Councillors to bid for £50m for new Corran ferry

Highland councillors have voted to bid for UK government funding to pay for a new ferry for the lifeline Corran Ferry service.

There has not been a vehicle ferry on the Highland Council-operated crossing of Loch Linnhe for more than a month.

The main vessel, MV Corran, has been out of action since January and the relief boat, MV Maid of Glencoul, suffered a breakdown at Easter.

Only passenger services have been available since.

At a meeting on Thursday, councillors voted in favour of bidding for up to £50m of Levelling Up funds.

Officials said the money would pay for a new 32-vehicle electric ferry and upgraded on-shore infrastructure.

Highland Council hopes to have MV Corran back in service at the beginning of next month following repairs to a propulsion unit.

No date has been given for the return of MV Maid of Glencoul.

During Thursday's meeting, Fort William and Ardnamurchan councillor Thomas Maclennan made reference to singer Rod Stewart's song Sailing, which was number one in the UK charts when Maid of Glencoul first launched in 1975.

Mr Maclennan said: "You know the song? It mentions the line 'stormy waters'. We've definitely got ourselves in stormy waters here and we need to extract ourselves."

The Corran Ferry service is the busiest single-vessel operated route in Scotland, carrying more than 270,000 cars each year.

The route involves 30,000 sailings from early morning to late in the evening, 363 days of the year.

People living in Fort William, Ardgour, Sunart, Ardnamurchan, Moidart, Morar, Morvern and the Isle of Mull, as well as tourists, are among those who regularly use the ferry.

When the service is unavailable due to bad weather or breakdowns it is a 42-mile detour to get from Corran to Ardgour.

Diversions can involve journeys of up to 86 miles, depending on where people are heading.