TEN YEARS AGO
Friday December 20 2013
Ardrishaig buildings to get a face lift
Ardrishaig Public Hall has been identified as one of the buildings people would like to see improved as part of a project to regenerate the village.
The news comes as Ardrishaig Community Trust launches a consultation to find out people’s views on proposals to give the village a facelift. To finance the project the trust will keep a portion of the revenue generated from its share in Allt Dearg Community Wind farm to one side.
The cash will be used to develop the overall appearance of the village, unlike the money that has been distributed by Ardrishaig ACTion Fund, which has supported community groups.
Duncan Broadfoot, a director of the trust, said: ‘People have commented on the success of the Ardrishaig Christmas lights and the new play equipment in Bayview Park. The public hall was one of the facilities people would like to see have work done to it. There were also suggestions that all the halls in Ardrishaig should be looked at.’
No timescale has been set for any works to be done and a meeting has been scheduled for January to allow more locals to highlight the types of improvements they would like implemented.
Duncan added: ‘We have been working closely with Ardrishaig Community Council to make sure the entire community is represented in this project.’
Members of the Round Table sell Christmas trees at Lochgilphead Co-op every year to raise money for charity. This year the trees were all gone by lunchtime. Left to right: Russell Anderson, Colin McLean, Brent Meakin and Malcolm MacFadyen at Lochgilphead Co-Op They raised £900 and Brent Meakin of the Round Table said it was their busiest year yet.
TWENTY YEARS AGO
Friday December 26 2003
Go ahead for Ford hostel
A backpacker’s hostel to include a restaurant, shop and inn at Ford have come a step closer.
After a site inspection at Torran Bay members of the Argyll and Bute Council Area Committee for Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islay granted Mr Brolly outline planning permission for the development.
Mr Brolly said the hostel would benefit people in the community and tourists as there were no facilities in the village it present. He said it also provided a commercial opportunity for himself.
He explained that having the services would allow ground rules to be laid down for fishermen and campers.
He said that objectors had complained about the distance involved for senior citizens but advised that a daily delivery would be run for phoned-in orders.
The council’s senior planner, Richard Kerr, said that some villagers were worried about the effect the development would have on the future of the Ford Community Plan, a plan for a new village hall with a post office and shop in the centre of the village.
Mr Kerr said it was not the role of the planning authority to judge between two proposals, and that both could be granted and could coexist. Councillors had asked for a hydrologist’s report before approving the plans, as they were worried the site may have been prone to flooding.
Mr Brolly summed up by saying that the report had taken the flooding issue into account. The proposal for the floor of the building was that it would be about 10 feet above the highest water level, which was above the height of the road at 137 feet, so flooding would be unlikely.
FORTY YEARS AGO
Friday December 23 1983
Pollphail scheme
Argyll and Bute District Council has formed a plan to demolish Pollphail village and return it to its original state of rough grassland in 1985.
Pollphail was built to house employees of the oil platform construction yard at Portavadie but the yard failed to win any orders and the village remained deserted.
Now the footpaths are becoming overgrown and the buildings are deteriorating.
It had been hoped that the owners of the village, a Dutch firm, Messrs Brajac N.V. might apply for planning permission to retain Pollphail as a holiday village for tourists but, despite attempts to contact them, they have never given any indication of their plans for the village.
Under the conditions of the original planning consent for the development, the duty falls on the local authority to prepare a scheme for the restoration of the site.
A scheme, which allows for dismantling and removing the buildings, the building bases, the walls, roads and paths, sealing up the underground chambers and ducts and laying some soil to encourage vegetation re-growth, was approved at a meeting of the Planning and Building Control Committee last week.
If it is approved by the full council it becomes enforcable in 1985 and, should the owners fail to carry it out, the council could carry out the scheme itself. The council would then seek to recover the costs.
SIXTY YEARS AGO
Tuesday December 24 1963
Completion of Loch Awe project in sight
The £24m Loch Awe hydro-electric project begun in 1959 is now approaching is final phase with intensification of operations on the Cruachan pump storage section.
High up on Ben Cruachan an artificial loch is being formed to act as the source of power for the giant underground power station now well advanced in the heart of the ben.
Main feature of the operations, 1,200 feet above sea level, is the construction of the 1,006-ft dam, work on which was photographed by an Argyllshire Advertiser photographer.
A quarter of a million tons of concrete are going into the building of the dam which will have a maximum height of 150 feet.
Behind the dam will be held water pumped up daily from Loch Awe and released (when power is required) down twin 16 ft. 6 in. pen-stocks (tunnels) to the power station 1,200 feet below. The water goes back into the loch to be pumped back up to the reservoir to be held there pending the next cycle.
The dam is being constructed by Messrs Wm Tawse Ltd., Aberdeen and Mr W. A. Watson is superintending civil engineer for the hydro board’s consulting engineers for the project (James Williamson and Partners, Glasgow).
