Islands Connectivity Plan

The Islands Connectivity Plan (ICP) sets 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.

It is being developed within the context of the National Transport Strategy and the National Islands Plan and informed by the outcomes of the Strategic Transport Projects Review. Consultation and engagement are central to its development.

The ICP comprises an overarching Strategic Approach paper and a number of delivery plans, namely the Vessels and Ports Plan, the Community Needs Assessments and the Monitoring & Evaluation Plan. Work on the ICP is now well underway, following a public consultation and in person island visits in 2024final versions of the Strategic Approach and the Vessels and Ports Plan have now been published. Work on further elements of the ICP will follow, with a view to further engagement, consultation and publications in due course.

Strategic Approach

The draft Strategic Approach paper proposed our overall Strategic Approach to island transport connectivity including ferries, aviation, fixed links and, especially, addressing the strategic challenges facing the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services and Northern Isles Ferry Services.

We have now published the finalised version of the Strategic Approach paper following the engagement and consultation process, and review of stakeholder and engagement feedback.

Vessels and Ports Plan

The draft Vessels and Ports Plan provided detail on the Scottish Government’s objectives for the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services and Northern Isles Ferry Services which the Scottish Government is directly responsible for.

The final version of the Vessels and Ports Plan, following review of the feedback that has been received, has now been published.

It provides a long-term plan, to 2045, for the vessel and port investment considered necessary to address the key challenges of reliability and resilience.

Consultation

Although the consultation on the Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan has now closed, you can access copies of the documents above and also the consultation questions.

The consultation was open from 1 February to 6 May 2024. All responses were reviewed by a specialist independent analysis team and a report was provided to Transport Scotland. We would like to thank everyone for taking the time to provide views on our draft proposals and wider island transport connectivity. The full independent report, and a summary are now available to be viewed.

We compiled our initial response to the consultation feedback, and have used the feedback received, as well as community engagement feedback, to inform the development of the final versions of both the Strategic Approach and the Vessels and Ports Plan, and the overall Islands Connectivity Plan.

We have also published responses to the consultation, where respondents have given permission to do so.

Impact Assessments

In parallel, an Islands Communities Impact Assessment, a Business Regulatory Impact Assessment, an Equality Impact Assessment, a Strategic Environmental Assessment and a Fairer Scotland Duty Assessment are being carried out to inform the development of the overall ICP. This process aims to ensure that the impacts on island communities and businesses, groups with protected characteristics and environment are captured and considered, including reducing inequalities, in the development of policies and plans detailed in the ICP.

An independent review of the Islands Connectivity Plan Strategic Approach paper and Vessels and Ports Plan has been carried out as per section 16(2) of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005. The Scottish Government, through Transport Scotland, consulted on the Environmental Report between 14 February and 13 March 2025. Consultation responses have been reviewed, and this report, together with the responses received, have also helped to inform the final versions of the Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan.

Public Engagement

The draft Strategic Approach set out a Vision supported by four Priorities for the delivery of future ferry services in Scotland. The Priorities were based on listening to ferry communities as well as the views expressed by those who have an interest in the delivery of ferry services in Scotland.

The draft Strategic Approach paper set out actions under 12 themes which communities identified as needing improvements. 

Alongside the public consultation on the draft Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan, which has now been completed, we held a series of public events in 23 locations across various islands and peninsulas served by ferry services.

Read the next section to learn about our stakeholder engagement.

Alongside the public consultation for the Strategic Approach and the Vessels and Ports Plan, we also held a series of engagement sessions to inform the overall development of the Islands Connectivity Plan.

These sessions helped to build on a number of visits the team had made previously, supporting both the Scottish Government Islands Team and the Clyde & Hebrides Ferry Services (CHFS) project team on their engagement visits across a number of islands and peninsulas.

Engagement Programme

The public consultation on both documents was live from 1 February to 6 May 2024, and was supported by a number of public events where Transport Scotland officials heard from people directly.

As part of the engagement programme, we visited the below island and peninsula communities along the west coast and Northern Isles, and held 26 different engagement sessions.

• Harris
• Raasay
• Shetland
• Gigha
• Tarbert
• Islay
• Lismore
• Jura
• Mull
• Iona
• Barra
• Coll
• Orkney
• Eigg

There were two parts to each engagement:

1. Structured workshop focusing on 3 key themes
2. Drop-in session where we welcome conversation on any aspects of the Islands Connectivity Plan.

The structured workshop was designed to feature small group discussions, each led by a facilitator from Transport Scotland. Participants were asked to engage in three rounds of discussions, exploring key themes related to the Islands Connectivity Plan Strategic Approach and Vessels and Ports Plan. The themes were:

• Community voice and transparency
• Accessibility of ferries for people with disabilities or other impairments to travel
• Integration of ferries with onward and connecting travel

These are three of the key themes set out in the draft Strategic Approach paper. In total, 11 themes were explored further through the public consultation. We focussed on these three themes in these workshops as we felt these were where the gaps in our knowledge and understanding were and we wanted to hear directly from people who use and rely on ferry services.

Each event also offered time for a drop-in session, for people to offer feedback on any part of the plan or to ask questions.

Cowal and Rosneath Community Needs Assessment

Transport Scotland commissioned the Cowal and Rosneath Community Needs Assessment to support the business case for the Gourock, Dunoon, and Kilcreggan Programme, which was published on 11 September 2024. As part of this process, we held drop-in engagement sessions across all three communities, where we spoke with ferry users and shared concept timetables for future services.

Transport Scotland also carried out a survey targeted at users of the Gourock-Dunoon route, and together with community and stakeholder engagement, found that feedback complemented the findings in the consultant’s needs assessment report.

Based on advice from Transport Scotland, Ministers have now made a decision on future service levels. This decision is to remove 3 return sailings, on the Gourock-Dunoon route, from the 30 which are currently timetabled. There will be further community engagement on which sailings to remove, with a view to implementing these changes by the start of the winter timetable in October 2025 at the latest.

The future service levels and recognised reliability concerns on the Gourock-Dunoon route will inform the business case for the vessel replacement and port upgrade works. Addressing the reliability will, when delivered, bring benefits to current passengers, and is expected to attract additional patronage, supporting the positive developments taking place in Dunoon and Cowal.