Cruise Cockenzie

A new cruise port at Burtisland is being suggested by Fife councillors as part of the Edinburgh and south east Scotland city deal. There is no question that the Forth desperately needs a modern cruise port given the berthing restrictions in Leith and Rosyth.

Most of the 100-plus cruise ships visiting the Forth annually are forced to dock in the estuary with passengers ferried ashore by small tender boats.thisisweatherdependent, risky, time-consuming and expensive for cruise operators, who are desperate for a deep water quay close to Edinburgh.

But is Burntisland the best location on the Forth, given the vast majority of passengers want to visit Scotland’s capital city?

Since the closure of the Cockenzie power station in 2013, Prestonpans Community Council has been urging East Lothian Council and the Scottish Government to consider Cockenzie as the best location on the Forth estuary for a cruise and ferry port.

East Lothian Council has initiated a port engineering study to establish whether a cruise port at Cockenzie is feasible and if that is established, surely city deal public money would be better spent on the south side of the Forth, closer to Edinburgh and with better transport links?

Fife councillors are right to argue their corner but surely it is in Scotland’s best economic

interests for scarce public money to be invested wisely.

The current Scottish Parliament enquiry into the Calmac ferries debacle is hopefully focusing minds in Transport Scotland when it comes to getting value for money from the public purse for transport projects in Scotland!

BRIAN WEDDELL

Chairperson, Prestonpans Community Council, Dolphingstone View,

Prestonpans