Ulva Ferry upgrade parked up
Work on a £250,000 project to improve Ulva Ferry has come to a halt just before completion – because of coronavirus.
The parking scheme is another victim of COVID-19 and will have to wait for restrictions to ease before labourers can return to finish it.
The money to improve parking had come from the Scottish Government’s Rural Tourism and Infrastructure Fund set up to help communities cope with the demand of growing visitor numbers.
Mull and Iona Community Trust applied through Argyll and Bute Council to get help from the fund, administered by VisitScotland.
Lack of an official car park and bad parking on verges and in ditches was putting visitors and locals at risk, as well as causing problems for fishermen and deliveries getting to Ulva, said Moray Finch, general manager of Mull and Iona
Community Trust (MICT). The new area, close to the ferry point, will double the previous parking capacity and make room for three motor home standings with facilities to get rid of chemical toilet waste.
Mr Finch said: ‘We are pretty devastated it will hardly be used this year, depending on how long coronavirus restrictions last for.
‘We hope everyone comes through this safely and we know the facilities will be there when this is done. The project was nearly finished.’
All that remains to be done is to complete some hard-surfacing and soft-landscaping, added Mr Finch.
He said people on Mull and its islands were looking forward to welcoming visitors back, but it was a worrying time for residents.
‘There’s a lot of people here whose livelihoods are threatened but what’s shining through is amazing community spirit,’ said Mr Finch.