Argyll's biggest festival Oban Live 'taking a break'

Oban Live was started in 2015

The Oban Live festival will not take place next year, its organisers have announced.

Started by the folk rock band Skerryvore in 2015, the event is Argyll's biggest festival.

The band and the event team said it was "taking a break" amid issues with the venue and doubts over funding from Argyll and Bute Council.

They added the Mossfield Park venue required improvements and questions remained on a potential revamp.

The park is a shinty ground.

Argyll and Bute Council's depute provost Roddy McCuish said Skerryvore were "100% correct" in saying that improvements to the infrastructure at Mossfield were needed.

But he said the work should be done to benefit shinty first, and then its use for entertainment considered after that.

'Very sad news'

This year's Oban Live was held on 7 and 8 June.

Skerryvore, Lucy Spraggan, Elephant Sessions and Be Charlotte were among the acts.

The organisers said council funding received this year had been greatly received, but represented only 5% of running costs. They said the festival had helped to generate £6m for the local economy.

A spokeswoman for Argyll and Bute Council said it was "very sad news" that Oban Live would not take place in 2020.

She said 2019's event received £15,000 in funding, the second highest amount granted through the council's Strategic Events and Festivals Fund.

The spokeswoman added: "These are tough times for councils. There are many things we would like to do, like upgrading a sports pitch into a multi-event stadium, but at the moment we are having to concentrate limited resources on delivering essential services."