Corran Ferry Meeting with Highland Council

Annie Tordoff and Henriette Laidlaw represented Morvern CC at the meeting yesterday evening about the Corran Crossing.

We will be getting detailed minutes which we will share with you all via Locahline Facebook page and Morvern.org. In the meantime we wanted to share with you some key points.

Kate Lackie, the Interim Chief Executive of Highland Council expressed their profound apology and stated clearly that the current situation and what had let to this happening was indefensible.

The current expectation for the MV Corran’s return to service is 6-8 weeks, we did ask how confident HC is on this date, and were assured that unless other problems occurred that they are confident of this as the part has now been secured.

The immediate actions the council has/will take are.

1. A passenger ferry from Ardgour to Fort William, please note that Highland Council is keen to learn from locals as to what our requirements are relating to the timetable, they have already amended the initial timetable. If you have specific requirements could you send details to morverncc@gmail.com and we will collate from Morvern and send on the HC.  We raised the need for children to get to after school activities, hospital appointments etc.
2. A rib will be put in place between Ardgour and Corran, this should be running at the same timetable as the ferry did. It was made clear that this service would need a shuttle bus from Corran to Fort William to be of use.
3. They are testing various options for commercial transport, but as yet have not been able to find a solution that will work.
4. The passing places on the loch route will be extended where possible, this work will take place during the night. In addition all passing places will get proper signage and there will be free roadside assistance with the numbers available on the road..
5. Highland Council are in liaison with the blue light services, and we should get a statement from them with regard to how emergencies are managed.. In addition NHS Highland has promised they will be more flexible with appointments to ensure patients can attend.

At the meeting several businesses and individuals stated the loss of revenue and cost incurred due to this. Highland Council informed us that whilst responsible  they do not have regulatory obligation to operate the route, therefore there was no current route for compensation. However they would work with the Scottish Government to see if they can come up with a route for compensation. Kate was meeting MSPs etc today.  To facilitate this all affected businesses and private people should consider keeping a log of information, directly evidencing lack of income due to the ferry,  to support compensation.  HC will be sending us a template for this which we will circulate and post a link to it  on FB and put on Morvern.org for you to download as soon as we get it..

Finally there was a long discussion of the long term solution for the crossing, Highland Council acknowledged that there had been a lack of meaningful community engagement and promised to address this for the future. 

Both Annie and Henriette will be at the “Lets do lunch” on Monday April 17 at Lochaline Village hall and are happy to discuss in more details the meeting if you have additional questions.  Please be assured we will put everything on Morvern.org and Lochaline FB page as soon as we hear anything.