Islands Connectivity Plan

Relationship with other Qualifying Plans and Programmes

The ICP is being prepared in the context of Scottish policy, namely:

• The Scottish Government’s National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4), which promotes local living and aims to encourage, promote and facilitate access to local services and create connected communities which prioritise environmental, social and economic sustainability. The ICP, together with the National Islands Plan (see below), will support delivering the aims under the NPF4.
• The Climate Change Plan Update, which updates Scotland’s targets to end our contribution to climate change by 2045. The ICP will contribute to achieving these targets.
• Scotland’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation (SNSET), which sets out the priorities for Scotland’s economy as well as the actions needed to maximise the opportunities of the next decade to achieve the vision of a wellbeing economy. The ICP will support achieving economic ambitions of ferry dependent communities.
• The National Transport Strategy 2 (NTS), which provides the national transport policy framework in Scotland, setting out a clear vision of a sustainable, inclusive, safe and accessible transport system which helps deliver a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland for communities, businesses and visitors. The NTS is set within the context of a climate emergency, with the Scottish Government committed to transitioning the transport system to one that is net zero in carbon emissions by 2045. The ICP will directly support the NTS priorities, and overall progress will be measured through NTS indicators.
• Scotland’s National Islands Plan (NIP), which provides a framework for actions aimed at meaningfully improving outcomes for island communities. The NIP sets out 13 strategic objectives to address population decline; encourage sustainable economic development; and improve outcomes in areas such as transport, housing, health, education, environment, climate change and energy. A new NIP is anticipated to be published in 2025. The ICP will support addressing the challenges and ambitions set out in the NIP.
• The Aviation Statement and Key Priorities, which sets out actions the Scottish Government will take to help grow Scotland’s international connectivity, secure lifeline services in the Highlands and Islands and play its part in international efforts to decarbonise aviation. The ICP builds on the Aviation Statement.
• The Ferries Plan 2013-2022, which aimed at maximising the economic and social potential of remote rural and island communities through the delivery of sustainable ferry services. The Ferries Plan includes an investment plan up to 2025. The ICP replaces the Ferries Plan.

The ICP is also being informed by the outcomes of the Strategic Transport Projects Review 2 (STPR2), an evidence-based review of the performance of Scotland’s strategic transport network undertaken in order to inform Scottish Ministers on a programme of potential transport investment opportunities between 2022 and 2042.

ICP Overview

The ICP aims to set out how ferry services, supported by other transport modes, will be delivered, and strengthened, working towards a long-term vision, and supported by clear priorities and defined outcomes for people and places. The ICP comprises the following documents (see Figure 2 - The ICP structure):

• Strategic Approach paper (SAP) is the core of the ICP and proposes an overall Strategic Approach to island transport connectivity including ferries, aviation, fixed links and, especially addresses the strategic challenges facing Clyde and Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) and Northern Isles Ferry Services (NIFS), for which the Scottish Ministers are directly responsible.
• Delivery plans, including:
  • Vessels and Ports Plan (VPP), for the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles networks (2025-2045), which sets out the recommended investment programme needed to maintain and safely operate lifeline ferry services. The VPP replaces the Vessel Replacement Programme that was developed as part of the Ferries Plan (2013 – 2022) and the Vessel Replacement and Deployment Plan, last published in 2018.
  • Refreshed Community Needs Assessments (CNAs), which identify whether gaps exist in the current level of service provision, and where under- or over-provision are identified, options to address them are generated, developed and appraised, including consideration of supporting transport modes (i.e. aviation, fixed links). The appraisal of options follows the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) criteria, namely: environment; climate change; health, safety and wellbeing; economy; equality and accessibility. The Cowal and Rosneath CNA was published in September 2024. Work on remaining CNAs for CHFS and NIFS is currently ongoing.

In addition, the Small Vessels Replacement Programme (SVRP), which stems from the now superseded Vessel Replacement and Deployment Plan, aims to achieve a very substantial renewal of the small vessel fleet between 2021 and 2031. The SVRP was initiated in 2020 and is led by Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) with support from Transport Scotland and CFL. The SVRP will continue supporting delivery of the ICP and will be informed by findings from CNAs.

It is envisaged that the SAP and VPP will be reviewed and refreshed every five years, following the development of the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, to ensure that island transport connectivity needs and challenges are clearly understood and that related policies are developed based on up-to-date assessment of needs. The ICP will inform the development of CHFS and NIFS contracts, as well as local authority delivery plans.

Strategic Approach Paper

The main components of the SAP comprise:

• The Vision, which is long-term and describes where Transport Scotland wants to get to in the future, guiding long-term planning and decision-making for those with direct responsibilities.
• Four Priorities, which provide high-level targets for Transport Scotland to monitor and review progress against.
• Outcomes, three defined under each Priority.
• Theme-based high-level commitments (around 60), which will support the realisation of the desired Outcomes. These are grouped into 12 themes.

SAP Vision, Priorities and Outcomes

The Vision of the ICP captured in the SAP is that:

The Vision is supported by the following four Priorities and associated Outcomes (these have been given numerical references to facilitate subsequent assessment):

Reliable and Resilient

• Will be reliable and resilient: to provide certainty on how long a journey will take, and that it will be a simple and comfortable experience. The confidence we will have in our journey will enable us to plan our lives, access medical services, get to work on time, access education, enjoy leisure and recreational opportunities, deliver goods efficiently and keep businesses running smoothly.
• Will get people and goods where they need to get to: ferry networks and services will be integrated effectively with other transport modes, helping economic development, and adapting to changing requirements of island communities, businesses and visitors while supporting opportunities for developing and new industries.
• Will be transparent: we will feel included and listened to and we will understand the reasons for decisions being made that affect our daily lives.

Accessible

• Will ensure that marginalised members of our communities have safe and fair access to ferry services they need: This will include reducing inequalities and advancing equality of opportunities, for individuals who identify as sharing protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010.
• Will be easy to use for all: our ferry services will recognise that people have different needs and capabilities and will work to ensure that everyone can use the services with as few barriers as possible.
• Will be affordable: we will consider options that affect peoples` lives in a way that is affordable and sustainable for ferry users and tax payers.

Integrated

• Will support people making sustainable and active travel choices which will have a significant positive effect on individual health and physical and mental wellbeing.
• Will support integrated travel choices: better integration between our ferries networks and other modes of transport will be key when delivering the Strategy – in particular, active and sustainable modes - both on the mainland and those islands or rural communities to which they connect.
• Will help make our island and other ferry dependent communities great places to live, work and visit, supporting healthy population balances: by promoting active travel choices we will encourage walking, cycling and public transport usage. This will deliver more social interaction, support local businesses and services and create vibrant communities.

Low Carbon and Environmental Impact

• Will allow people to make travel choices that minimise the long-term impacts on the environment and the wellbeing of future generations: Scotland must transition to a net-zero emissions economy for the benefit of our environment, our people and our future prosperity.
• Will adapt to effects of climate change: our islands are already experiencing the impacts of climate change and we will adapt our ferry services to remain resilient and reduce the harmful effects on future generations.
• Will help deliver our net-zero target: The Scottish Government is committed to achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 in a fair way. We will outline the pathways to further lowering emissions of ferry services to support the delivery of our net-zero target.

SAP Theme-based Commitments

The SAP identifies high-level commitments that will support the realisation of the above Outcomes. These are grouped into 12 themes, as follows:

• Understanding connectivity needs
• Community voice and transparency
• Capacity and demand
• Reliability and resilience
• Accessibility
• Timetables, unplanned and essential travel
• Integration
• Freight services
• Vessels and ports
• Low carbon and environmental impact
• Ferry fares
• Local authority services

Vessels and Ports Plan

The main components of the VPP, for the Clyde and Hebrides and Northern Isles networks (2025-2045), comprise:

• Objectives, based on the Vision and Priorities set out in the SAP.
• Outputs, to be realised through the achievement of the VPP Objectives. These Outputs will also contribute to meeting the Outcomes defined in the SAP.
• Projects recommended for initiation or delivery in four phases extending between 2021 – 2045.

VPP Objectives and Outputs

The VPP (internal draft of December 2024) includes the following Objectives (these have been given numerical references 1-8 to facilitate subsequent assessment):

1. To maintain and safely operate ferry connections for CHFS and NIFS communities, and that opportunities continue to be taken through vessel and port investment to enhance services in support of the growth of island populations and economies.
2. To improve weather and technical reliability, primarily through renewing the fleet and upgrading ports in response to asset age and condition.
3. To reduce the average age of the total fleet (across both CHFS and NIFS networks) to around 15 years by the end of this decade.
4. To improve resilience through an expansion in the CHFS major vessel fleet and through increased interoperability and standardisation of vessels and ports within the major and small vessel fleets.
5. To improve accessibility for transport users through vessel and port design, informed by the proposed Accessibility Standard, once available.
6. To provide additional vehicle-deck capacity to address identified “pinch points” where there is practical, beneficial, and affordable.
7. To progressively decarbonise both vessel fleet and port operations, by 2045.
8. To retain a major vessel in the fleet for resilience purposes until at least 2030.

The VPP also includes the following Outputs, some of which directly related to the Objectives 1-8 as above:

1. sustainable transport connectivity for island and peninsula communities on the CHFS and NIFS networks (related to Objective 1).
2. increased reliability of the fleet due to ongoing vessel renewal (related to Objective 2).
3. increased resilience of the network as a whole due to upgrading of ports, vessel renewal and fleet expansion, with increased standardisation leading to greater flexibility across the fleets for the operators (related to Objective 2 and 4).
4. reduction in average age of the combined fleets due to ongoing vessel renewal (related to Objective 3).
5. improved accessibility for passengers across the network due to fleet and port modernisation and increased standardisation (related to Objective 5).
6. co-ordination with third-party port owners in the forward planning and delivery of investments.
7. reduction in emissions across the vessel fleets due to vessel modernisation, optimal vessel and hull design, adoption of alternative fuels, and an increase in provision of shore power (related to Objective 7).

VPP Projects

The VPP recommends the following Projects, to be initiated or delivered in four phases:

• Phase 1 (2021 – 2026)
  • A – Fleet renewal, including replacement of six vessels (Clyde and Hebrides)
  • B – Port upgrades at 16 locations (including by third parties)

• Phase 2 (2026 – 2031)
  • A – Fleet renewal, including replacement of 18 vessels (Clyde and Hebrides) and two vessels (Northern Isles)
  • B – Port upgrades at three locations and port enabling works associated with phase 2 vessel replacement projects

• Phase 3 (2031 – 2036)
  • A – Fleet renewal, including replacement of three vessels (Clyde and Hebrides) and three vessels (Northern Isles)
  • B – Port upgrades at eight locations.

• Phase 4 (2036 – 2045)
  • A – Fleet renewal, including replacement of eight vessels (Clyde and Hebrides)
  • B – Port upgrades at two locations.

ICP Development and Reasonable Alternatives

Although there is no legal obligation to develop / implement a Ferries Plan / ICP in Scotland, the development of the ICP is delivering the commitment made in the NIP of replacing the Ferries Plan, also recommended in the STPR2. In addition, the Scottish Islands Survey (2023) highlighted how the use and perception of transport differs between island communities, and noted that satisfaction with transport links to the Scottish mainland (both ferries and flights) had overall decreased since 2020, further supporting the need for the ICP.

In comparison to the Ferries Plan, and reflected in its name, the ICP is wider in scope, as it aims to influence other transport modes and infrastructure that can support ferry services, acknowledging that control / delivery responsibility over some of these lies outside the scope of the ICP. This responds to feedback received from communities and a desire to support reliable and resilient, accessible, and integrated transport services. In addition, given advances made on climate change policy at international and national levels, and associated concerns expressed by local communities, the ICP also aims to support low carbon / environmental impact solutions that contribute to national net-zero carbon targets, and that consider an increased adaptation of infrastructure and ferry services to climate change effects, all of which is reflected in the latest version of the Vision and four main Priorities presented in the SAP.

Based on the development of the ICP process described above, the following reasonable alternatives have been identified and assessed (see Methodology section for an overview of the approach to alternatives’ assessment):

• Maintaining the Ferries Plan. Given that there is no legal requirement to have / implement a Ferries Plan, maintaining the existing one is considered a reasonable alternative, in which the Ferries Plan (2013 – 2022) would remain the default policy framework for decisions associated with transport for ferry dependent communities in Scotland.
• No replacement Plan. Given that there is no legal requirement to have / implement a Ferries Plan, concluding the existing one and having no replacement plan is considered a reasonable alternative, in which any decisions associated with transport for ferry dependent communities in Scotland would be made based on more generic and higher-level policies.