The £357,157 bills for Loch Lomond piers
Fiona Howard • Published 28 Oct 2010 09:30
KEEPING Loch Lomond’s tourist offering afloat will cost £357,157.
That is the estimated cost of repairs that will keep the loch’s major piers open for business.
Several have either been closed or partially closed in the interests of public safety.
The state of the piers has been described by one boat operator as “dire” and the national park has described the problem as “serious”.
Letters have gone to the Scottish Government and other agencies seeking support in the form of funding.
Grant Moir, director of conservation and visitor experience for the national park, said this week: “This is a serious situation for the tourist industry in the area and we are working hard to get the funding for the area in a time of economic difficulty.”
The piers and pontoons that the national park authority manage include Duncan Mills Memorial Slipway, Balmaha, Inversnaid, Inveruglas, Luss, Tarbet and Inchcailloch. They have recently been inspected and a number of emergency repairs and closures have had to be undertaken to ensure the safety of the facilities for the general public.
Grant said: “The inspection report details a significant amount of work that needs to be undertaken to get the piers and pontoons into a good state of repair.
“This is estimated at £357,157 including VAT etc. Tarbet, Inversnaid and Luss are the facilities that have the greatest costs associated with them.”
Inversnaid pier is now closed to the public and parts of Tarbet pier and Luss pier have also been taken out of use.
Of the £357,000, some £157,000 will have to be spent on the largest of the piers, Tarbet, where piles and timbers need to be replaced and £79,000 is the necessary spend on Luss pier.
Grant said: “The national park authority is determined to ensure that the piers and pontoons on Loch Lomond that it manages are brought up to an appropriate standard to enable businesses and visitors around the loch to benefit from high quality infrastructure and tourism services.
“We are looking at a range of funding sources, including support from other government bodies and are trying to secure additional money to undertake the capital work. The longer term maintenance of the piers will need to be a private / public partnership between the boat operators that commercially use the piers and the park authority.”
Stuart Cordner, who runs Cruise Loch Lomond from Tarbet pier, one of the worst affected piers on the loch, has written to Jim Mather, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, seeking reassurance that his company “will have a pier to operate from next season”.
This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 28 Oct 10
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