Talks planned over future of Fleetwood to Knott End ferry

Lancashire County Council has indicated it could be willing to pay more to keep the Fleetwood to Knott End ferry in operation – but first wants convincing that an increased subsidy for the service makes sense for the public purse.

The authority’s cabinet member for highways and transport, Warren Goldsworthy, floated the possibility that “progress” could be made on the subject during a meeting at County Hall on Thursday morning.

His comments were the first indication that there could be a way through an ongoing dispute with Wyre Council over funding for the cross-river connection which would enable it to continue.

Wyre Council leader Michael Vincent says he will set up a meeting between the two authorities – and the current operator of the ferry – “immediately” to try to thrash out a solution.

However, there remains plenty of clear blue water between the councils over the issue and time is not on their side – nor that of the passengers who want to travel between the two communities while avoiding a 24-mile round trip by road.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) understands that a temporary deal that has been in place since April ends on 30th September – at which point the boat will stop running if a new agreement has not been reached.

Currently, the two authorities each provide half of the £114,000 that has been required to support the operation – which would not otherwise be commercially viable.

Earlier this year, bids were sought for a new contract to run the service until 2029 with the same level of subsidy, but none were received – setting the clock ticking over the future of the service.

Just days before the boat would have stopped sailing, it was agreed to use the councils’ cash support to maintain the service over the busy summer months while attempts were made to find a more permanent arrangement.

Wyre Council says the subsidy now needs to be hiked in order to facilitate a new deal it has negotiated with the current operator to keep the ferry on the water – and the district authority has committed to increasing its 50 percent share of the cost accordingly.

However, the Reform-run county council, the transport authority for the area, said last week it would have to cut other “services that people in Lancashire rely on” if it was to stump up extra money from County Hall’s budget to match that – and so told Conservative-controlled Wyre that it needs to cover any increase.

That increase was revealed at a county council cabinet meeting on Thursday to be a doubling of the amount each authority currently provides – as estimated by the LDRS earlier this week – which would push the total annual public subsidy to £288,000.

County Cllr Goldsworthy said County Hall had “always supported” the ferry and even helped fund the boat itself – an arrangement the previous Conservative administration set in motion.

However, he added: “I get that costs have gone up…but…they haven’t gone up 100 percent – and that’s what we’re being asked for. If we’re going to find out how we’re going to make progress on this, I suggest we use the considerable expertise of our own procurement department to go through that contract and tender…because a 100 percent uplift is wholly unreasonable.

“Before we spend a penny of public money on it, I want to know all those details and exactly where it’s going and what it’s going into.”

The cabinet member added that the ruling group would not make spending decisions based on social media posts or “political” campaigns.

“We will consider [how] we go forward and we will do this properly – because this is public money and we don’t just get bounced into [committing] it,” County Cllr Goldsworthy said.

Speaking to the LDRS after watching the county council cabinet gathering via webcast, Cllr Vincent – who this week accused the Reform administration of rowing back on the spirit of the longstanding agreement between the two authorities to go halves on whatever financial support was needed – welcomed what he said was the first political engagement from County Hall over the matter.

However, he warned the county council that it would not find evidence of the profligacy it seemed to be expecting in its attempt to drive down the subsidy.

“There was then one operator that said they would agree to a contract on certain defined terms – and it’s a take it or leave it deal,” Cllr Vincent said.

“We have got them down [in price]…but they don’t really want to provide the service – nobody wants to provide it.

“This is not a provider who is saying, ‘I want to make loads of money out of this’. This is a provider saying, ‘I’ve made huge losses on this and I’m not prepared to make a loss anymore’.

“This is what [the county council] don’t seem to understand. If they had bothered to engage politically with this at any stage, before now, they would know all of this.

“We’ll arrange a meeting with the operator and with somebody political from the county council as soon as they’re available – and they can come and ask any questions, no problem at all.

“If they’re now showing a slight interest, that’s welcome – but it’s a bit late and I think they know that.”

Meanwhile, the Labour MP for Blackpool North and Fleetwood, Lorraine Beavers – who has also been critical of the county council’s stance on the subject – said it was “about time they started to engage with Wyre”.

“But once it again it has been [due to] political pressure put on them by myself and Cllr Vincent – and not because it’s the right thing to do. They are the transport authority and should have been at the table all long.”

The issue had been placed on the county council’s cabinet agenda after the authority’s cross-party budget and finance committee made a formal request for cabinet members to fund any necessary increase in its 50 percent share of the ferry subsidy.

The group had called on Wednesday for the authority to dip into a £4m cash pot agreed at its budget in February which was intended to fund projects put forward by county councillors. The so-called ‘strategic contingency budget’ still has almost £1m left in it for the current financial year.

However, during the cabinet gathering, county council leader Stephen Atkinson said while the administration would always listen to recommendations, the purpose of the finance committee was “to scrutinise the budget, not create a new budget”.

The ferry has been operating under an eight-year deal signed between Wyre Council and Wyre Marine Services back in 2018. At the outset of that arrangement, it was hoped that the service could eventually be run on a commercial basis, but the impact first of the Covid pandemic and then spiralling fuel costs left it in need of increasing taxpayer support as the life of the contact progressed.