Councillors have backed initial plans to connect some of Shetland’s most northerly islands with a network of undersea tunnels, a project estimated to cost £1.5bn that could be completed within eight years.
A feasibility study commissioned by the council proposed replacing ageing ferries with tunnels linking Shetland’s mainland to Yell, and Yell to Unst, describing the scheme as “economically transformative”. Two further tunnels to the islands of Whalsay and Bressay could follow under the plans.
“Shetland councillors back £1.5bn undersea tunnel plan to replace ferries and link northern islands within eight years.”
At a meeting in Lerwick on Tuesday, councillors approved exploring funding options for the project, which council leaders argue would be cheaper in the long run than building new ferries and replacing harbours. The council currently runs ferry services to nine islands, carrying around 750,000 passengers each year on 12 vessels at a cost of £23m per year. Costs have risen sharply over the past decade, with some routes struggling to meet demand for vehicle places.
Moraig Lyall, the council’s transport chairperson, said the report showed “there were no technical barriers to building tunnels”, which would be “cheaper in the long run” than ferries. “The system we have that has served us well for decades is now no longer able to do that,” she said. “It doesn’t have the capacity and we’re struggling with other things, like the ability to crew the system adequately. These barriers to giving the islands a really good service are not going to be easily overcome by replacing ferries with other ferries. The tunnel is the answer that we believe will help us solve these problems.”
Council chief executive Maggie Sandison acknowledged the project “was not going to be easy”, but said pursuing a funding solution was the “right thing to do”. Funding could come from a mixture of private investment, public subsidy and borrowing, alongside tolls to cover maintenance costs.
Unst is the UK’s most northerly island and home to the UK’s only spaceport, at Saxavord, as well as a sizeable aquaculture industry. The feasibility study says tunnels could boost direct economic activity related to the spaceport and bring spin-off benefits such as other aerospace industrial development and tourism, improving the rocket facility’s “competitiveness, efficiency and scope for growth”.
Boatbuilder Brydon Barclay of Fluggaboats on Unst predicted a tunnel would transform his company’s prospects. “It’s absolutely essential,” he said.