PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
:
Minutes:
Question from Mr
Duncan Martin, Oban Community Council
Mr Martin asked if there is a budget for the inspection and maintenance of the pontoons in Oban.
Response from the
Committee
The Chair confirmed that there was a budget and that this information was contained within the report at item 5 on the agenda.
Question from
Councillor Roderick McCuish
Councillor McCuish asked if there was an update on the review of the Traffic Road Orders (TROs) process.
Response from
Committee Manager
The Committee Manger confirmed that the review of the Council’s current operational TRO process would be considered at the Audit and Scrutiny Committee on 17 March 2020.
Questions from Mr
Andrew Spence, representing the business community and Mr Martin, Oban Community
Council
Mr Spence asked for confirmation on what was happening regarding the parking issues in Oban town centre stating that Lochavulin car park was regularly empty and its use needs to be encouraged so people do not just use major retailers’ car parks. He stated that some payment machines use cards but not others which was confusing.
He said there is a need to address the issues of long term parking in the town, as it is not easy for public and tourists to park their car for more than 24 hours especially with the increased likelihood of people staying local for holidays this year. He stated that there is a need to engage with businesses, communities and tourists to seek a solution.
Mr Martin asked about the options for a public meeting to address the issues mentioned with the view of creating a pilot that kept the finance the same in order to speed up the process by avoiding the need to go through strategic committees for approval.
Response for Officers
and Committee
The Chair confirmed that card payments were to be introduced soon following on from the clear results of the community council’s survey and a review of all parking in Argyll and Bute is to be conducted.
Councillor Lynch stated that there needs to be a meeting with businesses to get a plan together despite the delay in the TRO process so that there is information ready to be put forward when the TRO process is reinstated.
Councillor Kieron Green stated that the Lochavulin car park is a maximum of 24 hour stay which was routinely ignored prior to the introduction of charges. He stated that there needs to be a balance between long stay parking for workers and islanders and short stay as reduced costs in the town centre may fill up with long stay parking and may impact on short stay users.
Councillor Lynch and Councillor McCuish stated that there is a need for a structured public meeting.
The Committee Manger confirmed that he would pass the concerns raised to colleagues within Roads and Amenity Services.
Request from Oban
High School Eco Committee
The Committee Manager read out a statement from the Oban High School Eco Committee as recorded below;
The Oban High School
Eco Committee would like to invite you to a meeting at our school to discuss
some of our concerns about Climate Change and to find out more about what
Argyll is doing to tackle the crisis at hand.
As young people, we recognise the drastic influence that the climate
crisis poses on our futures and feel passionate to ensure that Argyll and Bute
Council is doing everything in its power to help suspend the challenge we face.
We have some
suggestions on actions that could be taken in the town and across Argyll. The aim of our meeting is to find answers to
our questions about the lack of recycling bins on the streets, compost bins in
Argyll, places where glass can be recycled, green spaces in the town, as well
as other issues that we, as young people feel are particularly relevant
considering the crisis we face.
Human actions have
caused drastic changes to our planet’s climate.
We are on track to overshoot the limit of 1.5 °c of warming agreed by
world leaders in 2016. This will result
in permanent, catastrophic changes to the Earth’s geological, biological and
ecological systems. In the midst of this
Climate Emergency, it is shocking that governments have not yet put sufficient
preventative measures in place.
We hope that the
councillors of Argyll and Bute feel similarly passionate about the Climate
crisis determining our future and will consider attending our meeting.
Response from
Committee
The Area Committee agreed that they would engage with the Oban High School Eco Committee and requested that the Chair arrange a convenient date and time.
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