A survery carried out by a local action group has found one of people’s top priorites is the protection of Oban’s natural spaces and beauty spots.
The goals were revealed by Our Oban first foray into seeking information about peoples’ priorities for the future of the town.
Keeping the green space at Ganavan safe and the areas around Pulpit Hill and the Hydro were also pegged as issues that are crucial to the town.
Group volunteers set up a hub in Tesco car park on March 23 as the big Oban Spring Clean got under way.
Our Oban’s team asked passers-by questions on making the town more sustainable and whether they thought it was important to do it through a ’green lens’.
People were asked to have their say on five topics; natural spaces, community gardening, flooding, moving around and public transport.
Out of them all, natural spaces were rated as top priority and there was an almost unanimous feeling that they needed better protection.
An Our Oban spokesperson said: "The team was surprised that the single biggest response to any question was that natural heritage, such as ocean and rainforest, was not celebrated enough, with many more people asking for help to access and learn more about those environments."
On the subject of community gardening, there was good support for the garden behind the Rockfield Centre to be reinstated to be used as personal and shared growing spaces, community composting and growing workshops.
People generally rated moving around the town well but had a lot to say about their experiences.
Bins in the way and uneven pavements are causing real problems for the mobility impaired, the group say.
Many people reported fear of using bikes on Oban’s roads, with one person recently selling theirs because of it.
When asked if they would use an e-bike if one was made available to them, there was an almost even split, with those saying no, adding they would still feel unsafe on the roads which "favour cars too heavily".
The most popular suggestions for small-scale improvements were to see more signs for pathways and improved signs on multi-use roads, such as Ganavan and Glencruitten, Gallanach and Rockfield roads, to alert motorists to other users.
Public transport was rated quite well but with calls to seriously improve the information on timetables and routing, said the Our Oban spokesperson.
More than 70 per cent of people spoken to put the highest emphasis on taking active measures to reduce Oban’s carbon footprint in line with Scottish targets by 2030, with the rest of respondents also saying it was important to them.
Winter flooding was not too far from anyone’s mind and flooding was a concern across the board - with calls from some for a ’flood squad’ to be formed.
The Our Oban spokesperson added: "This was a small consultation but interesting in that it was non-targeted, we simply recorded the thoughts of anyone walking by. These were opinions and concerns that have been heard on many occasions, but perhaps what was surprising was the strength of feeling that, as a town, we need to move forward with a roadmap for a sustainable and resilient future for people and planet.
"If this snapshot proves to be representative thinking of the town, it feels like there will be some interesting considerations and compromises as we weigh the social, environmental and economic impact of our decisions to achieve these goals."
The day was made possible with funding from the A&B Climate Action Network with thanks to Tesco for allowing the use of the car park, Argyll Coast & Countryside Trust (ACT) for supporting the event and Sorcha bakery for making tasty treats. The group has also thanked the volunteers who gave their time to reach out to strangers and most importantly to the people who stopped and offered their thoughts and vision for the future of Oban.
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