From here in Lerwick, this feels like semi-local news. Shetland, of course, has strong historical links with Norway, but our geography means that Stavanger and Bergen are both nearer to us than Edinburgh. And tunnels are at the top of our political agenda, too.
Read more
Of course, we don’t need anything close to the length of Rogfast, and indeed any tunnelling project would be more similar to that deployed in another place nearer to us than Edinburgh – the Faroe Islands. The Faroes have been constructing inter-island tunnels for 60 years. There are six under construction right now, and another six planned. The shorter ones amongst them (very similar in distance to those which are being considered here in Shetland), only take a few years to build.
The rationale for tunnelling in Faroe is identical to the rationale for tunnelling in Shetland – population decline. The impact in the Faroe Islands is crystal clear; islands linked by ferries experience population decline, and islands linked by tunnels repopulate after the tunnel is complete. Furthermore, the average age of the island population in question falls, and the income per capita rises.
Shetland council has committed considerable funds to an ongoing business case which will determine whether we should press ahead with the building of a series of tunnels to link our islands.
And following the Scottish Government’s Budget earlier this month, it is fair to say that we are closer to inter-island tunnelling today than we have ever been before. The level, scale and spirit of productive dialogue with First Minister John Swinney, his Deputy Kate Forbes and a series of other Ministers is noticeably different to anything else I have experienced during my time as leader of Shetland Islands Council.
That openness at central government level, combined with our ambition as a local authority and the proactive campaigning of our local MSP Beatrice Wishart and local MP Alastair Carmichael, has changed the game entirely. The £10 million pledged by the Scottish Government in the Budget will not build a tunnel, but it could help contribute to progressing tunnels to the point where the business case, engineering feasibility, financial and repayment model and market appetite are all understood. It will also assist the Council with addressing the resilience of our aging ferry fleet.
This Scottish Government funding makes it possible that we could be driving through a tunnel in Shetland during this decade, with more in construction. It feels important to note that this scale of infrastructure development in Faroe and Norway have been led by Governments, not small but ambitious councils and communities. The ongoing partnership between local and national government is critical to delivering the transformational infrastructure we need.
Lerwick. the capital of the Shetland Islands (Image: Universal Images Group via Getty) This would come at just the right time for our islands. Shetland is known for its natural resources, producing the power of yesterday and today, oil and gas, and the power of today and tomorrow, wind and wave. Our nearly 3,000 km of coastline means that as well as landing more fish than England, Wales and Northern Ireland combined. Shetland also farms around one-fifth of all Scottish salmon. Mussel farming in Shetland accounts for approximately 80% of Scotland’s total production. Tourism is expanding quickly, with around 100 cruise ships berthing during the high season.
However, all of these industries are suppressed by our poor transport infrastructure. Our ferries are, on average, around 32 years old, compared to around 25 years for the CalMac fleet. This is the ferry fleet which takes the fish from the country’s biggest food export – farmed salmon – to their destination. These are the ferries which take the parts and the people to Unst to the UK’s first vertical satellite launch site – it takes two separate ferries to get from Shetland’s Mainland to the SaxaVord spaceport, and they are highly susceptible to weather-related cancellation. And these are the ferries which will take workers and parts to sites all over the islands as we transition from oil and gas to renewables production.
Wind farms, salmon farms and a spaceport. This is critically important national infrastructure, but the transport infrastructure which underpins it means it should be flashing red on the government’s risk register.
The economic risk of not tackling this problem is clear, but we should keep at the front of our minds the climate consequences, too. Our old ferries are not resilient, and marine transport contributes over 50% of the carbon emissions of the entire Council. New ferries with green fuels on some routes, and tunnels on others, would completely alter the emissions profile of the islands and allow us to accelerate to Net Zero.
As leader of the council, my focus is entirely on Shetland. However, once Shetland proves that tunnels can help deliver repopulation, a change in age profile and economic growth, it is almost certain that other remote and rural areas in Scotland would wish to replicate our model and reap their own benefits.
Read more
This would be most obviously relevant in Orkney and the Outer Hebrides, both of which are very similar to Shetland. They are of a similar size, suffer from a similar depopulation profile, from very high fuel poverty and from poor transport and digital infrastructure, but also have similarly historic opportunities in renewable energy, fisheries and aquaculture, food and drink and tourism. Tunnelling could be as revolutionary for our island friends as it would be for us.
And on the mainland, too, Shetland’s financial modelling could be a beacon for critical rural and remote transport infrastructure, particularly in areas which will host renewables, the country’s economic backbone of the future.
There is a long way to go, and I would not wish to pretend otherwise. We are still nearer the start of this journey than the end. Nonetheless, we are considerably further on today than we were this time last month, as a result of the Budget funding pledge. And, depending on the outcome of our ongoing business case, we will be on our way to better and more resilient island connectivity.
We often have a habit of looking at other countries’ infrastructure projects and bemoaning that we do not appear to be able to achieve them here at home. I think we should, instead, get into the habit of looking at other countries’ infrastructure and saying ‘we can do that here, too’.
Emma Macdonald is leader of Shetland Islands Council