VISITORS to Helensburgh’s Colquhoun Square have had their clothing damaged by the wooden benches, a councillor has claimed.
The secretary of the town’s community council has also requested details of when the seating will be replaced, with several being reported as damaged.
An Argyll and Bute Council officer said that work was ongoing to try to repair or replace the damaged benches, although replacements were difficult to source.
The discussion took place at a meeting of the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee on Tuesday, September 9.
Community council secretary Elizabeth Lambert asked: “When will the broken benches in Colquhoun Square be repaired? I reported one in February and since then another three have been broken, but none have been fixed.
“It does not help that there is no method of reporting broken benches on the council website, and I have to do it by email.
“The benches will cost a lot to replace or repair. If replacements are being considered, can the community council be included on the design and materials used.”
Council project manager Mark Calder responded: “I agree with the point that it is not helpful not to have a specific way to report these things on the website. That is something I will take away.
“We do have forms for all different things, but if you have been emailing in about it you should have had a reply.
“The benches are a non-standard construction, and the wood comes from a supplier in Scandinavia as it is a special treated wood.
“So there are not many suppliers that provide it, which makes it difficult to source replacements. It is something we are actively chasing up.
“I have a few ideas of different ways to fund it and it is something I am working on in the background. It is something I would like to discuss with yourselves ahead of a future committee meeting.”
Councillor Maurice Corry (Conservative, Lomond North) then asked: “I get people talking to me about the wood in these benches as their clothes get badly damaged. Could you possibly look into another material, because it is not really good enough from that point of view?”
Mr Calder said: “Yes, we can look at alternative materials, but we are not aware of people having clothes marked.
“CHORD funds are something I am looking into. We used some surplus to remove the silver bins, but there are other potential funds we could use.”
