Ayrshire road closed this weekend for demolition of Ravenscraig relic
The A78 will be closed at Hunterston
The main A78 road along the Ayrshire coast is being closed this weekend to allow engineers to complete the demolition of a landmark structure at Hunterston.
Drivers will be unable to use the road between Fairlie and West Kilbride from 0500 on Saturday 13th August until 0600 on Monday 15th August.
Motorists will be diverted around the closure via the A760 from Largs to Dalry and then to West Kilbride.
The closure is for engineers to remove the former coal conveyor which spans the road.
Last relic of Ravenscraig
It’s the last remaining part of a giant structure which once carried iron ore and coal from the ships berthing at the deep water terminal up to a rail yard above the A78 where it was loaded into wagons for onward transport to central Scotland.
Plans for the system were approved in 1970 to feed supplies of raw materials and fuel to the Ravenscraig steelworks in Motherwell.
Following the controversial closure of the iconic plant in 1992 the conveyor was used to unload imported coal onto trains bound for the power stations at Drax in Yorkshire and Longannet in Fife.
At its peak Clydeport claimed the system had an unloading rate of 2800 tonnes of coal every hour.
Hundreds of new jobs promised
The site is being cleared to be redeveloped as the Hunterstone Port and Resource Centre, described as an ‘energy and marine campus’.
A new company, XCLL, has claimed it will create 900 jobs with a factory making high voltage undersea cables.
There were concerns locally about the visual impact of a 185-metre high tower, but the plans were approved by North Ayrshire Council’s planning committee in July 2022.
Another deal announced by Peel Ports is for a factory building components for offshore windfarms.
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