Helensburgh looks set to miss out on a visit by the Waverley this spring.
The historic paddle steamer has traditionally called at the town as part of its first weekend of sailings every year.
But a provisional timetable published this week omits Helensburgh, although the steamer will call at Kilcreggan twice over the bank holiday weekend at the end of May.
There have been fears for the future of the Waverley calling at Helensburgh since a notice to mariners last year announced that the town’s pier was closed.
A packed public meeting in November heard an emotional message about the importance of the Waverley to the town and backed a joint venture between the pier’s owners, Argyll and Bute Council, and the Helensburgh Seafront Development Project to save the pier.
The council’s harbour board was expected to discuss the issue at a meeting in December or January but these meetings were called off, although a meeting has now been scheduled for March 7.
It is understood that the council’s design services department is currently carrying out a structural analysis to ascertain the load-bearing capacity of the pier, but the notice to mariners remains in force.
The 147-year-old timber pier was closed in October on advice by consultants Arch Henderson, who recommended that a detailed structural analysis be carried out to confirm its structural integrity.
The Arch Henderson report was not made available in time for the public meeting in Helensburgh and the council initially refused a Freedom of Information request from this website for the document, but reversed that decision following a review request.
The report states that the timber area of the pier is ‘deteriorating’ – the full document is available in this article.
In December the council said specialist contractor Evova BM TRADA were testing the timber section of the pier and once this is complete, officials would use the Arch Henderson inspection and the Evova timber analysis report to carry out a structural analysis to ascertain the load-bearing capacity of the pier.
The council said at that point that analysis was expected to be completed by February.
Argyll and Bute Council and Waverley Excursions have both been asked to comment for this article.
Leave a Reply