A council spent £40,000 on architects to design a plan to upgrade Oban town centre – only to realise it’s too expensive.
New plans to improve Gibraltar Street in Oban are being considered – after an architect proposal came in over budget.
The street is a pedestrian thoroughfare from Tesco car park to the town centre. It leads to Lochavullin Industrial Estate, which includes Homebase, Argos and M&S.
Argyll and Bute Council allocated £250,000 of Placed Based Investment Programme Funding for Gibraltar Street. The idea was to enhance the public area and improve access to Oban town centre.
Oban Lorn and the Isles area committee will hear on Wednesday that £40,000 of the budget has been spent.
TGP Landscape Architects were commissioned to create design options, test the ideas with the community and cost the proposals.
Revised design ‘estimated to exceed the available budget’
No support for a single option came out of the consultation.
Taking account of public comments, the architects have come up with a revised design.
But in his report to the committee, Fergus Murray, head of development and economic growth, advises councillors to support a different plan.
Mr Murray writes: “This option has been costed and is estimated to exceed the available budget due to ground conditions and rising construction costs.”
As a result, and taking on board public comments, council officers have come up with a cheaper option.
“Option B” involves comprehensive resurfacing, upgraded street furniture and lighting.
Mr Murray continues: “This option is referred to as Option B of this report and is the preferred option as recommended by officers. This option would essentially retain the site as is and carry out comprehensive resurfacing works with a good quality surface finish as well as provide upgraded street furniture and enhanced street lighting.”
The council has come under fire for “wasting” £40,000 on a proposal they can’t carry out.
‘They have wasted £40,000 of that money’
Neil MacIntyre of Oban Community Council, said: “Why did they go down that avenue in the first place? I can’t believe that with £250,000 they couldn’t make a nice job of that area. You can build a house for cheaper than that.
“They have paid all that money for consultants and they are ignoring what they say. They have done their own wee thing. It goes from one mess to another.
“I can’t understand why it went out to consultants in the first place, when the council has its own engineers.
“They have wasted £40,000 of that money. And where are we now? They can’t start that job any time soon and close the area off during summer.”
Details in the report reveal the remaining budget for construction is £210,000.
Tesco pulled out of the project
It also states that despite its short length, Gibraltar Street is a complex site with considerable level changes. There is uncertainty over a number of underground utilities that have emerged during the design process.
Initially, the redevelopment included the area owned by the council and the car park and pedestrian path owned by Tesco.
But Tesco pulled out of the project, which reduced the potential impact for transformation of the street.
With the Tesco-owned area no longer involved, the site has reduced in size. Exclusion of this land resulted in a more complex layout being proposed to accommodate levels within the site.
The main issue is the slope running through the street, meaning that different level areas had to be created to ensure compliance with British Standards for Accessibility.
This resulted in a more complex design than originally anticipated.
Officers advised that Option B could be finished within six weeks, starting on site after the tourist season in September or October.
If the architect proposals were favoured by councillors, additional funding would be required.
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