Is an aircraft carrier heading for the Clyde?

Two public roads will be closed by the Ministry of Defence next week, amid speculation that a Royal Navy aircraft carrier is heading for the Clyde.

Four years ago the Ministry of Defence (MoD) asked for the A814 beside Loch Long and C69 in Glen Douglas to be closed whenever the Royal Navy’s huge new aircraft carriers came alongside at Glen Mallan.

That request was refused by Argyll and Bute Council, although a ‘clearway’ to stop parking on the roads was agreed as a compromise.

But last year council officials ‘facilitated an urgent request’ from the MoD to impose temporary closures of the roads, which are between Garelochhead and Arrochar.

The council has now announced further closures for the roads, from Monday February 6 to Friday February 10.

A spokesperson said today: “The road is closing following a request from the Ministry of Defence to help facilitate works taking place during that time.”

An MoD spokesperson would only say: “For security reasons we would not routinely comment on vessel movements in advance.”

But tug MV Tempest has today arrived in Greenock from Portsmouth, and it is thought that this will be used when the 65,000-tonne HMS Queen Elizabeth approaches the new £64m jetty at Glen Mallan on Loch Long.

Read more: Property and ‘regeneration’ talks between MoD and Argyll & Bute

Last year a councillor attacked the road closures as ;the thin end of the wedge’.

George Freeman, who the represented the Lomond North ward which icludes the roads, said: “Such a closure will require constituents and the general public, many of whom travel back and forward on the road on a daily basis, to take a lengthy detour along the A817 and A82 to access Arrochar and beyond into Argyll.

“Will the MoD or the council compensate those who will be forced to incur these additional costs?

“Why do the MoD consider that road closures are now required?  I believe that this could be the thin end of the wedge and that such road closures could become the norm.”

The attempt in 2019 to use MoD Police to control civilian traffic followed an announcement of that force’s more active role on public land, which was revealed here and led to questions being asked in the House of Commons by MP Brendan O’Hara.