There is ‘absolutely’ an appetite for fixed links, says OIC leader

There is “absolutely” support for fixed links in Orkney, council leader Heather Woodbridge has said.

But funding from government is needed before such projects can even be explored, as Orkney Islands Council does not have “budgets to speculate,” she added.

Councillor Woodbridge was giving evidence to a Scottish Affairs Committee hearing on fixed links, held on Wednesday.

She was speaking alongside representatives of Western Isles Council and Shetland Islands Council, who described the major infrastructure projects they are exploring to link some of their islands.

The inquiry by the UK Government committee was announced last October. It is examining which communities, if any, would benefit from connections like bridges and tunnels — and what role the Westminster Government could have in supporting these.

Councillor Woodbridge said she believed “the appetite is absolutely there” for fixed links.

She said the financial situation was different than in the Faroe Islands, adding that the costs of their vast tunnelling efforts were underwritten by the Danish Government.

Councillor Woodbridge said: “We are a tiny local authority. We do not have budgets to speculate. We are so highly scrutinised by a very highly engaged population.”

Government help would be needed before OIC could do the investigative work to see if any fixed links might be appropriate, the council leader said.

Councillor Woodbridge described this is a “real block” on progress, as the council doesn’t want to raise the expectations of the community without having the financial security to progress the work.

“We have a number of very intelligent and thoughtful arguments for a number of fixed links in Orkney,” the OIC leader added.

Councillor Woodbridge added that one of the main reasons for the other island authorities being further ahead in their plans is their geography. She said that were more obvious examples of islands to be linked in Shetland and the Western Isles.

“There is a lot more subtlety in that conversation around actually what is the obvious connections [in Orkney] — is it Kirkwall to Shapinsay, is it Eday to Faray to Westray, is it Rousay-Egilsay-Wyre?,” the OIC leader added.

Councillor Woodbridge said the council’s top priority has to be on the urgent task of replacing the ageing internal ferry fleet.

Maintaining Orkney’s existing fixed links — the Churchill Barriers — is also important, she added.

Her comments that ferries will always be needed and that fixed links won’t suit everywhere is true from Shetland Islands Council’s work, the committee heard.

Read more in next week’s edition of The Orcadian.