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Funding from HITRANS, totalling over £1.5m, will be used develop improved connections between Islay and Jura, and Seil and Luing.

This was agreed by the Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee on Thursday 19 June.

The funding will help take forward some of the key priorities, to ensure the ferries’ resilience, agreed by the committee last year.

Recruiting suitably qualified staff, who live on Islay, to operate the Jura ferry has proven to be challenging over the years. Some of the funding will be allocated to create on-site accommodation at Port Askaig. This will make the seven-day rota more attractive to a wider cohort of candidates for the role.

Funding will be allocated to develop plans for a new Jura ferry. This will create a concept design that defines the vessel’s requirements including size, capacity, propulsion method and the various regulations it will have to meet to operate across that stretch of water.

A new vessel operating between Islay and Jura will free up the Eilean Dhiura to take over the Cuan Sound route, which will provide additional resilience (alongside the Belnahua). This is good news for residents on Luing. It will also provide improved waste collections for the island as larger capacity lorries will be able to do pick-ups. The HITRANS funding will allow for plans to progress on developing the new infrastructure that will be required to accommodate a larger vessel at Cuan. 

Councillor John Armour, Policy Lead for Roads, Transport and Amenity ��������, said: “We are grateful to HITRANS for funding. This will help us take our priority projects forward more quickly. 

“On-site accommodation puts us in a far better position to recruit from a wider pool of appropriately trained ferry staff for Jura. We can also start the detailed planning required to design the Eilean Dhiura’s successor and supporting infrastructure on Luing.

“Delivering reliable ferry services is vital for our island communities, for the local economy and for the people who come to visit. This is something the Council does that many other local authorities do not, and it is something to which we are committed.”