A group of Stromness residents are trying to stop a project they claim will be a “parasite” sucking the good out of the town.

The group claims OIC members are being “hoodwinked by smart marketing operators” who want to berth a cruise ship at the old Northern Lighthouse Board pier and use it as a hotel during the main tourist season.

About 20 people turned up at a surgery run by Stromness councillors last weekend to put forward their concerns about the project.

They claim the scheme has been rushed through the council with no real consultation and no thought being given to possible other uses of the pier.

Councillors Angus Hutchison, Ian Johnstone and James Stockan agreed to do what they could to get the residents’ concerns heard.

Councillor Johnstone said they had since held informal discussions with council officers with a view to organising a public meeting.

The group’s claims have disappointed Kathleen Hogarth, commercial director of the company behind the floating hotel, the Orkney and Shetland Touring Company Ltd, who says none of the people in the group have approached her with their fears or to discuss the plans.

Orkney Islands Council has bought the pier and at its full council meeting on Tuesday, December 9, is due to discuss allowing the company to use it.

A statement issued by the council said the possibility of a floating hotel at the pier had been supported by the Stromness Community Business Forum and by the Stromness Community Council, as well as the three Stromness councillors.

“We believe that the developers have kept any relevant people or groups fully informed of the process.” the statement said.

However, residents have formed the Pole Star Pier Concern Group, and in a statement they said the group did not regard meetings held in Stromness with the developers as being consultative meetings.

“Concerns were raised about the type of tourism which ought to be encouraged and the type of disturbance which could be tolerated by the community in return for economic gains,” they said.

“This was thought to be a step backward in trying to market Orkney as a quality unspoilt destination free from tourist numbers pressure.

“It also runs contrary to efforts to attract high-spending tourists as surveys show cruise tourists do not spend highly in local shops.”

The objectors told the councillors they were unhappy at the secrecy and haste with which the whole project appeared to have been rushed through at the behest of the developers, and that normal planning procedures could be circumvented because the development was a ship. They said it appeared the company was about to be given a seven-year right to berth a ship at the pier and it would take OIC two years to get out of that contract if it felt the operation was detrimental to the town.

“This horrified some of the public, who saw that the whole thing was a fait accompli driven by a slick marketing machine whose aim was to extract money and resources out of Orkney rather than put anything valuable in.

“One person christened the proposed floatel The Parasite as it would latch on to the pier and suck out the good of the place,” they said.

Ms Hogarth said she was particularly surprised by claims the benefits would not stay in Orkney.

The plans had always included the creation of a community fund from the project’s income and the establishment of a local liaison committee once the project got the go-ahead, she said.

“It’s a local company. It’s based here in Stromness.”

As well as talking to the business forum and the community council, the company had held a public meeting in March so people could talk about their concerns.The meeting had been advertised both in The Orcadian and by the distribution of flyers, she said.

“That flyer had our phone number on it,” she said. “Why haven’t they called me to talk about it?”

She said the floating hotel use was not incompatible with other uses such as a maritime museum, aquarium or arts centre.

She denied the project had been rushed through in secrecy and said it had, in fact, been put back a year because of the time it was taking to work through the issues and the council processes. The proposal is to berth a small cruise ship at the pier to supply about 200 beds from May to October. The ship would hopefully be chartered for winter cruises, so would not be at the pier over the winter.

The Orkney and Shetland Touring Company and its associated company, Maritime Leisure, would set up an Orkney-based company to operate the floating hotel. The ship would be chartered from Maritime Leisure and OSTC would do the selling and marketing of the hotel ship.

The extra beds were necessary in Orkney because there was a shortage of high quality accommodation for groups, she said.

“We never wanted to go into a community that didn’t want us and we think this would be a real boost for Stromness,” added Ms Hogarth.