COUNCIL officials have spent over £75,000 on consultation on the Helensburgh to Dumbarton cycle path – when the preferred route could soon be scrapped.
Argyll and Bute Council advised local councillors in December that it was considering moving the phase one route of the path, between Helensburgh and Cardross, away from the railway line to adjacent to the A814.
A freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service has now revealed the amount spent on consultancy fees since the initially planned route was announced in 2019.
The biggest individual spend was a payment of nearly £21,000 relating to landowner engagement, including travel, materials, graphic design services, venues and staff time. That payment was made to current design consultants Connected Transport Planning.
Two payments to previous design consultants WSP, whose contract ended in March 2024, came to a total of £17,000. In total, WSP were paid nearly £37,000.
Four-figure payments were also made to surveying and consultancy companies during the six years.
In a report to the council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee in December, executive director Kirsty Flanagan said that a change to the preferred route was being considered.
She said: “As a number of changes have occurred since the current preferred route alignment was selected in 2019, a deliverability review re-considering the route adjacent to the inland side of the railway line and a route adjacent to the A814 road is being undertaken by the design consultants, Connected Transport Planning (CTP).
“The purpose of this review is to identify the most deliverable alignment, considering a range of relevant factors including construction works, drainage, land take, maintainability, landowner support and ecology.
“The team are working towards concluding the deliverability review of phase 1 route options this calendar year. At time of writing, the review indicates that a route following the southern (seaward) side of the A814 would be more deliverable compared to a route following the inland side of the railway.
“Both routes are forecast to provide a similar level of end-user benefits with the road route offering additional advantages in terms of natural surveillance and user safety. Therefore, at the time of writing the emerging preferred route for phase 1 is adjacent to the A814.”
The area committee met on Tuesday, December 9, with Ms Flanagan’s report being dated Friday, November 28. No further updates have been publicly issued since.
She added: “As part of the deliverability review of phase 1, officers and consultancy staff working collaboratively have continued to meet with landowners to seek their support for a single route.
“All landowners have provisionally stated support for a route following the A814 subject to localized design considerations.
“It is expected that having landowner support for a single route will enable faster development and delivery of the route and is a consideration in the route deliverability review process.”
