Final harbour design to be revealed 31/10/13
The final design for upgrading Stornoway’s number three pier for the new ferry will be revealed in November says Stornoway Port Authority (SPA).
The harbour board said it proposes to hold an information event over its plans to accommodate the new MV Loch Seaforth which will commence a combined passenger and freight service next summer from the main ferry terminal in the port.
SPA say two proposals to infill parts of the harbour were previously dropped.
However, the “rejected” proposals were sent to Marine Scotland, the Scottish Government planning agency for coastal developments, just days ago.
The port’s engineering agent Fraser Blackwood stressed that additional design works “established that land reclamation will be required in order to facilitate the required parking and marshalling facilities.”
Mr Blackwood added: “As such, two further design options have been developed.”
Marine Scotland informed Western Isles Council and SNH of the “two new proposals” which it said are “now the preferred options” for Stornoway Port Authority.
The harbour board agents requested Marine Scotland to determine if an environmental impact assessment is required for either of the two seabed infill options.
One of the proposals considers reclamation works at the Newton end of the ferry terminal.
The harbour board’s option B involves infilling about an acre of seabed from the ferry terminal to South Beach Street carpark.
The harbour board may fall back to a more modest design involving a section of infill at the pier, installing bigger berthing fenders, a new passenger access system, plus the use of the present vacant land at the site of the former Stornoway Shellfish factory to allow extra space for a reconfigured parking and freight marshalling area.
Invitations to tender for the construction works will be issued shortly to five shortlisted firms.
A future aspiration is to replace the linkspan at number 1 pier in the hope that a separate freight ferry service may emerge at some point.