Uncertainty about funding for Penzance ferry
Ferry Online Travel News 14/06/2010
The government cannot guarantee to fund a ferry link proposed for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.
Plans for a new ferry terminal to boost vital services between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly were given conditional approval under the previous government. However, the £44 million project in Penzance is by no means certain to go ahead under the new government. According to Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, “difficult decisions” needed to be made.
The people of the Isles of Scilly depend on ferry services to bring tourists and supplies from the British mainland. However, the new coalition government recently announced a fierce series of budget cuts would be required in order to address fundamental problems with the UK’s public finances. Now, the terminal project aimed at Battery Rocks in Penzance could end up foundering amidst the financial storm, which the government says will see £6.2 billion carved from public spending.
The Strategic Planning Committee of Cornwall Council had previously recommended that the project be approved. The final decision on the project remains with Transport Secretary and he says the government must, “make difficult decisions following the spending review.”
The spending review is due to continue through the summer. As the Transport Secretary says, the government doesn’t want local authorities to continue simply spending money on projects until the government has ascertained which of those projects will go ahead, which might be delayed and which might be eradicated.
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