‘Triple whammy’ could link Cowal with Garelochhead and Helensburgh – but no council support yet

A ‘triple whammy’ fixed link project taking road traffic to Loch Lomond and a railway to Glasgow via Garelochhead was put forward at a meeting in Dunoon this week.

The route would be seen as an alterative to the Rest and Be Thankful and was probably the cheapest of several options, with a ‘ballpark’ price tag of between £400m and £500m, said David McKenzie, chairman of the project’s working group.

But Mr McKenzie said he was ‘very disappointed’ after Argyll and Bute Council’s Bute and Cowal area committee voted against supporting the project currently, feeling that the project had been ‘kicked into the long grass’.

As detailed in an article here last month, several potential routes have been put forward, including bridges or tunnels over or under Loch Long, the Firth of Clyde, the Holy Loch and the Gareloch.

But Mr McKenzie told councillors that the route he billed ‘the triple whammy’ had received most interest, shortening the distance for vehicles traveling to Cowal by 30 miles and linking the with ‘high quality’ A817 Haul Road through Glen Fruin.

“The Borders railway campaign has been a real success story,” he told the meeting.

“The two turning points were the support of the council and being able to run a feasibility study.

“The Scottish Government is open to ideas right now.

“There is money potentially coming on stream. It is important to move at this point and not hang around.”

He said the project team was looking for £50,000 in seed funding from the council, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Transport Scotland and LEADER funds, and was optimistic that their target of quadrupling the Cowal Peninsula’s population to 50,000 could be achieved.

“I talked to the Forestry Commission and there are areas identified that could accommodate 7,000 new houses, the Forestry Commission would be very happy to come up with the land,” he said.

“I don’t think it is unrealistic to think of many families coming to live here if they could sit on a train and get to Glasgow in 40 minutes.”

Cllrs Bruce Marshall and Mike Breslin put forward a motion for the council to support the proposal and take part in talks about its feasibility with the Scottish Government, Highlands & Islands Enterprise (HIE) and Hi Trans.

But council leader Dick Walsh said the project was ‘a longer term possibility and there is still a lot of work to be done’.

He cited an HIE study which has yet be published but ‘has some negatives about fixed links’, adding: “We know there has been an economic benefit to Skye and slight population growth, not to the extent that we have ambitions for here.”

He said: “There is still a considerable amount of work to be done to be able to assert that this is the best way to proceed,” and put forward an amendment saying the council could only support the project in the future if it was ‘in the context of other strategic transportation matters’ which had more potential in the short and medium term.

“What we need to do is have discussions with a view to support at a future stage,” he said.

“This is a national strategic initiative and national government will need to take the lead on this.”

Cllr Walsh’s amendment was carried by five votes to three, but the issue may still appear on the agenda of a full council meeting later this month.

MSPs Mike Russell and Donald Cameron have said they will raise the issue in the Scottish Parliament, but another key step – the creation of a charity based on the Borders Railway Campaign – was seen as dependent on council support.