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CLYDE ESTUARY COMMITTEE
To The Right Hon. ALFRED BARNES, M.P.,
SIR,
Minister of War Transport.
(1) We were appointed by your predecessor, after consultation with the then Secretary of State for Scotland, on 2nd August, 1944, with the following Terms of Remit:—
To enquire into the present arrangements for the provision and administration of navigational facilities and of docks and harbours of the River and Firth of Clyde and the lochs leading from them, and to report what modifications, if any, in those arrangements are desirable for the promotion of the trade of the estuary and the public interest."
(2) We devoted ourselves in the first instance to the study of the mass of information and statistics bearing upon the subject of our investigation con- tained in numerous official and unofficial records and publications, and we also carried out inspections on the River and Estuary. Thereafter we addressed a questionnaire to a large number of authorities, bodies and individuals interested in different aspects of the problem, and later extended our requests for information and criticism in the light of our growing experi- ence. The main sources from which we have received representations or evidence are detailed in Appendix A; and we desire to express our grateful acknowledgements for the courtesy and promptitude with which so many elaborate and carefully thought out memoranda have been placed at our disposal, and for the ready assistance which we have received. In taking oral evidence we deliberately avoided formal judicial methods or public sessions, our view being that better results would be achieved by private and informal discussion around a conference table upon the crucial issues in controversy.
By these methods, and by establishing contact with various other bodies simultaneously engaged in the study of related problems, we have spared no effort to draw upon every accessible source of responsible and instructed opinion on the subject of our remit; and it has only been after prolonged consideration of the numerous, and by no means unanimous, views presented to us that we have reached the conclusions embodied in this Report.
(3) The Report is presented in two Parts. In Part I we have summarised the main facts of the present position and our estimate of the probable trend of requirements in the predictable future. In Part II we have stated and endeavoured to justify the recommendations and proposals which we submit for your consideration.
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PART I.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE RIVER AND FIRTH.
(4) The main features of the Estuary and River must already be so familiar to all likely to read this Report that we confine ourselves to a brief summary of the main facts bearing upon the provision of navigational facilities. We append an outline sketch plan.
In its wider sense the Firth of Clyde may be said to cover everything above a line between the Mull of Kintyre and Corsewall Point. But this wider area naturally divides itself at the Cumbraes into two parts-the lower estuary, and the upper estuary and river.
The lower estuary consists of an oblong area of virtually open sea, roughly 40 miles in length by 30 in width, divided into two unequal parts by the island of Arran. The smaller or western half, consisting of Kilbrennan Sound, is little used except for fishing or minor coastwise traffic; and it is to the larger or eastern half that the name Firth of Clyde is normally applied.
The upper estuary and river, though also about 40 miles in length from Glasgow to the Cumbraes, has a maximum width of only about 10 miles, narrowing in the upper zo miles of its length to the few hundred feet of the river and dredged channel. The upper estuary consists in maritime parlance partially smooth water," and includes the well-known anchorage at the Tail of the Bank, with the adjoining landlocked water areas of Loch Long, the Gareloch, Holy Loch and Loch Goil.
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(5) From the standpoint of port administration and navigational facilities interest centres very largely upon the upper estuary and river. In the lower estuary there are situated only the Ayrshire ports of Ardrossan, Irvine, Troon and Ayr, the ports in Loch Ryan, and the port of Campbeltown; with in addition a large number of small harbours, piers and jetties of local signifi- cance. But with these exceptions it is within the upper estuary and river that all the considerable dock facilities are to be found, and it is there that the vast bulk of the shipping trade is conducted. The only river tributaries of the Clyde which need be mentioned are the Cart in Renfrewshire and the Leven in Dunbartonshire.
(6) The depth of water varies from a minimum of about 18 feet L.W.O.S.T. in the river, to nearly 100 fathoms at various points in the lower estuary, the tidal range being 10 to 12 feet at average spring tides.
(7) Even if Ardrossan, Ayr and Troon are included, the major Clyde ports lie within a circle of 20 miles radius, and they constitute a group apart amongst British ports, for the steaming distance from Glasgow to Belfast is 135 miles, to Liverpool 212 miles, and to Bristol nearly 400 miles.
THE EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE LAY-OUT.
(8) The present administrative position is the end-product of a long series of independent enterprises initiated in the course of the last two hundred years, during which the centre of gravity has shifted up the river from the Ayrshire coast, first to Port Glasgow, and finally to Glasgow itself. The history of these enterprises has often been told and cannot be repeated here; but it has left a broad mark upon the present administrative scheme. That scheme
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