Glasgow And Ships Of The Clyde

Port Complex At Ardrossan As An Alternative

From: The Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald dated Friday 13th February 1970

PORT COMPLEX AT ARDROSSAN AS AN ALTERNATIVE

A plan for an integrated port development at Ardrossan was outlined by a West Kilbride civil engineer at the Hunterston inquiry at Ayr on Wednesday.

Mr James M. Morton, Hillside, West Kilbride, was the final objector to give evidence at the inquiry.

He suggested that such a development could supply the different needs of Chevron, Murco, the British Steel Corporation and the Clyde Port Authority and would replace the four small port facilities proposed by them.

Mr. Morton claimed it would be extremely short sighted to allow Chevron to build a refinery in Portencross area. He felt the deep water of the Clyde should be developed to the benefit of the community.

Referring to earlier suggestions about underground storage tanks, he said these were now being investigated in connection with the proposed refinery at Invergordon and were being used on the Continent.

Apart from the amenity point of view, underground tanks would be much safer.

He claimed that to allow the present proposals to proceed ?would be tantamount to allowing the very lowest standards of planning to prevail?.

Mr Morton said the Clyde offered the only water deep enough in North Europe to take the million ton tankers and multi purpose ships of the future, Scotland should seize this
opportunity now, he added.

It would be logical to provide a single multi purpose terminal and he suggested that Ardrossan provided the ideal site for such a development.

Better Situated

Geographically, it was better situated in relation to the main centres of population. The rail connections up the Garnock Valley to Glasgow and Central Scotland were good and road connections would be equally good with the implementation of the proposed urban road structure.

After referring to the build up of Ardrossan as a port, Mr Morton said maximum degree of flexibility must be included in a port layout.

What was the future of Ardrossan? If the present policy of the Clyde Port Authority continued and the present proposals were allowed to proceed there would be an inevitable decline in the use made of Ardrossan.

He declared: ?Ardrossan desperately needs a new user port complex; Hunterston does not?.

Mr Morton claimed that if the proposed steel complex eventually went ahead at Hunterston, the North Lanarkshire steel industry would have to close down and its workers transfer to Ayrshire.

By using a pipeline to carry the ore from the proposed Ardrossan terminal the Lanarkshire iron industry could be kept viable and the Ayrshire coastline would be preserved.

INDEPENDENT

He suggested the Reporter should recommend to the Secretary of State that an independent assessment of his proposals should be carried out.

Earlier, Glasgow businessman Mr James Marshall referred to the trend towards amalgamations throughout industry. ?It appears to me that the result of this is nearly always the removal of management from Scotland and its concentration in South East England?.

?I believe that this is bad for the nation of Scotland, leading to an unbalanced population - plenty of manual work and the routine administration which goes with it; but with the top management lacking?.

He said the policy of the Scottish Council had been successful in bringing industry to Scotland but the work provided had up to now been at operative rather than managerial level. ?As a result, Scotland is deprived of work for those who should be the leaders of the nation accustomed to taking orders if the trend is allowed to continue?.

Mr Marshall warned: ?If we allow the Hunterston area to be turned into an industrial area, we lose an irreplaceable asset of Scotland in attracting the management of industry. Scotland needs the management of her industry as much as she needs the industry itself?.

He concluded: ?And so I ask, for the sake of Scotland as a whole, spare the Seamill coast?.

Mr Alan Coleman, Old Monkcastle, Kilwinning, an executive in the computer industry, said it was ?irresponsible? of Ayr County Council to entertain the ultimatum of Chevron that they were only prepared to develop at Portencross.

He suggested that the developments would be far better sited on the hinterland and at the higher elevation.

?Let us plan for improvements. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past?, he said.

A physicist at Hunterston Nuclear Power Station, Mr Ian Kennedy, 23 Glenside Road, West Kilbride, disputed some of the earlier evidence on the effects of pollution.

He later told the Reporter that if the industrialisation was to come about he would make every effort to get away from a country ?incapable of looking after its own best interests?.

Scribe Tango