Senior manager for tunnels mooted by group of councillors and officials

A senior manager may be taken on by Shetland Islands Council to push ahead with its £300 million plan to build four subsea tunnels to the main islands over the next 20 years.

The need for a dedicated manager, costing £50,000 a year, has been identified by a working group of councillors and officials who are looking into the practicalities of digging and financing tunnels for Unst, Whalsay, Bressay and Yell.

The possibility of creating the new post at a time of major spending cutbacks will be discussed tomorrow by the infrastructure committee. One of the manager’s jobs would be to help decide in what order the tunnels should be built.

Councillors voted in June not to build new ferries and terminals for Whalsay and instead to wait a few years in the hope that grants for fixed links will become available from the European Union and Scottish government once economic conditions improve. No external funding is anticipated before 2015.

The decision means that the existing ferries and terminals, particularly on the Whalsay service, will have to last a lot longer than previously envisaged. A full investigation of their structural condition is to be undertaken by an independent consulting engineer to assess the amount of work to be done and how much it will cost the council.

ONE COMMENT

Add Your Comment
  • Neil Craig

    • February 22nd, 2014 15:22

    Norway has cut 700 km of tunnels at £4 million/km over the last few decades.
    Just do it.

    REPLY

Add Your Comment

Please note, it is the policy of The Shetland Times to publish comments and letters from named individuals only. Both forename and surname are required.

Comments are moderated. Contributors must observe normal standards of decency and tolerance for the opinions of others.

The views expressed are those of contributors and not of The Shetland Times.

The Shetland Times reserves the right to decline or remove any contribution without notice or stating reason.

Comments are limited to 200 words but please email longer articles or letters to editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk for consideration and include a daytime telephone number and your address. If emailing information in confidence please put "Not for publication" in both the subject line and at the top of the main message.

200 words left

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

logo

Get Latest News in Your Inbox

Join the The Shetland Times mailing list to get one daily email update at midday on what's happening in Shetland.