Welcome to Dunoon

On Thursday Argyll & Bute Council will hold a special meeting to decide on the fate of the attempted community buyout of Castle Toward, about which I have blipped before.   There is no sign yet that the astonishing intransigence of the Council leader  (a local representative for this very area)  will be softened but in case any of the 36  Argyll & Bute Councillors are reading my blip before the vote, I would ask them to reflect on this image as well.

A Council that refuses to allow the community to take over assets might have a point if it could manage them better itself.  But not only is Castle Toward falling to pieces, this is the first sight that meets visitors to Dunoon by passenger ferry.

This lovely little lodge house sits below the Castle, on the main road opposite Dunoon pier.  It has been empty for a long time and there have been offers made to the Council, all of which have been rejected.   It would make a nice wee tearoom or could be restored as somewhere to live for someone in a town which has a shortage of good accommodation.  It could even make an unusual holiday cottage and earn some money for the public purse.  

While the Council dithers, however, the deterioration to the building has been going on apace and in December a storm took away part of the roof .  Now the rest has started to fall in and metal barriers with warning signs have had to be erected.    

This is how Argyll & Bute Council looks after the property it holds in trust for local citizens.   Castle Toward is not unique, nor is this lodge house.  At Sandbank the old school eventually had to be demolished because the Council had taken such poor care of it and there are many other examples the length and breadth of Argyll.  I spoke about some of them , including Castle Toward, in the Scottish Parliament two weeks ago during the first stage of the Community Empowerment Bill. 

Just to add insult to injury above this building there is  the empty flagpole that the Council refuses to allow to fly a saltire for most of the time though today I noticed it is sporting a new white flag with a crest on it which (though  very few people will know this ) is the official  Council flag .   I am told a number of these were made to order at great expense just to stymie those who wanted the perfectly normal display of our national emblem at least some of the time .

No wonder so many people stopped me today to ask what on earth was going on with the local authority and to wish the community campaigners the best of luck for Thursday.