The Hayling ferrys uncertain future after Portsmouth City Council decided to pull 10000 of annual funding has been widely reported. The service used by thousands of commuters was given a stay of execution on February 14 as Hampshire County Council stepped up and offered to pay the pontoon fees until October.
Despite Hampshire already forking out cash subsidies head of passenger and transport Peter Shelley warned theyre fed up with being seen as the bankers of last resort. He said: We value this service and are extremely disappointed that Portsmouth has stepped back from their funding.
He then added: Our figures show 58 per cent of traffic originates on the Hayling side people travelling to Portsmouth for education or employment. And 42 per cent originates in Portsmouth.
Its fairly even so Hampshire is disappointed its being left totally to the county council. We do value the service thats why weve been involved in capital costs and licence fees. Ideally we would like the service to continue but there will come a point if we keep being faced with bills that there will be some difficulty.
Also in attendance were ferry owners Frida and Tina Edwards who have been asking for Langstone Harbour Board to look at pontoon fees. Harbour master Nigel Jardine has said hell do this but admitted they could go up. 170000 has been spent on the ferry pontoons since 2008. In the next five to 10 years these would need to be replaced for the sum of 200000.
Portsmouth City Councillor Luke Stubbs questioned why so many subsidies were needed and brought into question the transparency of the ferry companys accounts. The response from Frida Edwards was that the ferry is a limited company with full transparency of accounts detailed on Companies House.
Tina Edwards said after the meeting: We feel relieved we have got a bit of breathing space. It would be good if they looked again at the pontoon fees because that is what we have been asking for. Its not as profitable as everyone seems to think. Its not a massive goldmine.
