A total of 27 objections were made to the Machrie proposal including a submission by Arran community council. Several objectors wanted the road re-routed behind the stacking yard. Here are some of the other views:
‘Machrie is a place of peace, quiet and serenity – not to mention scenic beauty. This development would in my view detract from all these features and it seems wholly inappropriate to contemplate such a development when an alternative means of shipping timber is already available.’
‘The siting of the yard will be in full public view, unlike other industrial stacking yards. There will be a lot of mess and noise pollution. To cross the main road 340 times in order to fill the barge will cause disruption to traffic. Log lorries, at least 10 per day, coming over the small Machrie moor road poses extreme danger and spending 1.2 million on six passing places is not a sensible spend of public money. Machrie has always been a place of natural beauty, that is why tourists come to it, to make it into an industrial site will take that away forever.’