A £20m cash boost for the Northern Isles could be used to link communities by tunnel for the first time, and it has sparked a debate up and down the coasts of Scotland.
It’s been a long-held ambition for some, with envious glances north to Faroe and east to Norway.
Could it be time to get serious and replace some ferries with tunnels here?
And could we soon see calls for tunnel links in the Western Isles and in Argyll, possibly linking to some closer islands to the Highland mainland?
SNP finance chief Shona Robison re-opened the debate with her budget proposals in Holyrood on December 4.
Cash for ferries, tunnels and bridges
The £20 million could be for “ferries, flight or fixed links such as tunnels and bridges”, she said.
Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael welcomes the cash – but says it must not distract from an urgent need for modern ferries.
“The Shetland Islands Council want to build tunnels but they require funding for ferries as a matter of immediate need,” he told the P&J.
“The money that is coming from the Scottish Government cannot be framed as some sort of choice for the councils between tunnels and ferries.”
Mr Carmichael has been running “tunnel vision” events to push the case for undersea links between islands.
“Having visited Faroe and seen first-hand the difference that tunnels have made there, the case for repeating that success here is undeniable,” he adds.
“All that we are lacking is the proper support from government.”
As the P&J previously reported, the UK Government has also been looking at tunnels, including a fact-finding mission to Faroe to see the unique “James Bond lair” underwater roundabout.
Suggestions for Scotland include a two-mile tunnel between Yell and mainland Shetland, along with a shorter link between Unst and Yell.
A project commissioned last year by the local authority is already exploring options including ferry services and fixed links.
Orkney could have interisland links – an eight-mile tunnel to Caithness has been raised by some.
On the mainland, Highland Council has its own infrastructure problems to deal with.
The authority said it has no position on the debate and no tunnels are under consideration
In the Western Isles, the local MP says ferries remain the priority.
Labour’s Torcuil Crichton says: “We need to move from wish lists to delivery lists.
“The ferries that hold us together are flagging and that’s the priority.”
He points to the controversial proposal by Boris Johnson, when he was prime minister, to tunnel between Northern Ireland and Scotland. It was a “populist” measure which served as distraction when islanders need solutions now, he adds.
“Anything that can make the distances shorter should be explored, but we need to get on with ferry links. They hold the islands together.”
Conversation