Frustration as peninsula is left out of Levelling Up bid

**Should the Rosneath Peninsula have been included in a new Marine Gateways project?**

A plea for Cove and Kilcreggan to be included in a £20m ‘marine gateway’ project for Argyll and Bute has fallen on deaf ears.

Argyll and Bute Council is currently bidding for a total of £70m in ‘levelling up’ funding from the UK Government.

This is split into two parts – a £50m transport bid, which includes ‘Connected Helensburgh’ and could see the town’s neglected pier brought back into use, and £20m to create ‘Western Seaboard Marine Gateways’.

The latter bid looks set to include Dunoon and Rothesay only, if councillors follow officials’ recommendations at a meeting tomorrow.

But Cove and Kilcreggan should be included in the projects, according to community council convener Alistair Lamont, who requested this in a letter to the council last December.

This week he finally received a reply, which said that some areas would miss out on the opportunity.

Mr Lamont’s letter highlighted new housing which was putting the villages’ infrastructure under strain, adding: “Since the early stages of the Covid pandemic there has been a large increase in visitor numbers, many coming around the peninsula by road and others over for the day on ferry trips from Gourock.

“The villages have also proved to be an to be increasingly popular destination for cyclists and, increasingly, kayakers; they also fall into the staycation category in which Argyll and Bute Council are heavily investing.

“In addition to many Airbnb and bed and breakfast facilities, two motorhome spaces were recently marked out in the Kilcreggan ferry terminal car park.”

He said local shops were losing business because of a lack of parking and asked for the proposed Dumbarton to Rosneath cycle track to be extended to Kilcreggan, where the ferry terminal acts as a transport hub.

**‘Camper van’ markings appeared in spaces on Kilcreggan’s car park last year, but have hardly been used and were said by locals to be in the wrong place.**

“Such is the lack of infrastructure funding devoted to the villages by successive administrations, over the last 100 or so years, there is no doubt that if any of the merchants from the 19th century were to return today, standfast poorly maintained footpaths, parking facilities and roads, they would see little change,” he said.

“The decision-making process for the new ferry and terminal facilities would appear provide an ideal opportunity to bring the infrastructure of Cove and Kilcreggan into the 21st century.”

The council, CMAL, CalMac and Transport Scotland last month revealed a £9.3m plan for a pontoon and a breakwater in Kilcreggan, which community councillors said was a ‘missed opportunity’ for other development in the village.

Replying to Mr Lamont, the council’s executive director Kirsty Flanagan said the Levelling Up bids had been decided ‘based on what would be best placed to attract funding from UK Government at fairly short notice and also taking into consideration the timescale for delivery’.

“This does mean that some areas will miss out on the opportunity to be part of the bid, but there will be other funding routes available so we are keen to work with communities to identify potential projects for the future,” she said.

“We are working towards having a ‘pipeline of projects’ in order to be ready for any announcements of new monies.”

She added that linking the cycle track to Kilcreggan was ‘the ultimate ambition’ but this would require funding, while concerns about parking had been passed on to officials, and might be addressed by the bid for low carbon buses in the Helensburgh area.

Second restoration planned for Dunoon’s pier

The Marine Gateways initiative would focus on Rothesay and on the A-listed Dunoon Pier, which would see ‘a further phase of restoration and possible demolition of unused features’.

This would be as well as the £7m plans for a new pontoon in Dunoon, to accommodate the same ferries as Kilcreggan.

The council completed a ‘flagship’ £2.8m restoration and refurbishment project at Dunoon pier in 2016.

The council has previously declined to commit to maintaining Kilcreggan’s B-listed Victorian pier.

There would also be ‘improvements to the town centre/waterfront public realm’ in Dunoon, to go with completion of the Queens Hall, a conservation area initiative and a cycle bothy project.

A report to tomorrow’s meeting says the transport bid for levelling up funds will partly focus on links between Helensburgh and the Faslane naval base: “To assist the continued integration of the base with the wider community it is considered a further substantial investment is required in terms of transport connectivity.