Shetland Islands Council has approved a long-term plan that could deliver two subsea tunnels and eight new inter-island ferries over the next three decades, subject to funding.
Councillors this week approved the inter-island transport connectivity Implementation Route Map (IRM), prepared by consultants Stantec, COWI and Mott MacDonald. It is the final stage in developing the council’s long-term programme for inter-island transport, building on decisions taken by elected members in June 2026 and setting them out as a timed programme of investment over approximately 30 years.
Under the plan, a tunnel from Shetland’s mainland to Yell will progress first, followed by a tunnel from Yell to Unst. Both depend on full funding being secured. The route map also sets out proposed investment in ferry services on the other routes, including the immediate investment needed on Bluemull Sound.
The Scottish Government has confirmed that funding committed earlier this year will be made available so that the project business case and pre-construction work for the Yell Sound tunnel can get under way.
Council leader Emma Macdonald said: “This is a major step forward for our plans. With Scottish Government funding in place to begin initial work for the Yell Sound tunnel, today’s decision means that this work can now get under way.
“This is critical not only for Shetland but for Scotland and the UK, which will benefit from our growing seafood, renewable energy, tourism and space industries. As the work begins, we will continue to pursue the long-term funding which will not only build our tunnels, but be used to invest in our ferry services which will continue to be a lifeline for the isles.”
She added: “Our most significant challenge now is to secure funding to allow implementation of these plans to move forward. Inter-island transport is the key to unlocking the potential of Shetland, and both the Scottish and UK Governments have a vested interest in helping that happen.”
The decision follows an article published by Scottish Business News in August, in which Tom Sime, chief executive of Exchange Communications, argued that mobile connectivity should be designed into Shetland’s tunnels from the start. His company installed a multi-operator 4G system across the Mersey Tunnels in Liverpool and is working on cellular connectivity for the Clyde Tunnel.
Sime noted then that the proposed Yell tunnel alone was estimated at around £402 million and could take eight years to deliver. He wrote: “Mobile connectivity must be treated as essential tunnel infrastructure from the outset, not an optional extra to be retrofitted once the concrete is in place.”
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He also argued: “If we know today that a new subsea tunnel will need communications infrastructure, the logical time to design cable routes, antenna locations, power requirements, equipment spaces and network architecture is before construction begins.”
With the council’s decision, the business case and pre-construction work for the Yell Sound tunnel can now begin. That is the stage, before construction, that Sime identified as the right time to plan the tunnel’s communications infrastructure.
