Scottish Government to explore nationalising Ardrossan Harbour

dailyrecord.co.uk:

The Scottish Government have confirmed plans to "explore" the nationalisation of Ardrossan Harbour.Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop announced the decision at Holyrood on Wednesday, February 19, after years of ultimately fruitless discussions to upgrade the harbour.Since the introduction of the MV Glen Sannox to the CalMac fleet, Ardrossan Harbour has remained vacant as all sailings between Arran and the mainland have been to Troon.Ardrossan Harbour is too small to cope with the MV Glen Sannox - the second largest and the most complex vessel ever built for CalMac - and it's sister ship the MV Glen Rosa.Plans to upgrade the harbour were previously approved by the Scottish Government in 2018 but discussions between stakeholders stalled the work has yet to start.Peel Ports, the owners of Ardrossan Harbour, have welcomed the statement from Ms Hyslop and said they have spent "several million" maintaining it and acquiring consents for its development.Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop said: “Today I have updated Parliament that I have instructed Transport Scotland and CMAL to explore a potential purchase of Ardrossan Harbour.

I have taken this step to ensure we make progress on finding a solution at Ardrossan that can be delivered in a cost-effective way.“Discussions and negotiations around the delivery of improvements at the port have ongoing for some time and they have been complex.

Despite our best efforts we have been unable to reach an agreeable decision on the commercial approach. In my view, this was leading to uncertainty that the communities of Arran and Ardrossan cannot afford.

It now makes sense to broaden the search for a solution – which now includes the potential purchase by the Scottish Government.“I