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Gigha to Tayinloan ferry. To buy; c17gig01 |
ARGYLL and Bute Council is ‘working on the assumption’ that it is gong to get the £2million it needs to carry out vital improvements to the ferry berth at Tayinloan.
If it doesn’t get the cash then it could well look to Caledonian MacBrayne to help foot the bill by increasing berthing dues and these in turn will end up being passed on to passengers in the form of higher fares.
At Thursday’s meeting of the council executive Andy Law, Director of Operations for the council told members that some elements of the cash could be coming from the Scottish Government as yet unallocated piers and harbours funding which will be divided up between the different members of COSLA, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities; in short Argyll and Bute would have to fight for it amongst all the other Scottish island communities. Councillor Robin Currie said: ‘When are we going to get this decision? For the last two winters the people of Gigha have suffered greatly.’
Mr Law said the council’s timetable would be a business case ready by June or July and the design work done by the end of the year; the project would go out to tender for the 2009-2010 financial year and hopefully start that year.
