Scottish Government urged to take on Ardrossan Harbour from Peel Ports

Lt Commander RN Retd Colin Milne wrote to Fiona Hyslop this week to draw her attention to "the continuing unsatisfactory standard of maintenance of Ardrossan Harbour by the owner Peel Ports".

And he's suggested they pay the controlling company just £1 for the facility - due to their "neglect".

After hearing about his complaints, Peel Ports have now invited Mr Milne to meet them at Ardrossan Harbour to "explain the situation from their perspective".

In his letter he said: "Ardrossan Harbour is a key piece of national infrastructure which supports the lifeline service for residents of the Isle of Arran.

"As a retired Royal Navy officer with warship command experience, I am shocked to observe the accelerating deterioration of the state of the port of Ardrossan over the last 12 years during my regular trips from my home on the Isle of Arran to the mainland. 

"The inner face of the outer harbour wall has suffered a significant collapse of the masonry with that area of the car park now fenced off. This begs the question as to the integrity of the entire outer harbour wall at the entrance to the port."

He continued: "Earlier this year the secondary Irish berth was suddenly and permanently closed due to the unsound structure of the wall of the berth due to 'overuse by the ferry company', according to Peel Ports, which levies substantial annual income from CalMac for harbour dues.

"The structure had in fact become unsound due to the neglect of regular maintenance by Peel Ports and followed previous lack of availability because the linkspan berthing facility had also become unserviceable due to lack of maintenance.

"The main Arran berth has suffered several closures due to lack of maintenance of fendering and berthing facilities."

Lt Commander Milne said the closure of the berth had a "very detrimental effect on on the ferry service to the Isle of Arran, forcing the second vessel in summer months to operate a reduced level of service on the much longer route to Troon, whose passenger facilities are inconvenient, exposed to the weather and whose connections to North Ayrshire's hospitals and train travel to and from Glasgow are significantly worse than Ardrossan's".

MV Caledonian Isles (Image: James McLaughlin) He also referenced the current issue with navigational aids, which has led to cancellations of critical early morning and evening services.

The Lt Commander added: "All these issues are symptomatic of years of neglect of Ardrossan Harbour by Peel Ports. The harbour is an essential piece of Scotland's national infrastructure whose facilities must be maintained to an appropriate standard to allow the lifeline service from Ardrossan to Brodick to operate reliably."

A petition to nationalise Clydeport to bring it into public ownership has already been lodged with Holyrood.

He added: "CalMac's comprehensive submission at pages 21-22, listing further lack of attention to maintenance issues, is a damning indictment of Peel Port's scandalous failure to maintain Ardrossan Harbour to a safe standard, and provides ample justification for the Scottish Government to take the harbour into public ownership under the terms of the Harbours Act 1964 and the Marine Navigation Act 2013.

"You should be in no doubt that abandoning Ardrossan in favour of Troon would be totally unacceptable to islanders. Already, several of our acquaintances have felt compelled to leave the island due to the increasing unreliability of the ferry service.

"Peel Ports must not be allowed to get away with their incompetent and negligent custody of such an important asset, while receiving substantial income from it."

He urged the Scottish Government to apply pressure on Peel Ports to commit to paying their full share of the improvements required.

And he added: "If Peel Ports are not prepared to comply promptly, the transport minister should make it clear that a compulsory purchase order will be issued.

"A suitable precedent would be the purchase of Prestwick Airport by the Scottish Government for £1 in 2013."

Peel Ports said today that they would be happy to meet Mr Milne "who is obviously a highly experienced mariner as well as an Arran resident" at Ardrossan to discuss his concerns.

They said they had spent millions on Ardrossan and had committed to much more spending as part of the upgrade plan.

A spokesperson added: “The ongoing cancellations, delays, and uncertainty are devastating for the people and businesses of Arran and Ardrossan.

“Peel Ports remains fully committed to the original Port redevelopment programme and is ready to begin the public procurement process once the ministerial taskforce approves the revised business case.

“In the meantime, Ardrossan Harbour continues to operate safely and effectively, with no recent cancellations at the Arran berth due to maintenance, aside from scheduled repairs for vessel damage.”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government remains committed to ensuring the Arran ferry service is fit for the future, and to find a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost-effective way reflecting the needs of all partners involved.

“We acknowledge the call for a commitment to Ardrossan and absolutely understand the views of the communities in favour of retaining Ardrossan as the mainland port and this has been laid out in the draft business case accordingly.

"The business case work and overall delivery of the project needs to be supported by the financial packages from each of the main funding partners.

"It is imperative therefore that these and the legal agreements are clearly defined, are affordable and ensures value to the public purse. The business case is substantially complete, and project partners continue to work on this as quickly as practicable.

“A meeting of the Task Force will be reconvened soon after the business case and cost exercise review has been submitted to Ministers for a decision."

“Regardless of ownership, we recognise the impact of delays and disruption where Peel Ports Group as statutory harbour authority and CalMac as operator work closely to resolve and address any operational issues that may arise.”