SIC leadership heads to Holyrood to talk tunnels and transport
SHETLAND Islands Council (SIC) leadership has been undertaking a series of a meetings in Edinburgh on inter-island transport connectivity ahead of a key decision-making milestone later this month.
SIC leader Emma Macdonald and chief executive Maggie Sandison made the trip to the capital city to meet with a number of MSPs.
This included with Shetland’s own new representative, the SNP’s Hannah Mary Goodlad, who is also minister for public finance.
The SIC leadership also met with secretary for climate action/rural affairs Gillian Martin (SNP) and convener of the Scottish Parliament’s transport committee Willie Rennie (Liberal Democrats), alongside other cross-party MSPs.
It comes ahead of a full SIC meeting at the end of June where councillors will decide on the options for the future of eight inter-island transport routes.
Tunnels are in the mix alongside ferry replacements for Yell, Unst, Whalsay and Bressay, while ferry options are also being looked at Fetlar, Papa Stour, Foula and Skerries.
A significant amount of work has already been undertaken on the prospect of tunnels, with Yell Sound picked as a test case study.
When including risk and contingency as well as pre-construction activity, the estimated cost of a tunnel from the Shetland mainland to Yell comes to around £400 million.
Macdonald said the SIC was keen to ensure that Holyrood politicians understood the decision the council will make at the end of June.
Regarding tunnels, she said: “I think the work we have done as a council and as a community has made it so that there is a lot of interest in the concept of delivering tunnels and that people are now seeing this can be a reality for Shetland and then for the rest of Scotland.
“We just need to find the mechanism that makes it financially possible.”
Macdonald and Sandison met a range of party MSPs, including Labour’s Donald MacKinnon and Daniel Johnson, the Greens’ Kristopher Leask and Ross Greer, and Graham Simpson and Vic Currie from Reform.
“As a council we are always happy to talk about Shetland and to raise awareness of the need for long-term connectivity for our island communities,” said Macdonald, who was a candidate for the Liberal Democrats in Shetland in the recent election.
She added that in an “ideal world” the SIC would have had the transport connectivity meeting first and then engaged with politicians in Edinburgh.
However, this was not possible due to the timing of the parliament’s recess around the May election.
“We know that it’s important that every party understands the value of what Shetland contributes to the Scottish economy and the opportunities that are available if we have investment in infrastructure that can help grow our industries and economy,” Macdonald continued.
“We also spoke about the impact on our communities where ferry services are no longer able to keep pace with their needs and how this impacts depopulation.
“It is always good to be able to talk about our opportunities and whilst as a council it is clear that we want to see tunnels delivered by our investment in the process so far, I was clear that it’s elected members who will make the decisions for each route at our meeting on 30th June.”
During her election campaign, Goodlad backed tunnels for Shetland and suggested the Scottish Government could use new bonds as a way of financing them.
Bonds are a way of borrowing money to invest in infrastructure and public services, and the Scottish Government previously said it planned to issue the first bonds in “2026 to 2027”.
The council meanwhile previously said in a submission to Westminster’s Scottish Affairs committee that it will have spent nearly £2 million on the inter-island connectivity work by the time the outline business case comes to elected members at the end of June.
After the June meeting it is expected that a 30-year implementation plan will then be created.
Andy Sloan, who is executive vice president of consultants and tunnel experts COWI, previously said the estimated cost of Shetland tunnels should be viewed in a wider national context rather than a Shetland context.
But he said tunnels to some of Shetland’s islands could be “utterly transformational” and added that work undertaken locally could be a “roadmap” for how to deliver infrastructure in rural Scotland.
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