News / Walls pier gets go ahead
PLANS to build a new £3.5 million pier in the Shetland village of Walls should proceed next year after permission was granted by the local planning board on Wednesday.
The 100 year old existing pier is no longer capable of coping with the demand from the local aquaculture industry and the ferry that serves the Atlantic island of Foula.
Work designing and preparing the planning application has been going on for the past four years and Shetland Islands Council has promised to pay for the work.
SIC planning board chairman Frank Robertson stepped down from the chair while the application was discussed as he has played a major part in its preparation as local councillor for Shetland West.
After the meeting he said that he was delighted the plans had been approved and expected contracts to be awarded before the end of this year so building work could commence next spring.
“The existing pier is 100 years old in May this year and suffering from structural fatigue and we will shortly be coming to the point where there will be a load restriction placed on this pier,” he said.
“That will make it very difficult for the aquaculture industry, for heavy loads to be taken on and off the pier and for cargo going to Foula.”
A recent socio-economic study demonstrated that the pier assisted in the generation of £1.8 million a year and 30 aquaculture industry jobs depended on it.
The new concrete pier will be 128 metres long and 10 metres wide with storage areas and a waiting room for Foula ferry passengers. There will be a 95 metre long rock armoured breakwater built immediately south of the new pier to support and protect the structure from south easterly gales.
The developers expect 2,600 lorries will deliver 18,000 square metres of stone to the site, with 10 loads a day over the year it will take to build.
Three local people objected to the application raising concerns including too many buildings going up on the site, heavy traffic when children go to and from school and foul odour from the aquaculture industry.
The planners have said traffic should be restricted between 8.30am and 9am and between 3.15 and 3.45pm to protect children.
Mitigation measures are also being introduced to minimise the impact of subsea blasting on dolphins, whales and otters that visit the area.
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