Roads in the picturesque village of Luss on Loch Lomondside are dangerously busy and congested, according to landowners Luss Estates.
The company’s chief executive Simon Miller has made a stinging attack on proposals by Argyll and Bute Council which would see local residents and businesses having to pay for parking permits, while visitors would be required to pay and display.
The village is home to 120 residents and a number of businesses, but is swamped by more than 750,000 visitors and their cars every year.
Earlier this month the council approved its own proposal for a parking scheme – but Mr Miller, this proposal will not remove a single car from the village and is completely the wrong solution to Luss’s traffic problems.
“The proposed parking scheme does not address the fundamental issue, which is traffic congestion, not parking,” he said.
“This solution may allow Argyll and Bute Council to make money out of existing traffic, but it will do nothing whatsoever to get the traffic out of the village which is what is required.
“Luss is a small, historic village with narrow roads and no pavements, home to a tiny rural population which gets a massive influx of visitors each year.
We welcome visitors to Luss, but it is the presence of too many cars in the heart of the village itself which is the problem.
“Often residents can’t park in the village; the emergency services, if required, would often be quite unable to get through the congested streets; and there is a constant safety risk to families and older people.
“If visitors parked in the parking area on the outskirts of the village and strolled through Luss, how much a safer, calmer and more enjoyable place Luss would be for everyone.”
Luss Estates spent two years developing the Luss Strategic Development Framework and says this has broad support from all the community and stakeholders, including the council
This included new parking areas surrounding the village to accommodate visitors’ cars displaced from the heart of the village.
“The council’s proposals are based on flawed research and a lack of understanding that the issue in Luss is traffic, not parking,” said Mr Miller.
”Its proposed parking solution won’t improve the traffic problem in the village at all.”
He also questioned the consultation process, saying only four days’ notice was given of a “drop-in consultation” event on March 31 where only two options were on the table: no change, or accept the parking scheme.
“The consultation elicited a total of just 34 written responses from the whole of the parish, of which only a minority agreed with the council’s proposed parking scheme,” he said.
Luss Estates has subsequently commissioned an independent market research company to carry out a survey of all the residents on a number of options, including the proposed parking scheme.
It is going out on Wednesday June 24 to all parish residents and businesses and Mr Miller hopes that everyone will review what the various options are and complete the survey.
Totally agree with Mr Miller. The main car park is also needimg new signs and white line painting before there is an accident.