Oban Community Harbour Development Association
All relevant consultation documents relating to the development of the Oban HRO are here, including those which have closed. Documents are arranged with the most recent at the top and include objections and the Council’s responses as well as summaries of these. There is no active consultation at this time.
Click below to go to each section in a new tab:
2024 – revised draft HRO – not consulted upon
2023/4 – Formal consultation on 2023 draft (inc responses)
2022 – first draft of HRO – not publicly consulted upon
2021 – OCHDA’s on-line consultation regarding Harbour limits
A new version of the draft HRO has recently been made available. This is a work in progress, as will be seen, shown by the tracking of changes. As this is clearly likely to change further there is little point in commenting here.
Formal consultation: written representations
The consultation process concluded with the submission of written representations by the Council, followed by a response from objectors to which the Council could have responded. The Council’s written representation was received on September 17th with responses submitted by 8th October. The Council then effectively concluded the consultation process by choosing to make no further submission.
Following legal advice and wide consultation OCHDA’s response to the Council written representation was submitted on October 6th. 42 other submissions were made and there were only 3 objections withdrawn. The Council declined to enter into further correspondence with objectors at this point and passed the matter back to Transport Scotland.
Formal consultation: the Council’s inital responses to objectors
Following the objections the Council failed to provide a summary of the key issues, nor did it advise Councillors regarding how it responded to objectors. In the absence of any information from the Council a detailed briefing was sent to local elected Members and to those who sit on the Harbour Board. As a result of the Council’s responses not a single objection was withdrawn.
Oban Municipal Harbour proposals
In September 2023 the Council submitted its draft HRO and the associated Statement of Support, formally, to Transport Scotland. This draft was then the subject of the 42 day formal consultation over Christmas 2023 and New Year 2024.
The Statement of support is not a part of the formal consultation but, in view of the number of misleading statements contained within it OCHDA submitted an additional objection to this.
Public meeting December 2023
In the absence of a meeting organised by the Council, OCHDA and Oban Community Council held a public meeting to inform people and encourage them to take part in the consultation. In the event 90+ people attended the meeting at The Rockfield Centre to hear about the Council’s plans for Oban Harbour.
A detailed briefing was provided followed by a substantial Question and Answer session. Scroll down to see the meeting materials and the transcript of the Q&A session.
Questioners were particularly concerned by the timing of this consultation and limited notice of it, the Council’s plans for existing moorings in the Bay, including plans for Ardentrive Bay and Kerrera marina, the lack of financial information and future publishing of accounts for the harbour. In addition, and overall, the meeting was very concerned by the Council’s proposed arrangements for involvement of harbour users and other stakeholders in decision-making regarding the future of the Harbour.
The meeting overwhelmingly supported a motion from the Chair that we should write, formally, to Transport Scotland and to Argyll & Bute Council requesting that the 42 days for submissions relating to the formal consultation should be paused over the festive period or stopped and re-started completely in the New Year. This request was rejected.
Consultation responses: OCHDA’s initial analysis
OCHDA’s Objection
Following extensive legal advice and wide consultation with our members, OCHDA’s objection was submitted. This is a substantial document and goes into much detail regarding the shortcomings of the Council’s draft HRO.
Oban Municipal Harbour draft (HRO 2023) objections:
How the Council responded
All those who took part in the consultation received responses to their submissions, between early April and the end of May. Almost all these responses were made up from a series of ‘stock paragraphs’ which referred, generally, to the issue but did not address the individual concerns or suggestions in the submission.
The Council’s responses to the most frequently raised concerns have been compiled into a table, with a commentary by OCHDA, which you can read by pressing the button below.
It remains to be seen how many objections have been withdrawn and the next step in the process is similarly unknown. There is little within the Transport Scotland Harbour Orders guidance to tell us what happens next or when.
Following public consultation on a very skeletal outline of what an HRO should contain, and building on feedback from OCHDA, the Council produced a formal draft HRO which was not publicly consulted upon. OCHDA submitted a response.
In May 2022 the Council produced an on-line survey and a very simplified outline of what a Harbour Order would entail. OCHDA responded to the survey, along with 64 others. The information provided by the Council was extremely limited and OCHDA’s response took the form of extensive guidance on what should be contained within a Harbour Order. The survey simply asked: In general do you support the proposals? and offered Yes, No and Don’t Know
Of the 65 responses 58 included additional comments. These were, generally, not wholeheartedly supportive of the Council’s proposals, with only 13 offering unconditional support while 18 were unconditionally against. 28 of those who expressed support for the Council’s proposals were guarded regarding their support. Although there was no mention of a Trust Port in the document 14 responses specifically expressed a preference for a Trust Port.
Press the button below to read the documents.
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