Craignure clean-up creates much needed room for village

Illegal dumping at Craignure’s old pier, outside the local playpark and Village Hall, has been a persistent problem for decades.

Multiple abandoned boats, trailers and commercial vehicles litter the area, alongside a wealth of debris in the surrounding bushes. 

But now, the Craignure Bay Community Group has decided that enough is enough and has begun to clear the area. 

The group, alongside volunteers from the Craignure Village Hall, began their work on Saturday March 1.

Mull and Iona Community Trust provided a £1000 grant towards the effort, which will be used to pay for the required skips. 

Ten volunteers spent their Saturday hard at work pulling and pilling debris into an organised pile, ready for when their skip arrives. 

Dozens of old tyres, oil drums, tarpaulins, broken trailers parts, office chairs and even a baby’s car seat were among the debris uncovered so far. 

A memorial plaque was also discovered, which the Village Hall plans to clean-up and display.

The group plans to keep at their effort up for as long as it takes to clean the pier.

Once dangerous items are removed, they will gratefully accept public help to clear on the encroaching brambles and gorse. 

Once the smaller items are removed, the next stage will involve the use of a JCB to crush the abandoned boats, reducing them to a manageable size to be uplifted by the council. 

The group hopes to finish the clean-up operation by Easter this year, on April 20. 

In the long term, they hope that the reclaimed space they will create can be used for more parking provision, with an estimated eight spaces currently hidden under the debris. This will require on the permission of the landowner.