Acharacle Community Council has put forward a vote of no confidence in Highland Council’s "flawed" plan to replace the Corran Ferry.
In a letter to Highland Council’s chief executive Derek Brown, the group have said it will not support the current strategy to spend £30m of public money.
A spokesperson said: "Acharacle Community Council members wish to formally inform The Highland Council (THC) of a vote of no confidence and no support regarding THC’s current strategy of spending £30m on the first phase of infrastructure for the Corran Ferry transport crossing.
"THC have secured reallocation of £20m that can only be used for infrastructure. A further £10m is still required to make the infrastructure viable to proceed. The overwhelming opinion of our members and community is that if THC can raise this extra £10m, these funds should be allocated immediately to purchase a new diesel ferry that the peninsula needs now.
"The strategy of building the infrastructure to enable the hire of alternative ferries when the MV Corran and MV Maid are out of service is flawed as there aren’t any surplus ferries available. This is well established."
It also said meetings of the Corran Ferry Steering Group, set up to link local communities and council officers, "only to benefit THC as information only flows one way. The community councils and the communities they represent aren’t listened to. Any person who challenges THC is ignored during the meeting to ensure THC keep control of the conversation. In addition, the community councils do not receive minutes of the meetings or proposed actions, which is convenient for deniability.
"The MV Maid of Glencoul has been out of service since August 2023, with a repair stated by THC to last 10 weeks because they were waiting for parts and engineer surveys. The 48-year-old MV Maid is still sitting on her mooring out of service, leaving the peninsula permanently reliant on the 24-year-old MV Corran that is struggling to keep up with capacity even during the winter months.
"During the summer, we can be waiting up to 90 minutes for a ferry. THC proposed electric ferry is supposedly going to be larger. It will be able to carry a grand total of two more vehicles than the current MV Corran. This is not future proofing the transport link across the Corran Narrows.
"The survey undertaken by the six community councils showed results in favour of a fixed link bridge or tunnel in the long term and overwhelming comments for a new diesel ferry now. THC hasn’t even acknowledged the results of the survey.
"The residents of the peninsula have suffered financially and mentally during 2023 when both the MV Corran and the MV Maid were out of service during critical times of the year. It will take a lot of families and businesses a long time to recover, if they ever will.
"The communities are sickened by the lack of empathy or willingness by THC to re-strategize and address the immediate short to medium solution to purchase a new diesel ferry at a cost of £12m-£15m and could be in service in 18 months."
Highland Council says it will be replying to the letter directly.
Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Angus MacDonald (Lib Dem) added: "Acharacle Community Council’s opinion represents the majority of the people on the peninsula.
"The £50m proposal which will result in one ferry does not represent good use of public money. Transport Scotland have a £3.3billion budget and should use a slither of that to build a bridge. Meanwhile a diesel ferry should be commissioned."
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