Helensburgh councillors' warning over town centre cash

The concerns were raised after councillors in Oban asked for time to reconsider potential spending projects in their town.

At a full council meeting on June 27, councillors in the Oban area asked whether their share of the cash could be used to upgrade the town's Mossfield Stadium, venue for the Oban Live music festival.

The organisers of Oban Live recently announced that the event will not be held in 2020, citing a lack of development and improvement of the stadium for the decision.

But Helensburgh councillor Ellen Morton warned that any delay would put parts of the programme at risk.

Cllr Morton said: “The Scottish Government has given us this money, which is not a fortune, but better than nothing, and we want to ensure we get every penny.

“The only way to do that is to know that everything falls within the ‘town centre’ definition. We have to award contracts and allow tenders to go out – that is not debatable.

“We are now at the end of June. This has to be done by March – think about how long it takes to go through all the processes.

“We start, and then what else happens? We start losing chunks of money, which means nobody in Argyll and Bute benefits.”

The Oban councillors asked for a meeting of the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area committee to be held at short notice to consider redirecting money for town centre interpretation signs in Oban, improvements to Rockfield, and upgrades to Tobermory Harbour, at an impromtu meeting this week – eating in to part of the council's summer recess.

Councillor Elaine Robertson said: “We do not intend to hold back any other projects – all we are asking for is a little more time.”

But Cllr Morton replied: “We worked for many years to get a recess in July, and people have known that it starts from the day of this meeting.

“People wish to go away on holiday, and suddenly we are in a position where the Oban, Lorn and Isles area committee has arranged to meet on a date which is not in the diary.

“We are muddying the waters all over the place, and even with a meeting on Tuesday no decision can be taken. Does it have to go to another council meeting? I don’t know.

“With all due respect to Councillor Robertson, for whom I have great respect, this is a very ill-conceived idea and puts us in difficulty with governance procedures.

“Are our leader and depute leader not entitled to a holiday?”

Council leader and Helensburgh councillor Aileen Morton had left the meeting by the time the discussion took place, but depute leader Gary Mulvaney, also a Helensburgh councillor, said: “The key thing is to get these projects started and make progress.

“One thing that hasn’t been asked, or answered, today – if we are going to give money to another town project in Oban, what Oban project will lose funding?

“Are we taking money off Rockfield, or the signage?

“We need to be clear that no more money is going to OLI.

“If Mossfield is a strategic priority for the council – and my understanding is it only supports one – then that should be taken forward by the area committee and worked into a normal business case.

“My concern is that we don’t process things as they should be done.

“The council leader is on holiday, I am on holiday, so we then look at when, after Tuesday, July 2, we can meet with the officers – that is five or six of us.

“I do not want to see Oban’s projects put at risk.”

The plea for a short notice meeting of the Oban area committee was backed by 16 votes to 13.

The council did, however, approve all the other projects on the 'town centre fund' list – including pedestrian access improvements and 'public realm' works at Helensburgh pier, an "additional community and events resource" at Hermitage Park, and "community driven enhancements" at Howie Park in Rosneath.