Council quay bid for £60million sunk — for now

March 20, 2024 at 11:01 am

The proposed Scapa Deep Water Quay has recently been estimated to cost £230million. This week, the council has lost out on a bid for £60million from the UK Government, as it is placed on the reserve list for the FLOWMIS fund.

Orkney Islands Council (OIC) has not been successful in its application for £60million in funding to go towards its proposed deep-water quay facility in Scapa Flow.

Instead, the local authority has been put on the reserve list for the UK Government’s Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS).

However, OIC appears to be far from disappointed with the news, with chief executive, Oliver Reid, saying it is “the most realistic and favourable outcome for us at this point.”

Two other projects — Port Talbot and Cromarty Firth — have been listed as the preferred options for the FLOWMIS fund.

The council says its application towards the quay project — recently estimated to cost £230million — did not fail on any of the qualifying criteria, but has been placed on the reserve list.

This means, according to OIC, that the Orkney application may be reconsidered for funding if either of the projects placed on the priority list are subsequently rejected from the process or do not proceed.

OIC’s chief executive, Oliver Reid, said: “Being placed on the reserve list for this fund is the most realistic and favourable outcome for us at this point in the development of the project.

“In April last year the council determined that three key things needed to happen before the projects could go ahead.

“They needed to achieve all relevant consents including terrestrial and marine planning permissions, there needed to be suitable funding streams identified and an economic business case in place, and there needed to be clear benefit for Orkney’s communities as well as for the council.

“With some of these aspects still being worked on — and no decision yet taken by elected members as to whether to go ahead with the project — effectively being placed on hold by the funders for now, is the right place for us to be.

“This gives us space and time to work on those other aspects — and scope for further discussion with government on our requirements.”

For the full story on the future of the deep water quay project, look out for this week’s edition of The Orcadian.