By Ashley Karen
Following a visit to the Faroe Islands to explore the impact of tunnels there, a report, “Subsea Tunnels. Are We Crazy?” has been issued by Yell and Unst Tunnel Action Groups.
It claims that building tunnels to connect the islands of Yell and Unst to the Shetland mainland could bring social and economic advantages and contribute to carbon neutrality.
Joint chair of Unst Tunnel Action Group Alice Mathewson declared the visit indicated that 11% of the Faroese road network was underground, and from next month, the Faroes will have 22 tunnels, four of which are subsea.
She stated: “Our target during the initial phase of our fundraising is to undertake these investigations up to geotechnical cores. Should we achieve this, we will then move forward to seek funding for bore holes and horizontal drilling on both sounds. This should provide the necessary data for any potential developer to take the project forward.”
Steven Henderson, Joint chair of Yell Tunnel Action Group, declared it was evident from the Faroe Islands that tunnels would deliver growth opportunities, contribute to carbon neutrality, and “rebalance the incessant centralization of both services and population”.
The Faroese and Shetland economies had been traditionally dependent on fisheries, especially in Unst and Yell. Henderson mentioned: “The importance to the economy of moving time-sensitive, perishable seafood cannot be overstated, yet it is reliant on a ferry service that can be restricted due to ferry timetabling and service suspension.”
In addition, the Action Groups discovered that subsea tunnels’ funding via public/private partnerships, using public investment and publicly sourced/guaranteed loans at the same time, financed by toll payments, worked pleasingly in the Faroes.
Graham Hughson, Joint chair of Yell Tunnel Action Group, articulated: “We have never suggested that tunnels to Unst and Yell should either be fully publicly funded or toll-free. We would like all potential funding routes to be explored, and we believe that the Faroese model is one that should be examined in more detail.”
Moreover, Duncan Gray, Joint chair of Unst Tunnel Action Group, pointed out that now the groups are required to foster the political will to explore and back the project.
Gray noted: “Ultimately it comes down to risk. The costs for tunnels currently being quoted within political circles in the UK are far beyond those quoted to us by Faroese and Norwegian tunneling experts. We believe that a lot of the risk and uncertainty can be reduced through geological investigation. That is why we are centering our efforts on geological studies in order to get a better understanding and more realistic costing for tunnels to serve our islands.”
He added: “There is also no guarantee that the Scottish government will continue to fund the deficit which they currently commit to our ferry service, nor is there any plan, realistic costing, or budget in place for ferry replacement. Even if these were to appear, our communities would face the same ongoing situation every 20 to 30 years. Therefore, on that basis alone, we believe that the option of constructing tunnels is forward-thinking and economically sound.”
In July this year, the Unst and Yell Tunnel Action Groups launched their campaign to link the two islands to mainland Shetland via subsea tunnels in Yell Sound and Bluemull Sound. And now, the Shetland groups will gather geological data for their campaign.
