and being close to the apex of a triangular site.
Conditions placed on the approval include measures to protect existing trees on the site, with the requirement that a fence at least one metre in height be erected at a point in line with the crown of the trees. These must be in place for the duration of the development, and before work commences, the council must see that this has been done and issue written approval.
In addition, a woodland management plan for the entire park area must be submitted to the council within three months, or such other timetable which may be agreed.
This, however, has not satisfied those who objected locally.
One resident of the park commented “Cowal Leisure is far from finished yet. Our basic objection to this was that they will not be happy until they have covered every blade of grass, and there is not one square inch of open space left for visitors to enjoy.”
“Importantly, when we attended the planning hearing, the representative of Cowal Leisure present would not give a categoric guarantee that this was the end of development within the park.”
The Woodland Trust Scotland, one of the consultees on the proposals, issued the following statement:
“The Woodland Trust Scotland, part of the UK’s leading woodland conservation charity, was pleased that this latest planning application does not affect the ancient woodland which was previously under threat.
“Last year the Trust praised the council’s decision to refuse planning consent making the conservation and enhancement of Scotland’s natural heritage a key priority. Ancient woodland takes centuries to evolve and is of high conservation value. Such habitats contain more threatened species than any other natural environment and are reservoirs of evidence for environmental change.
“Andrew Fairbairn, Development Manager said: ‘The woods at Hunter’s Quay are important to our natural heritage, home to protected species such as red squirrels and bats, a place for recreation and reflection.
Valuable woodland environments need to be conserved not destroyed. The developers have recognised the importance of Scotland’s natural heritage and amended their planning application accordingly to protect this precious resource, we applaud their decision’.
“Ancient woodland now only covers 1 percent of Scotland’s land area. Argyll and Bute contains around 10 percent of Scotland’s remnants of ancient woodland.
“As part of its commitment to ensuring no further loss of ancient woodland, The Trust will continue to monitor developments on the site, and to assist this process the Trust has aerial photographs, recording the areas of valuable woodland and trees retained on this site.”
For its part, Scottish Natural Heritage had no comment to make on the revised proposal. Given that existing trees were to be protected, and that additional tree planting would be part of the woodland management plan, it felt that there would be a minimal impact on squirrels and bats within the holiday park.
Commenting on the approval of these planning applications, Allan Campbell of Cowal Leisure said: “After working closely with the planning department of Argyll and Bute Council, as well as ecologists and landscape architects, the directors of Hunters Quay Holiday Village are delighted that the two applications were successful.
“The immediate plans for Cowal Leisure is to proceed with the new sites on the holiday village. Given time, these sites will be enjoyed by families who will not only come and enjoy what Dunoon and Cowal has to offer, but also support local businesses.”


FREE ALAN JOHNSTON!
ONE hundred interminable days have passed since the BBC journalist Alan Johnston was snatched from the streets of Gaza City.
The kidnapping has aroused world-wide outrage. While foreign journalists have been abducted in the past in the West Bank and Gaza, all have been swiftly released.
Alan lived in the Gaza Strip, and was widely seen as a fair and impartial reporter, so much so that some of the first to protest at his kidnapping were Palestinian journalists.
The minor civil war which erupted recently in the Gaza Strip saw the president’s Fatah supporters ejected and control pass to the more radical Hamas.
However, Hamas, which claims to know the identity of Mr Johnson’s kidnappers, has been negotiating for some time to secure Alan’s release, and has warned of dire consequences should any harm come to him.
At 2.15pm on Wednesday, 100 balloons were released in the village of Lochgoilhead, where Alan’s parents live, to mark the anniversary of his kidnapping.
The chairman of Lochgoilhead Community Council, Leslie Cuthbertson, said: “A large number of people were present today as 100 balloons were released, one for each day of Alan Johnston’s captivity.
“We are a small and close-knit community, and we are united behind `Alan’s parents, Graham and Margaret, in the very difficult situation they are in.”
Mr Cuthbertson added that locals gather every Friday in Lochgoilhead Parish Church for a time of prayer/reflection on Alan’s release and to show support for the family.
The Argyll village’s poignant little ceremony was only one of many commemorations across the world to mark support for and solidarity with the journalist. 165,000 people have signed a signature demanding his release, and his colleagues at the BBC and elsewhere have worked ceaselessly to keep his plight in the public eye.


Council pilloried at Holyrood
IN the course of a debate on the contentious topic of free personal care for the elderly, in the Scottish Parliament recently, MSPs pulled no punches in attacking Argyll and Bute’s track record on the issue. Dumbarton Labour MSP Jackie Baillie welcomed a planned inquiry into the matter, but said that solutions in Argyll and Bute should not have to await its outcome.Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie McGrigor also joined in the debate, citing the case of a Strone pensioner, the costs of whose care had risen a staggering 140 percent.
Ms Baillie said that her mailbag was “full of stories about waiting lists for free personal care, lack of services, services that have been withdrawn, carers who are unable to cope and older people who have ended up in hospital because they were not given the right care at the right time.”
She went on to say: “It would be understandable for us to conclude that there are insufficient funds to go round and that the stories in my mailbag reflect a national problem.
“However, that is not at all the case. .....I could count on the fingers of one hand the complaints that are made about West Dunbartonshire Council, compared with the sackloads of complaints that emanate from the Argyll and Bute Council area.”
The Executive provided £12m as grant-aided expenditure, she said. Argyll and Bute, however, spent only half of it—£6m.
“Where is the missing money?” she asked.
She added: “Concern about the matter was such that the Social Work Inspection Agency was sent in to make a full inspection of services for older people in Argyll and Bute.”
She highlighted the cost of legal action arising from the issue.
“A case on free personal care in Argyll and Bute is awaiting a decision from the court. The case was considered initially by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, whose decision went against the council. The council then appealed to the Court of Session.
“The internal costs and the costs of legal counsel and court time amount to at least £250,000,” she claimed.
“Would it not have been better and perhaps much more cost effective to make personal care available?”
Jamie McGrigor sup-ported Ms Baillie in her view of the situation in Argyll and Bute… “where elderly patients were languishing in hospital beds, often in pain, because they could not get referred to a nursing home or could not get the home care packages to which they were entitled.”
He said: “They could not have cared less whether that was the fault of the council or of the Executive; they just felt cheated, ignored, abused and betrayed. The doctors and hospital staff felt frustrated and let down, because they saw at first hand the awful result that the political blame game had had on the welfare of their patients.”
Mr McGrigor claimed that independent care home providers were not working on a level playing field in competing with council care homes.
“Why are councils not making more use of the independent sector?” he asked. “It makes no sense—it would be cheaper for them to do so.”
He closed by citing an example of how the system was being operated.
“I heard only yesterday from a constituent, a senior citizen from Strone, who has ten hours of care, including help to make breakfast and tea, for which he was previously charged £36 a week. This, he told me, has risen suddenly to £100.
Mr McGrigor claimed that in the past, his constituent’s £41 attendance allowance covered the payment, but it now fell far short. The rise, which amounted to 140 percent, was also backdated to 26 May.
He also had to pay £50 for shopping and cleaning if he wished to remain independent. Said Mr McGrigor: “He asked me why people in other parts of Scotland pay nothing for the same services.”
However, Argyll and Bute Council were having none of it.
A spokeswoman said: “The council regrets the negative tone and inaccurate content of the statement made by Jackie Baillie in the Scottish Parliament regarding free personal care in Argyll and Bute.
“The council has consistently made the point that all monies which come to the authority, from the Scottish Executive, as Grant Aided Expenditure for Social Work Services are spent on these purposes.
“The council has recog-nised a need to re-balance spend between other areas of Social Work Services, principally Children’s Services and Older People’s Services. This process has started but will take time to implement.
“The council is currently working with the Social Work Inspection Agency as part of a planned programme of inspection of the social work functions of all Scottish local authorities and this process will continue over the coming months.”


ACHA LET GRASS GROW…
Residents of Sanda Gardens in Ardenslate contacted the Observer this week to express their frustration and concern about the untidiness of the communal garden areas.
In previous years, the grass in the common areas was cut every two weeks. However until Tuesday, there had only been one garden maintenance visit by contractors, in May.
One local resident advised that at this point, the grass was so thick that the machinery used had to be stopped repeatedly due to choking, and that lengthy stubble was left behind. In addition, grass cuttings and debris were not cleared up, and were left lying on walkways and pavements, with residents having to remove this themselves. The grass was then allowed to regrow to just below two feet high, with weed growth on pavements also.
Despite their own best efforts at keeping their private garden areas attractive and tidy (in previous years residents have been active participants in the council-run Best Kept Garden competition), locals said that the overall appearance has been badly let down as a result of the overgrown areas. With many householders older or disabled, they felt unable to deal with the situation themselves.
Calls made to Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) over the last few weeks resulted in assurances that work would be carried out as soon as possible, but no firm start date was given.
ACHA Chief Executive Alastair MacGregor confirmed to the Observer that their planned maintenance schedule following transfer of responsibility in November had started six weeks late. The delay, he said, was due to the fact that Argyll and Bute Council had not honoured the price discussed prior to the point of transfer of responsibility for residential properties. After a period of unsuccessful negotiations and discussion, Mr MacGregor stated that ACHA had no option but to undergo an extensive procurement and measurement exercise, and put the garden maintenance contract out for tender.
Argyll and Bute Council stated that from November last year, there was no agreement in place for the council to continue maintaining any of ACHA’s ground.
Mr MacGregor advised that the contract for garden maintenance was awarded to Fountain Services in Oban, and they were the single contractor for the Dunoon and Cowal area, although they may also sub-contract work to more locally based companies. The proposed maintenance schedule is that communal areas will receive 13 cuts per year, with an additional grass cutting service for the elderly and disabled commencing in July.
A spokesman for Fountain Services was unwilling to comment.
With regards to Sanda Gardens, ACHA told the Observer that the communal areas would be attended to on Tuesday June 19, and residents confirmed that this had in fact taken place, but continued to express their dissatisfaction with the condition of the communal areas following completion of the work.