The Kintyre Forum

have a look at this link

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 594696.stm

Perhaps, through the red mist, I have totally missed the point.

Can ANYONE please explain to me, how a Science Park in Dunbeg is of any benefit to the Campbeltown economy.
Are we talking about a 4 hour daily commute here on a road that isn't the best in the world?

How dare anyone shamelessly get the violins out for poor old Campbeltown to promote Oban as the wannabee capital of the West Highlands & Islands.

I am righteously angered !

Anyone else have a take on this ?

I suppose it is all to easy to take things out of context and it is nice to know the Councillors in Oban acknowledge the situation in Campbeltown but it really should not have formed part of the Council's official press release...



NEW SCIENCE PARK TO CREATE 270 JOBS IN OBAN
More than 270 highly skilled jobs are to be created in Dunbeg after planning permission was granted for a £10 million Science Park.

At a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council's Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Committee, members agreed to approve an application by Highlands and islands Enterprise to create the park at Dunstaffnage Mains Farm, Dunbeg.

Area Chair, Councillor Duncan MacIntyre, said: "This has come at a great time when Argyll and Bute's fragile economy really need some positive news. The proposed closure of the Vestas wind turbine factory in Campbeltown has shocked the whole area but finally we have some positive news thanks to planning permission being granted.

"This development together with the new championship golf course, the licensed airport, second link-span and terminal, together with the proposed waterfront and intermodel travel centre emphasises the need for the new development road which will help Oban's plans to become the capital of the west Highlands and Islands."

Is that the Official Press release?

It certainly reads a lot differently as seen from the BBC story !

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 594696.stm

A proposed science park in Dunbeg. And that is upposed to help Kintyre?

It's just making a fool of us all...........

It’s a bit like rubbing salt into the wound to indirectly imply that this news will in some way make up for the loss of the Vestas operation at Campbeltown. There is absolutely no connection.

There is quite a bit of local opposition to the siting of the proposed new science park at Dunbeg, for various reasons. Some being:

1. The proposed site is on agricultural land which is currently used twice a year for major events viz The Lorn Show and Dunstaffnage Music Festival.

2. It will create an additional eyesore in a scenic area by being situated beside the Argyll College building and the Scottish Association for Marine Science building, which is already a totally incongruous structure.

3. Better paid jobs that will be created will not provide employment for locals. Senior staff will be imported to the area.

Referring to the last of these three, in my humble opinion, Oban has already reached or exceeded its carrying capacity so far as population is concerned. There are already massive daily problems because the roads infrastructure is unsuitable for the level of traffic, and to try to expand the town any more is unrealistic.

For Duncan MacIntyre to say that “the area’s “fragile” economy really needed the news” is a bit puzzling, as there is no way that the Oban and Lorn economy could be described as “fragile” when compared with other parts of Argyll, and particularly in this context, with Campbeltown and Kintyre.

This is no news at all to Kintyre, which has had yet another devastating blow. It’s not time yet for Argyll and Bute Council to pat themselves on the back.

Rather than trying to make Oban the “Capital of the West Highlands and Islands” (whatever that means) Argyll and Bute Council should be sorting out the rest of its empire.

Ship called Dignity wrote:This development together with the new championship golf course, the licensed airport, second link-span and terminal, together with the proposed waterfront and intermodel travel centre emphasises the need for the new development road which will help Oban's plans to become the capital of the west Highlands and Islands."

The way this reads it looks like Oban has the waterfront development.

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Sooze

My take is that they are talking about Argyll and Butes fragile economy as a whole. These councillors have an area of which they are responsible but overall they are argyll and bute councillors as they sit on panels. committees etc that decide the future etc for argyll and bute. As far as argyll & bute council are concerned they are tasked to reduce unemployment in A&B not just one specific area. Can't see why anyone could be offended by this. If vestas happened in the gorbals and dunbeg was in easterhouse would it be unrealistic for glasgow city council to say the cities had an economic boost after some bad news. And yes before anyone says it the gorbals is only 15 mins from easterhouse but in terms of one council, large population etc glasgow city council covers an area in the same way argyll and bute does and has the same responsibilities as in keeping unemployment down.

I think we can appreciate the holistic nature of what Argyll and Bute councillors might say. The fact that there are specific areas within the council's remit which are unemployment blackspots should mean that these areas should logically be targeted, not areas where there is not such a problem. I know that there are specific and logical reasons for siting the new science park at Dunstaffnage, so this is not a particularly good example of one area being assisted at the expense of others.

Oban and Lorn is not an unemployment blackspot, and the siting of a new science park there will not bring any benefit to the areas that are unemployment blackspots. The size and diversity of the Argyll and Bute Council area is such that averages mean very little. The Glasgow analogy doesn't really work, as there are completely different issues involved in an urban setting as opposed to a place like Argyll and Bute.

I think that what is annoying some folk is that this has come on the back of the Vestas problem, and is being linked to it in the council's publicity as somehow helping to ameliorate the situation.

sooze wrote

The way this reads it looks like Oban has the waterfront development

No sooze, this refers to a local business cartel who intend to fill Oban Bay with pontoons for the yachting/boating fraternity, no doubt with massive AIE subsidies. From what I gather, it will provide a substantial amount of serviced berths between the North and Railway piers and also on shore welfare facilities. At least up there they won't have to sail through the "motions".

As emdee suggests, once the science park is up and running, Oban traffic will be a total snarl up morning and night, more so during the summer, unless there are plans to build housing for the workers either on site or between Oban and Connel and believe it or not, there are. I now know why the second ugliest building in Argyll (SMBA Dunstaffnage) was allowed planning permission, anything that comes after that must be an improvement