The £1.1m Kilcreggan Harbour project will be designed before a decision is made on the village’s new ferry, councillors from Dunoon will hear next week.
And a second Argyll and Bute councillor from the Cowal area is set to be appointed to the reference group which will advise on the project – while there is still no council representative for the Rosneath Peninsula area.
The council, CalMac, Transport Scotland and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) are working on a joint project which will see three new ferries with an estimated cost of £21m running between Gourock, Dunoon and Kilcreggan.
And new shoreside facilities to accommodate these catamarans are also planned, with five concepts and 11 designs put forward for ‘Kilcreggan Harbour’.
The council has refused to release details of these, saying that to do so would ‘undermine public confidence in the project’, but they are thought to involve pontoons or linkspans, sparking fears for the future of Kilcreggan’s B-listed wooden pier.
Next Tuesday the council’s Bute and Cowal area committee will be asked to appoint a second councillor from that area on the project’s reference group – which represents residents, has been giving feedback on the proposals and will give updates to government ministers.
No reason is given for this suggested extra appointment.
After the lack of any local input into the project was revealed here, the council was invited this spring to nominate a member who would represent the Rosneath Peninsula.
This did not happen until September, when Conservative Cllr Barbara Morgan was finally appointed – but she resigned the next month.
A by-election for her Lomond North ward seat is being held next month, and it is thought that a replacement member on the reference group will be appointed after that.
Originally three sister vessels had been planned, but the new Dunoon ferries are now expected to be 35-metre catamarans which can carry up to 250 passengers, whereas the Kilcreggan vessel will have a maximum capacity of 85.
But a report to next week’s meeting by executive director Kirsty Flanagan confirms that Kilcreggan Harbour will be designed to accommodate the larger Dunoon boats
“To ensure capacity and resilience across the service, the infrastructure at Kilcreggan will be designed to accommodate the ‘Dunoon Class’ of vessel,” it states.
“This also allows Argyll and Bute Council to proceed with design concepts at Kilcreggan without waiting for the final decision on the ‘Kilcreggan Class’ design.”
Following the resignation of Barbara Morgan from the Council, I emailed the Executive Director and asked that the appointment of a Helensburgh & Lomond councillor to the Gourock Harbour Reference Group to take up the position on that Group vacated by the resignation of Barbara Morgan be considered at the first Council meeting. If it was to wait for it to come to the next Helensburgh & Lomond Area Committee for an appointment to be made, this would mean that it would be well in to next year before a local councillor could attend a meeting of that group. I copied my email to all councillors so that all political parties were aware of my proposal. Unfortunately none of the political parties on the Council’s Administration (Conservative, SNP or Liberal Democrat) were willing to support my proposal which means that we are still in the unacceptable position of having no local councillor on that Group to speak on behalf of the those living on the Rosneath Peninsula or across the Helensburgh & Lomond area. It is most disappointing that councillors who are members of these political parties were not willing to put the needs of the people they were elected to represent first. Councillor George Freeman – Independent Councillor.
Well said George. Looking forward to standing shoulder to shoulder with you when I’m elected.
I find this incredible that any local councillor would not recognise the integral importance of our beloved pier and ferry being not only continued but the service upgraded and made fit for purpose as in Evening boats allowing theatre and cinema visits,and boats to enable easier peninsula travel to hospital appointments ,and even a car ferry ,whilst cutting the carbon emissions as per COP26. Upgrade the pier into something even more beautiful…other countries manage it.!!
The constant 30/45 and 1.30 hr drives for peninsula folk to enable health work and just basic pleasure was literally (THE HISTORY OF HELENSBURGH……JOHN B ASHWORTH ) easier in the 18th Century .
Most countries treasure the historical features they live with .
France in particular makes so much investment in its historical villages and features .
They have aesthetics however.
In response to councillor Freeman’s comments regarding the appointment of a lomond and helensburgh councillor onto Gourock Harbour reference group ,I would point out to him neither myself or my SNP colleagues are on the administration , In reference to him not getting any support from councillors regarding his proposal of taking it to full council, I was under the impression that he was accepting if not satisfied with the executive directors response, email on the 29th of October , I would also point out to him, that as seems to be the case now, if he was not satisfied why he did not take the matter up first with his group Argyll and bute first and the other ‘independent councillors “ as that would amount to nine plus himself , before looking for support from councillors who are political affiliated…
I can also tell councillor Freeman this matter is coming before area committee on the 17th December after talking with officers recently about this and other matters in our ward , which are of concern to my constituents , so hopefully we will have a representative from Helensburgh and Lomond on the GHRG by the end of the month..
Iain Shonny Paterson
SNP councillor
Lomond North
I should remind Councillor Paterson that my original email dated 14 October 2021 to the Executive Director on this subject was copied to 34 of the other 35 Argyll & Bute councillors. The only one who was excluded was one councillor who told me some time ago that she only wanted to receive emails from me that related to a specific service / topic.
I am well aware that this matter will come before the Area Committee on 17 December. I was the one who highlighted this to the Executive Director in my original email to him when I stated that “if the appointment has to wait until the next Area Committee meeting [17 December 2021], then it is clear that we will be well in to next year before Helensburgh & Lomond has any input to the Group. I believe that the ongoing delay in any input to the Group from Helensburgh & Lomond is unacceptable”. Unfortunately I did not receive a reply until 29 October 2021.
I certainly was not satisfied with the response from the Executive Director. As Councillor Paterson is aware, I stated in a subsequent email to the Executive Director that: “As you will be aware, the invitation was specifically for a member of the Helensburgh & Lomond Area Committee to join the Group. Given that Helensburgh & Lomond members have been deprived of any input to the above important Group for some considerable time, I thought that my suggestion would be pragmatic in trying to take this matter forward rather than Helensburgh & Lomond members continuing to be deprived of influencing any decisions taken by the Group that impact on Kilcreggan and my constituents at Kilcreggan. I would not have thought that any members would be opposed to agreeing that only Helensburgh & Lomond members would vote on that issue”.
Following further discussion / correspondence on this issue with a number of individuals, and when all three political parties on the Council ignored my email as none came back to me to offer any support for my proposal, it became clear to me that, although I was not satisfied with the Executive Directors response and was not willing to accept it, it was clear that there was not a will within the Council to try and progress an early appointment of a Helensburgh & Lomond councillor to the Group. Councillor George Freeman.
Yes i was aware off the earlier correspondence but did not think it necessary to list emails just dates or contents therein which are covered by data protection.I agree that it is important that the community of Kilcreggan and lomond North has representation GHRG that was why I put myself forward for the position in September, I am hopeful that we will have a member on the board by the 18th , appointed by area committee on the 17th December..
Councillor Shonny paterson Lomond North