Transport and the Environment Committee, 18 Feb 2003
Meeting date: Tuesday, February 18, 2003
Official Report
279KB pdf
Highlands and Islands Ferry Services
We will take item 5 next, as it should be shorter and more straightforward than petition PE377. The item is our consideration of the Executive's response to the committee's paper on the Clyde and Hebrides network. We are to consider developments on the Gourock to Dunoon route, note the time scale for the final service specification for the Clyde and Hebrides network and consider which issues in relation to the competitive tendering of ferry services we want to highlight in a legacy paper.
I invite Maureen Macmillan, as reporter to the committee, to comment first on the response to the paper. I shall then give other members the opportunity to comment.
The response so far from the Executive is narrowly focused on the Clyde crossing, and gives us no indication of what will happen about our other recommendations.
I am pleased that there has been movement on the Gourock to Dunoon crossing, as there was a great deal of concern about the original proposals to include the crossing in the bundle. The committee can probably note with satisfaction the fact that the service has been removed from the Clyde and Hebrides network to be put out to tender separately. Bidders will also be allowed to produce bids on the basis of a combined passenger and vehicle service, or a passenger-only service—whatever the bidder wants.
There is only one area of concern. The minister says that he intends to maintain the restrictions on the frequency and length of the operating day. I realise that that is probably based on the advice of the European Commission, but I would like to explore that further with the minister, because I do not see the logic for maintaining the restrictions. If the passenger-only service is not competing, and the vehicle service is self-sufficient—that is, not subsidised—why is the Commission still advising that there should be restrictions?
I am also concerned about pedestrian access from Glasgow later in the evening. That particularly worried young people to whom I spoke when I was in Dunoon, although it is not included in the reporter's report—I wrote to the Executive about it separately. Pedestrian access to Dunoon by ferry later in the evening is an issue, so I would like the committee to consider raising that with the minister.
Everything else in the committee's recommendations ought to be raised again in the committee's legacy document. The Clyde and Hebrides services are extremely important to the communities and the economy of the west of Scotland, in particular on the islands. Some of those communities are fragile, and we must ensure that they receive the best possible deal from the new specifications. I look forward to hearing input from other members of the committee.
Does any other member wish to speak? I hear John Scott commending Maureen Macmillan's good work.
Maureen Macmillan has raised a number of points that she wishes us to pursue with the minister. Are members content that we should correspond with the minister?
Members indicated agreement.
We can also update a legacy paper for our successor committee on the issues, which will obviously be considered after the elections.