News from the districts - November 5, 2021

Appin

 

A new passenger ferry for the island of Lismore is nearing completion and preparing for delivery in December.

 

The new 12-metre replacement vessel Lady of Lismore, designed by Keel Marine, Petersfield, is being built by Mainstay Marine Solutions Ltd, Pembrokeshire.

 

The vessel will be launched on November 15 for sea trials and certification by Maritime and Coastguard Agency surveyors before steaming 302 nautical miles north to delivery at Port Appin on Loch Linnhe.

 

The new ferry has been designed and built to current exacting specifications defined by Maritime and Coastguard Agency which take account of passenger safety and accessibility requirements.

 

The new all-steel vessel will have a crew of two and can accommodate 23 passengers all year round with a cruising speed of eight knots.

 

Funded through Transport Scotland and operated by Argyll and Bute Council, it will cost around £500,000.

 

Cowal

 

Plans are underway for the Argyll Rally 2022 through the roads of Cowal.

 

A Strachur Community Council working group meeting on October 18 heard that the format would be roughly the same as in 2021, with closed road tarmac stages.

 

The organisers hope to run the rally on the evening of Friday June 24 and all day on Saturday June 25.

 

The Dunoon town centre stage will start later at 7.30pm on the Friday to allow shops to close and people to get home.

 

The cars will then regroup at Strachur before the last stage on Friday evening, in which they will drive on a closed section of road from the Otter Ferry side of Inver restaurant over the Bealach to Glendaruel.

 

The Saturday route will be the same as in 2021, with cars driving along the B8000 and the road being closed from Largiemore to south of Inver Restaurant.

 

Isle of Bute

 

Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership has revealed that the Marshall Unit, Bute's new renal dialysis unit, is to open to patients from Wednesday November 10.

 

Originally planned to be a three-day-a-week service, the unit will now be operational six days each week due to the requirement for additional spacing to observe social distancing requirements.

 

The extended service means the dialysis team has recruited two additional dialysis nurses to meet this increased capacity and ensure a safer environment for vulnerable patients.

 

Kristin Gillies, senior service planning manager for Argyll and Bute HSCP, said: 'This is an extremely exciting time for Victoria Hospital and the wider community on Bute.

 

'The project team has worked very closely with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to establish the unit, particularly with the nursing team in Inverclyde and technicians from Stobhill.

 

'The consultant medical team will continue to treat patients through regular visits to Rothesay and we are very grateful for all of NHSGGC’s support in setting up this new service.

 

'We’d also like to thank the Bute Kidney Patients Support Group and the Dr J N Marshall (Island of Bute) Memorial Trust for all of their support and funding to allow this service to be created.'

 

Kintyre

 

US mega-corporation Amazon has announced that it is now using power from the 50-megawatt, 14-turbine Beinn an Tuirc 3 windfarm in Kintyre - the company's first renewable energy project in the UK.

 

The project has been developed by ScottishPower Renewables, with a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Amazon to take electricity from the site.

 

Amazon said the site is one of the largest unsubsidised onshore wind farms in operation in the UK, built without government support, at no cost to the public.

 

John Boumphrey, UK country manager for Amazon, said: 'Amazon is on a path to powering our operations with 100 per cent renewable energy by 2025, five years ahead of schedule.

 

'We are excited that our first Scottish windfarm is now contributing to that goal, and we have three more large-scale renewable projects in development across the UK.'

 

'It’s really exciting to mark the completion of Beinn an Tuirc 3 and the start of our PPA with Amazon during UK Wind Week and with just a few days to go until the COP26 UN Climate Change Conference gets underway,' said Scottish Power Renewables CEO Lindsay McQuade.

 

'If we’re going to reach net zero over the next 30 years, we need to quadruple the amount of renewable energy produced in the UK so we can move away from petrol and diesel cars; electrify public transport; get rid of gas boilers and move to electric heating for our homes; and lower emissions from heavy industry and the goods and services we rely on every day.'