Furnace for Argyll

At an open meeting in Furnace Village Hall we heard about a feasibility study into building a new haul road south of the Leacainn that would take timber lorries and possibly quarry lorries stright to a new pier at Furnace. Ian Arnold of Argyll Timber Transport Group and Nicola Debnam from Argyll and Bute Council brought us up to date on the investigation.

The aim is get as much timber transport as possible off the pubic road network - who would argue with that? The port at Ardrishaig is at full capacity, a new pier woud be needed to support sea transport and Furnace is ideally situated. A new pier here could serve the harvesting areas around all of upper Loch Fyne and take lorries from elsewhere off the road sooner than have them travelling to Glasgow or Ardrishaig. It has deep water access and, with the former pier serving Furnace Quarry in its heyday, it has a history of water transport.

A route that took heavy lorries out of the village - because the haul road would bypass Furnace - would be popular with village residents and parents of young children at the School. It might, though, take valuable business away from the Village shop. And however much we would like less traffic through the village, community-wise any threat to the Shop and Post Office doesn’t bear thinking about.

Argyll and Bute Council has commissioned a feasibiity study but their involvement will not go beyond that. Should the feasibility study find in favour of the proposal, a private consortium would be needed to take the project forwards. Interest from private investors would depend on the likely return and on the percentage of grant funding available from the Scottish Government. While the timber transport people would undoubtedly use the haul road and pier, it is hard to see that the Quarry would be equally inclined - even to use the haul road.

The planning and consultation processes would come first and construction would take up to three years. There is a copy of the map showing the proposed position of the pier and the route of the haul road in the Village Hall. The Community Council will receive a copy of the final report of the feasibility study. This was due at the end of April and is expected shortly. NIcola Debnam may be contacted at” nicola.debnam@argyll-bute.gov.uk