Scotland's Covid capital is right to be wary, and aggrieved - Martyn McLaughlin

In a nook of Scotland where a storied maritime heritage long served as a painful reminder of past glories, it has been impressive to see how Inverclyde has reclaimed the sea to brand itself as the nation’s cruise ship capital.

Parts of Greenock are amongst the most deprived in the country.

On any given summer’s day, the Firth of Clyde plays host to vessels which are not so much ships, as floating metropolises. Around 120,000 visitors flow into the area each year as a result.

These numbers mask some unwelcome truths, of course - many tourists scurry on to coaches bound for Loch Lomond and other shortbread tin bucket list locales. Even so, the cruise ships have become an increasingly important industry in a region still struggling to recover from its post-industrial malaise.

Nowhere is this more evident than the work that has gone into a new visitor terminal and vast pontoon - made up of four, 1,000 tonne concrete caissons - designed to host some even larger and more luxurious liners and bolster annual visitor numbers by a further 30,000.

As recently as January, Stephen McCabe, the leader of Inverclyde Council, spoke of how the £19m investment would boost economic growth and international tourism across not just the Clyde coast, but the Greater Glasgow area,

How quickly things change. No one is referring to Inverclyde as the cruise capital of Scotland. Not for the moment, at least. A new, painful alliteration has taken its place. The area is now the nation’s coronavirus capital, and by some considerable distance.

The Covid-19 death rate in the council area stands at 12.7 deaths per 10,000, more than double the national rate of 5.1, and considerably higher than the next worst hit region, West Dunbartonshire, where the rate stands at 9.7.

Now, amid untold pain and anxiety, a region opening its arms to international visitors only a few months back is justifiably scared and wary.

Peel Ports, the owners of Greenock’s Ocean Terminal, has applied for permission to lay up 12 vessels in Inverclyde as the pandemic continues to unfold.

Though no passengers are on board the ships, the size of the crews alone run into four figures. The plan is to let those staff travel on to airports, before being repatriated to their own country. But in an area already paying a heavy price during the outbreak, the very idea is making people increasingly nervous.

Despite members of the council’s policy and resources executive sub-committee voting unanimously to reject the proposal by Peel Ports on public health grounds, the consequences of their stance are little more than symbolic.

The council’s power extends only to writing a letter to the company to “urge reconsideration” of its plans. Local politicians and community groups have demanded the Scottish Government intervene, but the situation remains fraught and poses several questions.

In normal circumstances, Inverclyde would be a place of safe harbour. In wartime, it played host to the Free French navy, Yet the extraordinary new reality of Covid-19 means that the community, as well as the cruise ship crews, are at risk.

The stand-off looks set to continue, with no sign as to how it might be resolved. One thing, however, is abundantly clear. Authorities in Inverclyde need urgent help in better understanding why the area has been hit so hard by the outbreak, and how they can mitigate its impact in the weeks and months ahead.

For all the splendour of its setting on the Firth of Clyde, the area has long fared poorly in terms of health inequalities and socio-economic league tables, and it seems inevitable that a combination of these factors are at play.

According to a strategic needs assessment drawn up by Inverclyde Alliance, the region’s community planning partnership, 44 per cent of the region’s datazones are among the most deprived 20 per cent in all of Scotland.

This deprivation is most acute in pockets of Greenock town centre, housing estates such as Larkfield, and worrying large swaths of Port Glasgow.

There is no detailed data detailing the rate of Covid-19 deaths in such areas compared to more affluent parts of Inverclyde, such as the west end of Gourock, or Kilmacolm, but research elsewhere in the country suggests poverty is a factor; a report to councillors in Fife found 23 per cent of Covid-19 deaths by 16 April were in pockets with the highest levels of deprivation, with just 15 per cent in the least deprived areas.

In any case, other interlinked drivers may be at play. The rate of emergency admissions to hospital in Inverclyde, has been consistently higher than the Scottish average for at least a decade, and nearly one in four jobs are in the health or social work sectors.

It will take time before the jigsaw pieces are put together, but it is essential that the area is not allowed to suffer in vain. The grave health problems in Inverclyde existed long before the Covid-19 outbreak, and they will doubtless fester for some time to come. But the advent of an unprecedented public health crisis reveals just now poorly equipped some of our communities are to deal with disaster.

One of the most alarming trends buried deep in the National Records of Scotland data details the number of deaths in Inverclyde where Covid-19 was not identified as a contributory factor. In the five weeks to 26 April, there was a 135 per cent spike in such deaths compared to the five year average for the same period.

If, amidst all the pain, coronavirus presents an opportunity to rebuild Scotland as a fairer, more prosperous society, it is places like Inverclyde where the greatest focus must fall, and where success will be judged.

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