Letters / A missed opportunity
We at the Whalsay Community Council read with interest of a recent visit by the Chief Executive of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) Stuart Black when it appeared in the local media and the comments that were made regarding fixed links to the North Isles.
We were disappointed that Mr Black did not have the opportunity to travel to Whalsay, where he would have seen the North Isle with the highest number of island inhabitants dependant on a reliable transport link.
Mr Black could have travelled into Whalsay on the Hendra, the oldest SIC ferry in the SIC fleet with no disabled access to its toilets or passenger saloon and now double its original envisaged life-term from when it was built.
The Whalsay ferries are presently running from ferry terminals also long overdue for replacement on the longest and only North Isles route requiring three terminals; due to the adverse weather conditions experienced on those exposed open waters routes.
If members of the Whalsay Community Council would have had the opportunity to meet Mr Black in Whalsay, we could then have pointed out how the roro ferry terminal was built on to the side of a pier originally built for fisheries and the additional ferry berths that were commandeered by the SIC over the intervening years for ferry operations in our Whalsay fishing harbour.
We could also have shown him the dilapidated ferry terminal waiting room and public toilets built over half a century ago with no disabled access.
And while up at the able bodied only waiting room and public toilets overlooking the Whalsay ferry terminal Mr Black would also have had a nice view of the previous site of the Whalsay ferry link to the outside world, the sma dock; now long abandoned to its fate by the SIC nearly half a century ago and presently in a very dangerous condition, while disintegrating and collapsing unhindered into the sea after many decades of neglect.
It appears to us that with Mr Black not having the opportunity to visit Whalsay, the SIC may have missed a perfect opportunity to highlight the obvious state of some of the SIC’s most neglected and antiquated SIC transport infrastructure in our islands; the sight of these facilities may have persuaded Mr Black of the necessity of encouraging our government to upgrade our island’s transport links to a condition fit for this century.
The transport link option favoured by the majority of the Whalsay community is a fixed link which is shown in SIC documents to be the most environmentally and economically friendly transport link option presently available to connect our North islands with the Shetland mainland.
Our Whalsay community have sourced three offers in recent years, for the construction of a tunnel to link our Island to the Shetland mainland; all were dismissed after flawed figures favouring ferry services as our islands transport link were presented to the councillors and the Scottish Government.
William Polson
Vice Chair
On behalf of the Whalsay Community Council
Note: Earlier this week Highlands and Island Enterprise has given a commitment to visit Whalsay in the near future. See our story below.
HIE says it recognises the ‘extent of transport challenges’ that affect Shetland communities
