‘Golden opportunity’ to combine Kilcreggan and Dunoon ferry routes

Nicola Sturgeon has been urged to grasp ‘a golden opportunity’ to combine the Kilcreggan and Dunoon ferry routes.

Jamie Black, vice chair of Cardwell Bay and Greenock West Community Council, has made an impassioned plea to the First Minister, as well as fellow government Ministers Keith Brown and Derek MacKay, asking them to take a joined-up approach to the contracts, which are both expected to go out to tender this year.

Describing the issue as ‘a political football’, Mr Black writes: “I think it is clear that there exists now a golden opportunity to combine forces – bring the Kilcreggan Route under the auspices of Transport Scotland – combine the Dunoon and Kilcreggan ferry routes and in doing so, utilise economies of scale, obtain better value for taxpayers (indeed most likely REDUCE the burden on the public purse) and, most importantly, safeguard a route that is essential to those who use it, to their way of life – both as individuals and as a community.”

His view echo those of Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council, which has also written to Transport Scotland about the issue this year – and indeed both the Scottish Government and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which subsidises the route, seem not to have any objection.

A government minister has spoken of possible advantages in the move, and SPT members have said that body would have no objection.

So why the delay? It seems that both sides are waiting for the other to make the first move – and in the meantime, the dates when tenders for both routes will be invited is coming ever closer.

The full text of Mr Black’s letter is below:

Dear Ms Sturgeon, Mr Brown and Mr MacKay

I have written to each of you at various times over the last four years regarding the Kilcreggan Ferry – I hope therefore your PA’s will be kind enough to bring this to your attention personally and not have it passed to officials at Transport Scotland(TS). More recently, I posed a direct question to the First Minister at the meeting of the Cabinet in Greenock Town Hall (23rd November 2015), which was answered by Mr Brown. His position, in response to my question on safeguarding the Kilcreggan Ferry, was clear – “We remain willing to talk to SPT about any request that they might have for us to take over a service, and it may be that there are advantages in that, because we are bundling together quite a lot of services and it may be there are economies of scale in relation to that”, however Mr Brown stressed that his officials could not take over the route without being asked.

And here we have the problem. Where Mr Brown and TS amongst others state that SPT appear unwilling to hand over the route, SPT say the complete opposite – that TS are not willing to take this on despite SPT wanting to relinquish responsibility. I have an email from Councillor David Wilson, Inverclyde representative on the SPT Board, stating: “Be under no misapprehension, SPT would surrender the service gladly to Transport Scotland or CalMac.”.

This is a political football being kicked about with no-one taking real responsibility – hence my communication to you. Each one of you has the power to give this the attention and direction it desperately needs.

You will all be aware that the tenders for the Dunoon and Kilcreggan routes are due for renewal presently. Whilst there are many options, I think it is clear that there exists now a golden opportunity to combine forces – bring the Kilcreggan Route under the auspices of Transport Scotland – combine the Dunoon and Kilcreggan Ferry routes and in doing so, utilise economies of scale, obtain better value for taxpayers (indeed most likely REDUCE the burden on the public purse) and, most importantly, safeguard a route that is essential to those who use it, to their way of life – both as individuals and as a community.

My position, the position of the Cardwell Bay and Greenock West Community Council (of which I am Vice-Chair), Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council, MSPs, elected members of both Inverclyde and Argyll and Bute Councils as well as, most importantly, the users of the Kilcreggan Ferry appears almost unanimous that the future of the ferry service must be safeguarded. We may not be quite as vocal as the Dunoon Ferry Action Group (yet), but our commitment is no less. I will not go into details, but were we to discuss in detail the last tender and issues the service has suffered, I think you would be appalled.

The time is right. Communities have made their views known for a long time. SPT wish to hand over responsibility. Transport Scotland state they would happily adopt the route.

So – why has nothing happened?

My request therefore to you collectively is to make this happen. We need a firm commitment for action – we need it before we run out of time. This must be done before the tenders for Dunoon and Kilcreggan are prepared and finalised. This is the window of opportunity that CANNOT be missed, lest we incur another four years of uncertainty, disappointment, missed appointments, missed exams, late arrivals and missed family occasions.

Time is of the essence – parliament dissolves shortly. Purdah kicks in. If firm action is not taken now, I believe that the communities who use and depend on the service will have been let down massively.

If we do nothing differently, we will keep getting the same result. I do not want to spend the next four years campaigning on this issue (or for that matter, the next few months during the election period).

I beg you therefore to give this issue the attention and direction it needs and deserves. Our communities deserve no less – we do not ask much and the ask is reasonable. The subsidy value for the Kilcreggan route is c£250k per year. The cost of the Coruisk operating the Dunoon route in winter alone is c£400k. We are not asking for millions of pounds of cash. We are not asking for flash new vessels. We are not asking for massive changes to timetables. This is no Forth Bridge or Edinburgh Trams or M74 – this is a problem that with thought, attention, common sense and some clever planning matter more than endless amounts of cash.

I ask that the people in our communities are not forgotten.

Yours sincerely

Jamie Black

Vice Chair, Cardwell Bay and Greenock West Community Council