The Arran ferry will operate from Troon Harbour for up to 21 months while construction work is carried out at Ardrossan.
The recommendation, which will see services resume from Ardrossan once works are completed, was confirmed at a meeting of the project’s Ministerial Taskforce.
The Taskforce’s decision, which followed a review of all potential options, was guided by the Arran community's requests to maximise the reliability of the alternative service for ferry users.
The switch will not take place until construction work begins with an official date yet to be confirmed.
Further work will also be undertaken to look at potential measures to support the community in Ardrossan during the construction works.
The use of Troon Harbour for the duration of the works was backed by 79 per cent of respondents to a survey carried out earlier this month.
Leader of North Ayrshire Council Joe Cullinane said: “This decision has been guided by the need to ensure a reliable and consistent ferry service for Arran during the construction works at Ardrossan Harbour and has clear support from the islands community.
“From a North Ayrshire Council perspective, we recognise that a temporary shift to Troon during the construction phase will have some impact on local businesses, some jobs and those individuals who commute to the island for employment.
"We are committed to working with the Scottish Government, its agencies and partners to mitigate any impact during this period.”
Chair of Arran Ferry Committee Iain Thomson added: “Arran Ferry Committee welcomes the decision which will allow this important project to move forward with clarity.
"We welcome the investment and will continue to work with other partners to support delivery of theses long awaited upgrades to our lifeline services which will improve the island’s economy and quality of life for the residents.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel