PLANS to bring Helensburgh Pier back into use as a transport facility will NOT appear in a council bid for major UK Government funding, a report has revealed.

The document, setting out details of a planned Argyll and Bute Council bid for cash from the Conservative government's Levelling Up Fund, reveals that a proposed bid for £50 million for a transport-themed 'Connected Argyll and Bute' project will instead be focussed on the 'Whisky Islands' of Islay and Jura and on the 'North Lorn Economic Growth Zone'.

The terms of the council's Levelling Up Fund bid will be discussed at a full council meeting on Thursday, June 30.

Plans to include two other Helensburgh and Lomond projects in the bid - the introduction of electric buses, and the extension of existing cycle paths in the area to create a dedicated route for cyclists all the way to Rosneath - had already been scrapped.

But the new report is the first time that the removal of Helensburgh Pier from the proposed bid has been made public.

The pier has been closed to all marine traffic since October 2018 amid concern at the deteriorating state of the wooden section at its southernmost (seaward) end.

A council official's report on the proposed bid states: "This bid concerns a package of proposals that initially covered three areas of Argyll and Bute. Work on preparing the feasibility of individual elements of the bid unfortunately led to the Helensburgh and Lomond elements having to be removed and this was reported to elected members outwith the committee process."

The report gives no explanation of the reasons behind the pier project's removal - or of any alternative plans to source funding to bring it back into use.

Helensburgh isn't the only transport project to be scrapped from the planned LUF bid - also axed are plans for a 'North Islay Active Travel Route' and for improvements to the Craignure-Salen road on Mull.

Last month, councillors approved a recommendation to remove the cycle path project from the proposed bid after authority officials said it would be impossible to get the project to the required stage by an application deadline.

A separate report for that May 19 full council meeting  said that introducing electric buses in Helensburgh and Lomond - possibly as part of a direct bus link between Helensburgh and Glasgow Airport, and alongside a new rail halt at Garelochhead to serve HM Naval Base Clyde - would "place too much recurring revenue costs on the council".