Going to ruin

Just over four years ago I blipped the hotel at St Catherine's , a village on the shores of Loch Fyne sitting on the main road to Strachur and Dunoon.  Even at that time the derelict state of the hotel.   Part of the hotel was listed and there was a long running dispute between the owner and the Council about what he could do with the building.

It is even more long running now and time has taken its toll  yet nothing continues to be done -  a fact that local residents are getting more and more angry about. 

It would be wrong of me , given my trenchant criticisms of the Council as a property owner, not to apply the same standards here.  It is an eyesore and a mess.   The metal fencing that is meant to keep people out blows over in every gale and is not always raised or repaired.   The ground floor windows are now all boarded and the upper ones broken.   

The  notice that gave details of the building has been taken away or, more likely, stolen and the tree in front of the bar door now fills it.   

The hotel sits opposite a small pier which could be an asset to the village.  It  is also next to the old post office ,a wooden hut, which is also falling down.  

The Council has a power to enforce improvements and recover the costs if an owner refuses to act.   Obviously the power is used with great reluctance as the saga of the West Kirk in Rothesay illustrates only too well.

But here - and across the loch where the same developer owns Inveraray Pier , which is also closed to the public and falling to pieces - there is a strong case for urgent action.   I suspect, however, we will never see it.