The public will have its say on the controversial Kilcreggan Harbour project next month, it has been confirmed.
£9.3m plans for a pontoon and breakwater were revealed in January, but led to a backlash from residents who were worried about the future of the village’s 125 year-old pier.
Argyll & Bute Council and Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) officials agreed to look at adapting the current pier instead, saying work on the B-listed structure was ‘likely’ and that delaying the consultation until after May would allow them to ‘include more details of required works to the Victorian pier’.
But last week the Dunoon Observer reported that ‘plans to redevelop Kilcreggan ferry terminal have been abandoned in the face of community pressure’.
Today a council spokesperson denied this, saying: “The outline business case is still live and we intend to launch the public consultation next month.”
The Dunoon Observer also states that a petition has been started asking the council to ‘think again’ about removing the town’s linkspan, which cost £5.1m but has never been used for vehicles as intended.
It was revealed here in May that the cost of the three new vessels planned by CMAL for the Dunoon and Kilcreggan routes had doubled in the space of two years, to a total of £28m.
And this month we revealed that CMAL had tried to keep secret the results of a public survey which showed most Dunoon respondents rejected the new boats’ design, while responses from the Rosneath Peninsula were not even considered.
CMAL initially refused to make any of the survey results available, saying that doing so would ‘prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs’.
But officials backed down after the intervention of the Scottish Freedom of Information Commissioner, releasing some data from the survey but still claiming other sections should be confidential, citing data protection and saying other information ‘is being withheld as disclosure is highly likely to inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation’.
They information which has been released shows that 55% of the survey respondents did not agree with the recommendations, and only 41% were satisfied with the features of the recommended vessel.
There were 54 responses from Dunoon ferry users and eight from people who use the Kilcreggan ferry, which were ‘removed’ from the results, despite the survey itself stating it was ‘open to all interested individuals who travel via the Dunoon passenger vessels or have an alternative interest in the project’.
When publicising the survey, the state-owned company’s social media said the new vessels would also serve Kilcreggan.
Documents from a working group involving CMAL, CalMac, Transport Scotland and Argyll & Bute Council – revealed following previous FOI requests – showed that it was planned for three sister vessels to serve both routes, although it was acknowledged that this would be ‘over spec’ for Kilcreggan.
Since then it has been suggested that the new Kilcreggan vessel might be smaller than the Dunoon boats, although regardless of that the new 40-metre Dunoon vessel (pictured above) would be expected to act as relief for Kilcreggan, meaning its design is crucial to the existing pier and its possible replacement.
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