Plans to replace Papa Stour ferry waiting room

PAPA Stour’s ferry terminal waiting room could be demolished and replaced with an accessible shelter, as part of plans lodged by Shetland Islands Council (SIC). 

The council has applied for planning permission to pull down the existing accessible shelter, and to erect a single-storey replacement.

The new shelter will have an access ramp, as well as an accessible toilet and shower room.

The works are estimated to cost the SIC around £60,000.

It comes as the council looks to improve the accessibility of its waiting facilities at ferry terminals across the isles.

Planning permission was approved earlier this year for the installation of an accessible toilet at Grutness pier, in Virkie, which links Mainland to Fair Isle.

And work got under way in Foula last month to erect a single-storey waiting room with access ramp at its ferry terminal.

Foula does not currently have a waiting room.

The Papa Stour project comes as a major effort to turn its abandoned and disused kirk into a community centre and visitor hub also continues.

The island, which has a population of around 20, was restored a normal electricity supply last month after months of using mobile generators.

Power was lost on Papa Stour in January when a subsea cable developed a fault, with SSEN Distribution switching the power to a newly installed subsea cable last week.