Pressure grows for major ferry reform

​The debate has been ignited by a Labour motion which was due for debate at Holyrood as we went to press. It said the current tripartite structure involving Transport Scotland, CMAL and CalMac has “failed” and called for the new Clyde and Hebrides contract “to be accompanied by a fundamental reform of governance”.

Backing calls for change, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar transport chair, Uisdean Robertson, said: “We have been banging this drum for years. If we had been listened to, we would have saved hundreds of millions of pounds and have a far better service”.

Referring to the Holyrood call for “fundamental reform”, John Daniel Peteranna of South Uist Business Impact Group, said: “We are not only welcoming it. We are demanding it. Without decisions being made by people who live with the consequences, nothing is going to change”.

The Labour motion also called for the ten per cent fares increase which has been imposed against advice from Caledonian MacBrayne to be urgently “reviewed”. It is due to take effect the end of this month with Ministers saying it is needed to help meet maintenance costs for the ailing CalMac fleet.

Also on Wednesday, a “round table” on the new CalMac contract – which is expected to run for ten years – was convened in Glasgow by the Transport Secretary, when demands for changes in governance featured prominently. Mr Robertson and Comhairle chief executive Malcolm Burr were among those attending.

Pressure from island communities for decision-making status in how ferries are run have been steadfastly resisted by successive SNP Ministers who have continued to appoint quango boards with minimal island connections, under the control of Transport Scotland.

In an amendment to the Labour motion, Ms Hyslop suggested that the new contract award to CalMac “will then provide the space and opportunity for more fundamental reform of governance”.

However, islands MP Torcuil Crichton pointed out: “They have had 19 years to reform ferry governance and have not shown the slightest interest in doing so, despite everything that has gone wrong under the tripartite system”.

He said that “even this nod in the direction of a need for change has only emerged because of the Labour motion at Holyrood”.

Robertson said: “Whoever is in government, we have got to get to a place where we have a voice. The lived experience is so important. I’m fed up with people saying – ‘we understand the problems’. No they don’t”.

He also noted that the constant turnover in Transport Ministers has enabled civil servants in Transport Scotland to make policy and maintain control. Mr Robertson said: “I’ve been chair for seven and a half years and I have had seven Transport Ministers”.

In another development, MSP Alasdair Allan said that he and two other west coast MSPs have written to Ms Hyslop seeking a meeting.

Their letter said: “Many organisations across our constituencies have expressed a strong desire to see the tripartite set-up of CalMac, CMAL and Transport Scotland restructured to ensure better transparency and accountability, with local knowledge”.

Mr Allan told the Gazette: “Along with the MSPs for Argyll and Bute and Cunninghame North, I wrote to the Cabinet Secretary for Transport recently to request a joint meeting, and we understand a date is in the process of being arranged”. He said it would be “an important opportunity to raise our constituents’ concerns about the fragility of some of the ferry network’s services”.