Local Government – Page 2

March 27, 2021February 28, 2026

FLS reveals plan to create two Ardentinny campsites (updated 31 March)

In a letter to Ardentinny Community Council, Stuart Chalmers of Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) outlined plans to seek planning permission to ’temporarily formalise’ the use of the area as a campsite.

The proposal would be to create a campsite at the beach (Glenfinart Bay) and a second in the ’nursery field’ (a field west of the beach, currently in use as sheep grazing). Each site would accommodate 20 tents with four portable toilets installed. Additional temporary parking would also need to be created. Nursery field access would be from the west, on the estate road, just off the main Glenfinart road.

We have asked for a statement from FLS covering the following questions and have copied to Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, our MSP and MP. We will update this article in due course:

– Does FLS propose a full pre-application community consultation?

– FLS has stated that they are seeking planning permission to ’temporarily formalise’ the use of the area as a campsite. How long would this ’temporary’ status be valid for?

– Glenfinart Walled Garden is a charitable Trust and is located within the beach area. It derives much of its income from events staged at the garden. Home-investors may make House buyers for your house, among other benefits. This may be helpful if you need to sell your house quickly or want to avoid the usual process. Buy my house knows the mobile House market and can provide competitive price for your property. They know mobile House values and can provide sellers reasonable pricing. Visit https://www.home-investors.net/alabama/investors-that-buy-houses-auburn-al/.If both the beach and nursery field is allocated to paid camping and parking, what measures will be put in place to accommodate free parking for garden visitors at these events?

– Is FLS going to manage the camp sites themselves or will it be placed with a third-party contractor?

– There only appears to be the mention of tents in the campsites. Will camper vans be accommodated?

– By restricting free parking at the beach, the problem of parking will possibly be moved to the village hall car park and adjoining single track roads as well as possible overnight camping on the beach towards Ardentinny Hotel and the Church car park. Has FLS discussed the plan with Ardentinny Village Hall, Ardentinny Community Trust, Ardentinny Bowling Club, Argyll & Bute Council, The National Park and Police Scotland?

– Are there any plans to accommodate stalls/shops or other infrastructure to support the sites

FLS are holding an online (via Microsoft Teams) meeting with the community on Thursday 1 April from 7pm – 8pm. You can join the meeting online here or by phone on 0131 376 2847. Phone conference ID is 177 558 486#

Comments are welcome either below or via our Facebook forum or Facebook page.

[Update 31 March, 2021 – reply from Forestry & Land Scotland to our questions:

– Does FLS propose a full pre-application community consultation?

FLS will submit planning application soon and have already met with representatives of the community council and have offered a public meeting on Microsoft Teams at 7pm on the 1st April.

Join on your computer or mobile app

Click here to join the meeting

Or call in (audio only)

+44 131 376 2847,,177558486#

– FLS has stated that they are seeking planning permission to ’temporarily formalise’ the use of the area as a campsite. How long would this ’temporary’ status be valid for?

The area has historically been used for informal camping which is difficult to manage. The temporary change of use to a Campsite will allow us to charge for camping which will enable us to increase staff presence on the site. It also gives us better control over where people camp, the numbers that camp and improves our ability to keep the site well managed. The length of time we put the temporary change of use in place is something we are keen to discuss with the community on the 1^st April. Our feeling is two years would be ideal as we expect that 2021 and 2022 will both have a high demand for staycations.

There will continue to be parking available for day visitors and the community.

– Glenfinart Walled Garden is a charitable Trust and is located within the beach area. It derives much of its income from events staged at the garden. If both the beach and nursery field is allocated to paid camping and parking, what measures will be put in place to accommodate free parking for garden visitors at these events?

Glenfinart Walled Garden, or any other group or event organiser, are welcome to get in touch with Forestry and Land Scotland to agree a permission if they need access to any FLS land including the car park. For more information see https://forestryandland.gov.scot/business-and-services/permissions-and-permits

– Is FLS going to manage the camp sites themselves or will it be placed with a third-party contractor?

Forestry and Land Scotland will manage the camping ourselves. We will recruit two seasonal staff to support the camping. The staff will have duties in the wider Argyll Forest Park area but the focus of the work will be in Ardentinny. We feel this is the best way for us to manage the expected pressure on the Ardentinny caused by visitors in 2021. Although this will have a net cost to FLS to deliver we expect that proactively managing visitors will be more cost effective than reactively dealing with the issues. The camping staff on site will proactively manage issues will make it a better experience for the community, than we can do with existing resources.

– There only appears to be the mention of tents in the campsites. Will camper vans be accommodated?

There is expected to be a restricted number of locations allocated for campervans at Ardentinny. Nationally, there has been a temporary change to both licencing and planning requirements for three years for campervans, which means that Forestry and Land Scotland and other bodies will not require licencing or planning approval to provide campervan sites. This was trailed last year by Forestry and Land Scotland as Stay the Night. One of the conditions is that the campervan sites will require daily supervision. More information will be published soon at https://forestryandland.gov.scot/staythenight

– By restricting free parking at the beach, the problem of parking will possibly be moved to the village hall car park and adjoining single track roads as well as possible overnight camping on the beach towards Ardentinny Hotel and the Church car park. Has FLS discussed the plan with Ardentinny Village Hall, Ardentinny Community Trust, Ardentinny Bowling Club, Argyll & Bute Council, The National Park and Police Scotland?

Camping and Charging for Parking are two separate items. The Camping does require a temporary change of use to allow us to convert part of the car park into camping and the bodies mentioned above will all get an opportunity to express their views as part of the planning application. We have a right a landowner to charge for parking and that does not require us consult with others. However, we have been in dialogue with the Bowling Club as they are a tenant of FLS to make sure we can protect their parking. If there are impacts from charge car parking on other landowners or local groups we will continue to be open to discuss solutions. We have not yet decided when we will start charge for parking at Ardentinny. Argyll and Bute Council, National Park and Police Scotland are broadly aware of our plans through National Park Safe Recovery Action Group.

– Are there any plans to accommodate stalls/shops or other infrastructure to support the sites?

There are no shops or stalls planned. As an organisation we are open to approached from commercial mobile units through our permission system mentioned above. We are currently investigating additional bins and temporary toilets.

Instructions for joining FLS Microsoft Teams Meeting for Windows 10 (Edge browser) and Mac (Chrome browser) + mobile devices.

Windows 10 (Edge browser):

1. Click the following link or type it in in your browser https://bit.ly/3d8qY49

2. This should take you to a page which says ‘How do you want to join your Teams meeting?’. You may also see a Microsoft Teams log-in pop-up box appear. There is no need to log-in if you do not wish to and you don’t need a ’Teams’ account.

3. Unless you want to download the ’Teams’ app for your computer, we’d suggest you just click on the ‘Continue on this browser’ option.

4. This should take you to a page which asks if you wish to ‘allow’ or ‘block’ your camera. When you select ‘allow’ your video should appear in the browser.

5. Enter you name and click on ‘Join now’.

Mac (Chrome browser):

1. Click the following link or type it in in your browser https://bit.ly/3d8qY49

3. Unless you want to download the ’Teams’ app for your computer, we’d suggest you just click on the ‘Continue on this browser’ option.

4. This should take you to a page which asks if you wish to continue with or without audio or video.

– To ‘Allow audio & video’, click on the tiny camera icon in your address bar (this is dependent on your browser, you may instead see a pop-up message) and select your preference.

– To ‘Continue without audio or video’, just click on the ‘Continue without audio or video’ button

5. You will then be asked to enter your name and click on the ‘Join now’ button.

Phone:

You can also make contact by phone calling the Microsoft Teams number – 0131 376 2847 conference id: 177 558 486#

iOS device (iPhone, iPad):

Download the Microsoft Teams app from the App Store https://apps.apple.com/us/app/microsoft-teams/id1113153706 and go to https://bit.ly/3d8qY49

Android device:

Download the Microsoft Teams app from Google Play https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.teams&hl=en and go to https://bit.ly/3d8qY49

March 12, 2021February 28, 2026

Beach parking and signage

In October 2020 Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) undertook a community consultation on its proposals for the beach area. Since then the only hint of an outcome has been the recent renewed signage which indicates that there will be a charge for beach parking. In response, Ardentinny Community Council (CC) secretary, Marian Norris, wrote to Forestry and Land Scotland requesting further information.

As reported in the CC Chair’s weekly update, FLS responded saying that charging will not take place until ‘early summer” and that they have still to finalise a cost. “The checking of honesty rates on the car park” will be managed by FLS staff and possibly an agency contractor. There may be some disabled bays and Blue Badge holders will be eligible for free parking. A season pass will be available “which will be cost effective for local people”. Proposals for the final site design are still being developed and will be discussed with the community council in due course.

In replacing the signage, the new board at the end of the entrance road did not include the previously existing directional sign to the village hall. On behalf of the Village Hall committee, Merle Ferguson wrote to FLS explaining that the previous signage had been agreed and paid for by the Hall committee in 2010 and therefore requesting its inclusion in the new board. FLS have responded saying that, while their policy has changed, they will make an exception on this occasion and replace the Village Hall sign at no cost to the Hall.

February 20, 2021February 28, 2026

End of the line for Ardentinny’s phone box

Last Tuesday saw another of Ardentinny’s familiar landmark functions disappear from the village. After the closure of Ardentinny School in 1997 and the church in 2018, this week another little piece of history was lost as the village’s only telephone box was unceremoniously loaded on a truck, destined for the scrapheap.

The box, while not the original, had served the village probably close on a century and was no doubt once a lifeline prior to the days of home and mobile phones. However, it was now deemed by BT to be no longer necessary.

We contacted Argyll & Bute Council regarding the removal of the box and they informed us that in November 2019 BT advised the village (by way of a poster in the box) that a consultation was underway and invited comments or feedback to be directed to the local authority. Indeed the BT campaign to ‘Adopt a Phone Box“, where communities could take ownership of their phone box for just £1 has already seen 5,000 communities take up the opportunity. That wasn’t the case in Ardentinny but perhaps understandable as it had long since lost the original red box.

The phone box did however gain a new, if short-lived, lease of life at the start of the first Covid lockdown in the spring of 2020, with residents turning it into Ardentinny’s very own ‘box of kindness‘ and donating a wide range of essential goods from baked beans to cleaning products and even live plants!

We understand that Ardentinny’s original phone box was located opposite Ardentinny Hotel but was relocated to the Church car park many years ago with the latter being of the modern design rather than the old traditional red box. If anyone has photos of the original phone box or can share with us more on Ardentinny’s phone box history, please email us or post to our facebook page.

December 12, 2020February 28, 2026

Ardentinny Community Council Update

Forestry Land Scotland Report

Felling of infected Larch trees in Glen Finart will start shortly and should not impact the community as it is in the Glen. Please see map of haulage route.

SPHN’s (Statutory Plant Health Notice) has been served for Ravens Rock, Barnacaber and Sligrachan. Dates for work to start is still to be confirmed.

Please continue to refer to the Phytophthora ramorum website for up to date information on confirmed SPHN (Statutory Plant Health Notice) sites and timeframes for removal of infected larch. https://forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/forest-parks/argyll-forest-park/phytophthora-ramorum

If you have any queries regarding this please email larchdisease@forestryandland.gov.scot

National Park Report

The Park has now substantially closed down its outdoor operational activities for the year, having kept camp sites, slipways etc open for an additional month to the end of October. Toilets and car parks remain open. The camp sites owned and managed by the Park were, as expected very busy this year – with some 18,000 bookings, as opposed to 13,000 the previous year, which has been a record.

Senior staff of the Park continue to participate in 2 important groups, established to help plan for next year and address as best we can the current situation. We chair the NP Recovery Group which brings together all partners (FLS, Councils, Police etc) to monitor current issues, prepare for 2021, lobby for additional resources etc. In addition, the Chief Executive sits on a Government convened group – the National Review Group, looking at longer term requirements for the sector across the country, this involves input from the likes of Visit Scotland, NatureScot, Cairngorm NP etc. A current significant frustration in terms of planning for next year is that the Park will not receive a budget settlement until the end of January 2021 – this impacts on our ability to plan ahead with any great confidence. Other parties, such as FLS are similarly impacted.

Of particular concern, I’m sure will be the future plans of FLS as regards the management of the Ardentinny beach camp site. I have not received any recent update from them as to how they intend to begin to implement improved management of the site and would welcome the opportunity to speak with them with some involvement from the community. On that front, the Park is organising further Community Focussed meetings, https://sikishub.com bringing together partners and community groups from across the park area (of a kind we’ve staged before). That would be a good opportunity to raise this matter. I’m hopeful that the next such conference will be arranged before the Christmas period.

Following the sad passing of Councillor Ellen Morton I have now been formally elected to the Chair of Planning and Access Committee for the Park (I’d been deputising for the past 10 months during Ellen’s illness). Argyll and Bute’s replacement nominee is Councillor Shonny Patterson.

There have been no significant planning related issues to report. No progress (or otherwise) with the Fish Farm interest. There has however been a further EIA screening application made for a fish farm close to Ardgarten on Loch Long (different company tho).

Bob Darracott

Argyll and Bute Council Report

A lot of the Council’s effort this year has gone into dealing with the effects of Covid-19, for example processing applications from businesses for grants and delivering meals to people who are shielding.

The schools are all open, but office staff are still working from home.

The major road works planned for this year have been carried over to next year, although some preparatory work may be carried out in the current financial year.

The Shore Road through Strone and Blairmore will get surface dressing (loose chips). The bus turning area at Gairletter will be resurfaced.

In response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the preferred route for access to Argyll, the Council’s response was that the existing route of the A83 through Glen Croe to the Rest & Be Thankful is the only realistic option and a permanent solution should be put in place there.

The Council added that Option 5 may provide merit for longer term consideration to further improve connectivity and resilience into and out of Argyll. Option 5 involves new bridges across Loch Fyne and Loch Long. These would be connected by a new road across Cowal from Otter Ferry and going through Glen Finart. The bridge across Loch Long would be further up the loch from Coulport. If this option were to happen, it will be many years in the future and after extensive consultation.

Bus services are now operating at about 80% of pre-Covid levels. West Coast Motors say they rely on fare income as well as grants from the Council to cover their costs. Although the Scottish Government have provided an increased amount of grant, https://หนังโป๊.cc this is not enough to cover the cost of providing the pre-Covid level of service. The last bus to Ardentinny leaves Dunoon ferry terminal at 1950.

Updated bus timetables are to be added at bus stops and sent to community councils to put on notice boards.

The Council is holding a consultation to find out people’s views on bus services. This consultation closes on Tuesday 24 November. See www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/consultations/public-and-school-transport-review

Public and School Transport Review
Argyll and Bute Council

The Council will be adopting a decarbonisation plan at its meeting on 26 November. The aim is to deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

Councillor Alan Reid

October 3, 2020February 28, 2026

Ardentinny beach picnic area proposals

Below is a copy of the Ardentinny beach/picnic area proposals put forward by Forestry and Land Scotland at their meeting on 11 September with two representatives of Ardentinny Community Council.

The information is also being delivered to all households. Residents are asked to respond to the proposals by email (ardentinnycc@gmail.com) or by letter to the community council chair at Angle Cottage.