Ulva Ferry hub approved

A 'miniature port building' on Mull at Ulva Ferry, serving as 'the gateway to Ulva, Gometra, Staffa, and the Treshnish Isles', has been approved by Argyll and Bute Council.

 

Plans for the 'washrooms, toilets, laundrette, kitchenette and community/multi-function space', called 'Doras Caolas Ulbha - Sound of Ulva Gateway', were submitted by the Mull and Iona Community Trust (MICT) for a site it owns at the end of the C44 Ulva Ferry Road.

 

The new Community and Shore Facilities Building will serve as a waiting facility for ferry passengers to Ulva and Gometra, and for tours to Staffa and the Treshnish Isles.

 

MICT had submitted a planning application for the building in 2020, but withdrew it in 2021, lodging a second application in June 2022. Argyll and Bute Council planning officers recommended it for approval, arguing it 'represents a high quality, well designed and suitably proportioned scheme that would positively contribute to sustainable economic growth.

 

'The development would enhance the surrounding built, human and natural environment. The form, location and scale would respect the landscape, character, appearance and amenity of the surrounding area.'

 

An objector from Ulva Ferry was concerned about toilet and laundry waste discharging into the designated Shellfish Waters Protected Area of Loch na Keal and Loch Tuath, eight metres from the building.

 

The said: 'A sewage treatment unit would have to have a capacity of at least 100 persons and a soakaway system before discharge to the sea'.

 

Planning officers responded: 'NatureScot confirmed the new toilet facilities and treatment plant would be an improvement, both in terms of visitor facilities and on an environmental level, with improved waste water treatment.'

 

The objector also raised a concerns about the design. MICT's documents said: 'Any new public building in a location such as this should be a high quality design, and sensitive to the local vernacular. However, there are no buildings of this typology in the local vernacular style. Our strategy is that form follows function. A modern approach is to take in as much natural light as possible, and allow the users of the building to appreciate the incredible location.'

 

The objector said: 'That is an incorrect and absurd statement. There is a traditional vernacular building in desperate need of repair only 20 metres away and within sight there are traditional buildings, including a thatched cottage on Ulva, as well as vernacular/traditional stone/slate cottages in view on Mull.

 

'The style and detail of the intended building is unsuitable and completely out of character with the area. It is nonsense to suggest the need to be in a glass building to appreciate the surroundings.

 

'The restoration and use of the unused stone building to become the 'Ulva Gateway' would be more appropriate.'

 

Planning officers responded: 'The proposed building would adopt a simple and traditional rectangular form with a pitched roof and gable ends. The proposed materials would integrate with the surrounding built environment. The wider site features a range of buildings, some of poor quality, utilising facing materials of render, natural timber cladding and profiled metal cladding.'