AMBITIOUS plans have been revealed for a fixed link which could connect Helensburgh to the Cowal peninsula.

A series of potential routes have been unveiled by a Cowal community group which wants to improve links between the area and the central belt of Scotland.

The Cowal Fixed Link Working Group has come up with 11 possible routes utilising road, rail and a combination of both – six of which would provide a direct link between Helensburgh and Cowal.

One particularly ambitious idea proposes building a bridge carrying both road and a new railway across the Gare Loch between Rhu and Rosneath, and tunnels underneath the mouth of Loch Long from Cove to Strone and under the Holy Loch to Sandbank.

That proposal would also involve building a railway all the way from Rhu to Dunoon.

Another would see a bridge built across Loch Long to the west of Garelochhead, and a new road – and possibly railway – extending from Garelochhead to the shore of the inland Loch Eck, north of Dunoon.

No work has yet been carried out on the potential costs of any of the proposals, but the group is formally seeking the support of Argyll and Bute Council for the project, and has written an open letter to all 36 of the area's elected councillors to ask for their backing.

In that letter the group's chairman, Cowal resident David McKenzie, acknowledges that any such link would be a “significant capital project” but that it could “transform the fortunes of this area for future generations”.

Mr McKenzie said: “A project such as this fixed link will take many years to deliver but the expected economic benefit makes it well worth the effort to start now.

“The Borders Railway took nearly two decades to go from concept to delivery, but the benefits now being delivered are exceeding all expectations.

“We look to Argyll and Bute councillors to have the same vision that their Borders colleagues demonstrated in the late nineties and allow this project to get under way.”

With an eye on the Borders Rail project, the group has sought guidance from the leader of Borders Council on the challenges faced by that scheme and the approaches taken to make it a reality.

Argyll and Bute Council's Bute and Cowal area committee has already recommended that the local authority “participates with all other relevant partners in future discussions”.