Arran’s airports underutilised

Sir

On reading the Scottish Government document, The National Islands Plan Survey – final report July 9, 2021, on which the future of our island communities depends apparently, I found the following under the Main Finding section (use of Air Transport).

‘Residents of Mainland Shetland and Mainland Orkney make most use of flights to and from the mainland, with 58 per cent doing so more than once a year. This is significantly greater than residents of Arran, Bute and the Cumbraes, who had the lowest levels of use.’

The more astute reader will have spotted, that while several islands do indeed have an airport or landing facilities, Arran, Bute and the Cumbraes certainly do not. With this lack of knowledge or attention to detail in Holyrood what could possibly go wrong and is it any wonder that we are experiencing the current long running ferries fiasco? Do they even know where the islands are?

Yours

Neil HC Arthur

Kilpatrick.