Comments on: Public access to shore road closed between Furnace and Inveraray via Kenmore

By: Robert Burgess

Robert Burgess — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 09:13:37 +0000

You all know, at times the main road between Furnace and Inveraray may be temporarily closed and the shore road gave you a secondary route.

If any of you are concerned enough and want to retain your Public right of way. Please download and complete this questionnairre at http://www.scotsac.com/downloads/lochfyneaccessquestionnaire.pdf and send it to Scotways, their address is on the form.

By: Robert Burgess

Robert Burgess — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 15:41:11 +0000

I was in Furnace speaking to some of the senior residents including a community council member on Sunday. I was trying to find out what they thought. It seemed to me we agreed in principle on just about everything.
The litter is terrible, every responsible person wants to stop it. I can’t say divers never leave rubbish, but its not something we club members normally do. Generally I think divers are not litter bugs. Divers sometimes get together as volunteers to clean up places. Its amasing really, these are mostly individuals who might only visit these places once or twice a year. They come along to participate in the unpleasant job of cleaning up rubbish. Whats more they drive from places like Glasgow and Edinburgh at their own expence to do it. I’ve always wondered if diving makes you stupid. I remember members of Clydebank diving club organising a clean up of the quarry, they filled a skip with rubbish. I’m sorry it didn’t stay clean very long. I expect it would now be quite hard to get the co-operation of divers regarding cleaning up the quarry. The quarry management responce to rubbish and vandalism over the years has been a policy of blocking off the access with earthworks. We know its not stopping public entry but its discouraging divers going there, because diving equipment is far to heavy to carry any distance. In spite of this, in 2006 the sec of Eastwood sub aqua club wrote to the quarry management offering to organise some volunteers for a clean up, she never got a reply. The lady represented a club of around 50 divers their members include the webmasters of the two most popular divers forums in Scotland. A pretty good foot shot.
A little further down the road towards Minards, you all know must Frank + Eillen who keep the cafe/garden centre. They have always been very good to the diving community. I know there are divers with bad attitudes who turn up occasionaly and upset them. They only ever ask for common courtesy and I’m sorry when they don’t get it, but hey we are not all good or bad, we are just people. Divers have run quite a few events there, all of it organised not for profit by unpaid volunteer staff. Divers have raised considerable amounts of money for charity there, “Atlantic divers club,” staged a 24 hour dive on two occasions there for “Cash for Kids”.
Our use of the tea room has snowballed since the Frank took over. You may not know it but usually on the the 2nd weekend of the month, a few BSAC instructors volunteer to give free open water diving lessons there. There is a Bsac joining fee, the lessons are free to any Bsac member that wants to learn to dive. Subject to health, just about any member of the public is welcome to join.

There are basically 5 sites between Furnace cafe/garden centre and Inveraray that we like to shore dive, a lot of it has to do with ease of access. To varying degree’s access to 4 of the sites is now blocked.

By: Lynda

Lynda — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 13:35:10 +0000

Robert - I personally agree with you. It is always a mistake to sit back and allow traditional public access routes to be closed. From the information you give above - which I’ve not verfied but the Community Council certainly should - the road from the Furnace Quarry to the Inveraray Caravan Park fulfills all the criteria for being regarded as a pub;ic right of way. AS you say, it may or may not yet be recorded as such - and maybe that’s something to be looked at quickly. I have no idea what lies behind the closure. As far as I know the village at large was not aware that it was going to happen. Whatever the reasons, going for a fortress mentality is always a mistake. And giving up long standing public rights most certainly is.
I enjoy the divers being around. Ive had some good conversations on what they see down there - which I’ll never see. Litter is a problem though - loads of cans and unwanted food left lying etc). But the odd rogue always gives the clan a bad name - and maybe other clan members could persuade the odd rogue to clean up his act?. But that’s another issue. You should contact the Furnace Community Council - Chair is Mike Masters at the Village Shop / Post Office.

By: Robert Burgess

Robert Burgess — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 22:48:38 +0000

I’m one of the local community of scuba divers that have visited Kenmore occasionaly in the past 6 years. It is not unlawful to scuba dive nor is it a public nuisance. We support local commerce particularly throughout the winter. We eat in the cafes, stay in B+B’s and have a drink in your local. We provide some wealth for your community by purchasing goods and services and this provides employment. Three dive sites are situated along the shore road. Kenmore, Stallion rock and Pennymore point. Kenmore + Stallion rock are well known nationally amongst scuba divers. We were shown these dive sites by the people who taught us to dive. This is our associations diving heritage that people are trying to take away from us.

The catalogue of rights of way classifies rights of way into three status categories:
• vindicated – routes declared to be rights of way by the courts or through
another legal process;
• asserted – routes which have been accepted as rights of way by the
landowner or where local authorities have indicated that they would take
legal action to protect them if necessary;
• claimed – other routes which appear to meet the common law conditions
necessary to be regarded as rights of way, but which have not been
formally vindicated or asserted.

Not all public rights of ways are recorded.

The main conditions for a route to be a public right of way are as follows:
· It must join two public places (e.g. public roads or other rights of way); and
· It must follow a more or less defined route; and
· It must have been used, openly and peaceably, by the general public, as a matter of right, i.e. not just with the permission of the landowner; and
· It must have been used without substantial interruption for at least 20 years.

With regards to the shore road, I know amatuer sport divers that have been diving at Kenmore and other points along the road for more than 20 years. Ultimatly the legallity of the gates is a matter for the courts to decide. Personally I doubt if anybody believes the closure of the road was or is lawful and I think everyone concerned knew the shore road met the criteria of a public right of way when the gates were installed.