Cruise liner passengers will continue to disembark from buses at Kirkwall Travel Centre – as other arrangements still haven’t been found after six years.
Temporary planning permission was granted to allow the “bendy buses” to come in at the stance at the north side of the travel centre, next to Jewson’s Yard, six years ago.
The applicant was the council itself.
But this was never to be the permanent arrangement – as it clashed with the council’s own planning policy.
It was deemed “harmful to future development” in the area.
Instead, temporary planning permission was granted.
What has happened since then?
But this was on the premise that more suitable plans would put in place after the permission ran out, in five years.
But, those efforts stalled during the pandemic and no better arrangements are available.
On Wednesday, the council’s planning committee viewed and approved another application to continue the current setup for another five years.
Why haven’t other plans moved forward?
When the original temporary permission was granted it was noted that this was only done “while longer-term options for the area can be considered and developed”.
Using that particular bus stance on a permanent basis was deemed to be “prejudicial to the effective development of the wider area” and “adds to existing non-recreational open space in the town centre”, according to a report viewed by members of the planning committee.
The same report states that “on balance, the benefits were considered to outweigh the policy concerns”.
While not all visitors use the shuttle bus service, the number of visitors to Orkney via cruise has increased to 200,000 per year.
And, the report states that there is “currently no alternative to transporting cruise visitors into Kirkwall in such a safe manner and no alternative location where they can access the bus”.
However, there was one objector to the renewal of the temporary planning permission.
Leslie Sinclair lives in the town centre and was a candidate during the last council elections, in May 2022.
In his objection, he questions what there would be to stop the council from continually renewing the temporary planning permission for the arrangements for another five years.
Councillor questions temporary arrangement at Kirkwall Travel Centre
During the meeting, councillor Leslie Manson said this is a “not unreasonable” point.
“The idea of a rolling temporary situation asks a lot of questions”, he said.
Are you happy with liner passengers continuing to use the stances at the travel centre? Let us know in our comments section below
Councillor Owen Tierney said he had been planning to ask why the arrangements aren’t permanent as “it seems to be working quite well”.
He added: “Jewson’s Yard seems to be the only other place it could be.”
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