BY JACKIE MACKENZIE
The community of Dunvegan is sending a clear message to Highland Council over its plans for motorhome services in the village – right project, wrong place.
Highland Council has put in a planning application to install a black water and fresh water service area for motorhomes and campervans on land within the only public car park in the village.
But 14 objections have been lodged against the plan, including from Dunvegan Community Council, on grounds that large motorhomes manoeuvring and queueing to use the facility will create traffic chaos in the small car park.
It is already under strain and is the location for the public toilets, EV charging points, the bottle bank and is also the Morrisons grocery collection point.
John Laing, chairman of Dunvegan Community Council, told the Free Press: “We need to have motorhome waste disposal units across the Highlands but this is entirely the wrong place. The car park is small and it’s chock-a-block all summer. Overspill cars park all along the side of the road.
“Unfortunately there was no consultation by Highland Council before they submitted this application and the community don’t want it there.”
Objector Kayleigh Todd, who works at the nearby Kinloch Camping Park, said in a representation to planners: “Creating a council-operated facility so close to an established business risks diverting customers away from a service that is already available, undermining a local enterprise that contributes to the local economy.
“I appreciate the importance of supporting tourism, including motorhome visitors. However, I do not believe this proposal represents the best use of this limited public space when suitable servicing facilities already exist within a very short distance.”
One objector believed a much better solution would be to locate the service area down by the pier, closer to the sewage plant.
Blair Mackinnon, of 6 Kings Brae, objected: “The car park is regularly full already, so unless you plan to extend the car park in some way then it’s pointless, as you’re just going to make a bad situation worse.”
Another objector, Paul Brennan, of Larach Beag, Kilmuir, said: “It should not be assumed that only one of these large vehicles at a time would use the disposal facilities. It takes time to empty waste tanks and refill with fresh water and they often travel in groups of two or more, therefore additional space would be needed for queuing.
“The car park is very often busy and it is already difficult enough for a car to navigate around it at such times. There is a high chance of collisions and gridlock if large motorhomes were expected to drive around it.”
Concerns have also been voiced about environmental and public health implications of any accidental spillage from black water emptying, particularly in such a confined area that is used daily by residents and visitors alike.
