I refer to the letter by Jean Nisbet of Glasgow on the subject of Argyll and Bute and particularly Oban Airport (September 5). I care deeply about the £8.5m of taxpayers' money apparently squandered on this project, which from the outset was a modern equivalent of the emperor's new clothes. This project suddenly took priority over every other important capital project in the council's area through the dogged determination of the leader of the council at the time.
The funding used for this project could have provided 21st-century ferry facilities for thousands of islanders; or it could have been used through the community planning process to acquire sites to allow the housing associations to build low-cost homes for locals; for small-business site development or support for local co-operatives. It could have upgraded part of the main road to Tobermory or refurbished and repaired the council's worn-out leisure facilities and libraries.
Additionally, in the light of the recent introduction of a seaplane service from Glasgow to Oban, I bet that for half the cost of Oban Airport and the annual £500,000 Scottish Government subsidy, Loch Lomond Seaplanes could have provided almost immediate links to most of the islands of Argyll and Bute. Had this happened, Jean Nisbet and others could have reached the most distant islands directly from Glasgow in under one hour.
Will anyone be called to account for this fiasco? I doubt it, for, knowing those involved, they will have already closed ranks to defend their decisions on the subject.
George B McKenzie, Rubha nan Gall, 48 Ardbeg Road, Rothesay, Isle of Bute.
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