Up to £1.5m is due to be spent on controversial plans for new breakwaters and pontoons in Kilcreggan and Dunoon during the current financial year.
And a report has revealed that new ferries won’t be in service until 2026 – three years later than originally planned, and even that is dependent on funding confirmation.
The public has rejected the preferred option for ‘Dunoon Harbour’, while Argyll and Bute Council has still not revealed the results of the Kilcreggan consultation – which closed nearly six months ago.
But next week councillors will be asked to approve spending of £800,000 on a new breakwater in Dunoon this year, as well as £250,000 for a Kilcreggan Harbour outline business case, though a report says the spending this year is ‘between £1m and £1.5m’
And the cost of plans to replace Kilcreggan’s 125 year-old wooden pier has now risen by 777% to £9.65m – the initial estimate was £1.1m, and the most recent figure was £9.3m.
More than 1,100 people have joined a Facebook group created by the Save Kilcreggan Pier campaign, which was launched because of fears that the council would not maintain the historic pier if it was no longer used by ferries.
The costs and dates are revealed in a report to next Thursday’s meeting of the council’s harbour board by executive director Kirsty Flanagan.
It says that that the three new planned vessels for Dunoon and Kilcreggan – the costs for which have almost doubled to £28m – are waiting for a needs-based assessment by Transport Scotland, as well as confirmation of funding from Transport Scotland’s investment decision board.
“If approved the vessels may be expected in 2026,” the report states.
“Public consultation has closed for the infrastructure options and the results will be discussed with Argyll and Bute Council harbour board, working group, reference group and be fully available on the council’s website.
“Specifications and tender documents have been drawn up for tender submissions with an aim of starting ground investigation works in the summer if the vessel funding is confirmed.”
Following Thursday’s meeting, where the Kilcreggan results are not included on the agenda, the next scheduled meeting of the harbour board is on November 30.
The council has repeatedly refused Freedom of Information requests for the results of its consultation into the preferred option for Kilcreggan, which closed on March 26 after being extended twice following concerns about its wording being raised by elected councillors.
Why are we contemplating spending over £1m when the needs based assessment has not been completed by Transport Scotland and the funding has not been confirmed, both of which could stop the project? This proposal puts the cart before the horse and is spending taxpayers money on a speculative basis. All spending should cease until needs and funding are confirmed.
There’s also an awful strong smell coming from council offices, why have the council repeatedly refused Freedom of Information requests for the results of its consultation into the preferred option for Kilcreggan, which closed on March 26, what are they hiding?