MP pushing for return of passenger ferries

An MP has said bringing back a passenger ferry service would help revive a town.

Josh MacAlister said a recent survey carried out in Whitehaven found residents were interested in reintroducing ferries between the town and the Isle of Man.

The Labour MP for Whitehaven and Workington recently met members of the Isle of Man Government to discuss the plans, and now hopes to organise an autumn meeting with interested parties.

However, he conceded the plan was "a bit of a longshot".

He said he wanted to make the town the "Whitby of the west".

He added that, similar to Whitehaven, Whitby is "an hour from the motorway and right on the edge of a national park".

"If we can peel off some of the millions of tourists who visit the Lake District each year to spend time in west Cumbria, that would be amazing," he said.

Currently, the closest port to get a ferry to the Isle of Man is Heysham in Lancashire.

MacAlister said he believed the vessel previously used for passenger ferries became "really dated and it actually made it quite difficult for the service to continue running".

Linda Cuthbert, a regular visitor to the town, said more needed to be done to make the town more attractive.

She said: "You walk around the streets and it is dismal."

Ms Cuthbert added that people in the area want tourists, but more needs to be done about "derelict buildings".

MacAlister agreed that the town was "run down" but said it's a "chicken and egg situation".

"To get local businesses onto the high street we need the footfall, and to get the footfall we need the tourism," the MP said.

Katie Murray, the senior manager at Cumbria Travel said she thought ferry service was a good idea and that it would "connect us with the Isle of Man".

She added that it would be a "positive" to bring people to the area and "put Whitehaven on the map again".

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