COUNCILLORS have backed efforts by a group of local volunteers to get Helensburgh’s pier fully open again.
Representatives of the Helensburgh Pier Company gave a presentation at a meeting and said they had been advised that another survey and inspection of the facility was required.
One councillor queried why another report was necessary, with two already having been completed on the pier, which has been closed to marine traffic since 2018.
The discussion took place at a meeting of Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee on Tuesday, June 9.
Councillor Math Campbell-Sturgess (SNP, Helensburgh and Lomond South), the council’s policy lead for business, said: “I cannot stress highly enough how much I think we need to open the pier as soon as possible, and the group has a very good, well-researched and feasible plan to do so. It has got to have backing 100 per cent.
“Hopefully now that the tenders are out for the survey we should be at the start of the process, but I am also keen to see what more we can do as an area committee.
“It is not only about reopening the pier, it is about making it so that it actually gets used.”
John Beveridge, of the pier company, responded: “It is going to be a long process, because the tender document has yet to go out and the contract awarded.
“It takes quite a while, but the backing of the council is critical as the funders need to know that the council supports what we are doing.
“Once repairs have started and the pier is open, that is when we have further negotiations to see how successful we can make the development. Phase one is getting the Waverley back in our town.”
Councillor Maurice Corry (Conservative, Lomond North) said: “I am at a slight loss as to why the council is calling for a third survey on the pier.
“We have had a standard report and another commissioned by engineers, who did Tighnabruaich and Inveraray piers, so what on earth are they going to achieve by having a third?
“Councillor Campbell-Sturgess should take this up, because it is wasting public money if we have already got reports sitting there.”
Councillor Campbell-Sturgess responded: “I am not a solicitor or marine engineer, so I have to take what the council’s professional officers have said as gospel.
“They have said they need this extra report, but I think that the one you are speaking of is the one saying how much to bring the pier back into use at full public capacity.
“I do think that whether we need this report or not, that is not the end of that process. They need to go away and work out what they are going to do and that is where our efforts need to focus. I do not think the tender report is the only thing that will be needed.”
Councillor Ian MacQuire (Independent, Helensburgh Central), a former chair of Helensburgh Seafront Development Project, said: “We tried to do the same as the current group are trying to do.
“We tried for six years and were that close to taking over the pier, and the council then pulled the plug. We have money which it has been agreed to pass on to the new group.”
Councillor Corry, who is a member of the Argyll and Bute harbour board, said that he would take the matter to the board’s chair, Councillor Ross Moreland (Liberal Democrat, Dunoon).
Area committee chair Councillor Fiona Howard (Labour, Helensburgh Central) said: “The area committee welcomes and supports the project and the endeavours you have made to get this far.
“Councillor Campbell-Sturgess and I will take this as far as we can, as soon as we can, and keep you updated on progress.”
