Where is Jenny Gilruth?

Everyone has been asking Jenny Gilruth MSP, the transport minister with her £4 billion annual budget, to come and meet at Corran, she is hiding, it seems even Kate Forbes is not senior enough to get her attention.

The Corran Narrows have had more reviews and consultations than the NHS it seems. The busiest ferry route in Europe we are told, with a very elderly 47-year-old and senior 23-year-old pair of ferries both of which should have been replaced ages ago.

The MV Corran, built in Hull in 2001 for £2.1m, has been away having a painfully long overhaul since October, with its older, much smaller sister shuttling back and forth.

It has been clear for ages that the ferries are bound to fail and a long detour on single track roads, already a challenge, will be catastrophic should the ferries fail in the summer.

Highland Council officials responding to demands for ferries fit to be used on other routes and zero carbon emissions proposed two very expensive ferries, new harbours and crew accommodation. A prohibitive cost of £70m and a several year wait. The council already has debt of £1.1 billion and an annual capital expenditure programme of £55-£60m; with many other projects competing for that budget the ferries are both unaffordable and unlikely to get the support of other councillors from 150 miles away.

At the Highland Council meeting last Thursday, I proposed an identical diesel MV Corran ferry be commissioned, guesstimated at a cost of £10£15m. Presumably we have the drawings. This would save years and be affordable by the council or Westminster’s Levelling Up Fund. A survey of the inhabitants of Ardnamurchan, Morvern and Nether Lochaber must be undertaken to gauge the appetite for a tunnel or bridge, and then the transport minister can be driven up the worse road in Scotland, the A82, to have a serious discussion about a fixed link.

The West Highlands has had next to no infrastructure investment for decades, surely the Corran is a worthy project, Ms Gilruth?

Angus MacDonald, Liberal Democrat Highland Councillor.