Gosport Ferry funding secured as 'threat to close service now gone'

Talks between politicians, the company and Portsmouth, Gosport and Hampshire councils have ended with a funding package.

That is according to city council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson, who said between them the councils will fund £45,000 a month for two months.

Around 600 passengers are currently using the ferry a week, of whom 500 are NHS, dockyard or council workers.

Passenger numbers are down 90 per cent.

Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage’s office said the ferry firm has received £5m in funding from government through the business interruption scheme and by furloughing 16 of its staff.

Ms has been speaking to transport secretary Grant Shapps about this issue, while Portsmouth South MP Stephen Morgan has raised it in the House of Commons.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said: ‘They shut down one ferry and were going to shut down the other one. They were losing £150,000 a month.

‘We have now done a deal where the company still takes a loss.

‘The government have found a fund to give them some money and the councils between us will also put some money in for a couple of months, and with a bit of luck we’ll be out of this by then.’

The councils, Department for Transport and the ferry will each pay in around a third of the cash needed, the senior councillor said.

The Department for Transport told The News no funding has been agreed by them or the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

But it's understood the company is set to be at a meeting on Friday with government officials.

As reported, the firm is owned by FIH group plc, which in the year to March 2019 recorded an after-tax profit of around £3m.

Ms Dinenage, who has been on the case for two months, said: ‘The transport secretary understood how vital Gosport Ferry is for our area and our calls for an urgent resolution to this.

‘I am grateful for the personal interest in this taken by him, his ministers and officials.

‘In addition to furloughing staff through the coronavirus job retention scheme, and securing the maximum funding available through the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme, these efforts have led to an additional package of support for the ferry from local authorities.’

Reacting to the news, Mr Morgan tweeted: ‘Really pleased the lobbying of government is paying off.

‘The Gosport Ferry is a lifeline for many in our communities.’

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