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Councils and officials met at Tayinloan Pier. To buy: c13gig01 |
TUESDAY’S specially called meeting to try and solve the constant disruption of the Gigha ferry service was told that the £2M previously earmarked is no longer guaranteed.
Instead the project will have to present a business case and fight it out alongside other council services like social work, the final decision being made by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).
The Mid Argyll and Kintyre and the Islands Area Committee met at Tayinloan Pier and saw the problems first hand.
The councillors and officials then sailed to the island and reconvened in the Gigha Hotel, joined by islanders and local business owners.
The problems of silting up of sand and weed at Tayinloan Pier were highlighted in the winter of 2006 when dredgers were brought and it took them two months to clear the berth.
When the Gigha ferry has to go via Kennacraig it causes chaos.
There are a number of options that are being considered as a solution to this problem. The best possible long term solution is lengthening the breakwater at Tayinloan Pier as well as making modifications to the causeway of the pier and sand bypass, at a total cost of £2,268,000. This was put forward as a recommendation to the Executive to mix these two options.
It was also put forward that provision for this work should be taken out the council’s reserve funds, or any money left over from other projects in Argyll and Bute should be taken into consideration and made available for the Gigha service.
Although no funding has been allocated towards the Gigha ferry this year, £1M has been allocated for 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 but it was proposed to bring the funds forward to provide money this year and avoid the problems experienced last winter.
Lorraine and Alastair Aitken live at Ferry Farm at Tayinloan and have seen their front garden turn to sand after been eroded away over the past few years.
They are looking for assurance that there is enough money in the pot to save them from the tide. Alistair said: ‘We are at an increased risk of erosion on the ground. The beach is now right in front of our house, it is not just going to affect us, it will remove amenities for the village.’
Lawrie Sinclair, managing director for Caledonian MacBrayne, said: ‘The option of doing nothing is not here, we have tendered and been successful in getting a tender in October last year to provide life line service, we can only provide it if there is infrastructure at both ends. We are unsure whether we will be able to divert sailings to Kennacraig in the future.’
The option of Calmac providing a different ferry to overcome the problem at Tayinloan Pier was dismissed by Mr Sinclair.
One islander said the time length it has taken to solve the problem is ‘absolutely unacceptable’. The disruptions have badly hit Gigha Hotel which struggled to stay open in the winter.
Councillor Rory Colville: ‘If the political will was there the council could solve this problem very quickly. There is £4,347,000 set aside in the capital programme for 2008/09 for sheet piling for Dunoon Pier. In my opinion the work at Tayinloan Pier is critical for the future prosperity of the island and the council should divert some of this money to this life line service.’
Councillor Donald Kelly feels that if Scottish executive funding cannot be identified the council should make provision for this work from its reserves.
He said: ‘Given the importance of the link between Tayinloan and Gigha, this project requires to be treated as a priority.’
