The fence, along the length of the front of the pier, is due to be erected by mid-August - right at the height of the tourist season, and just in time for the island's busiest day of the year, the Bute Highland Games - under Westminster legislation on the security of ports and the people and ships which use them.

The fence will stretch from just behind the entrance to the moorings at the west end of the pier, along past the old linkspan berth and past the pier building to the east, ending opposite the Albert Pier, with gaps to allow vehicles and passengers to board and to disembark from the Wemyss Bay ferry.

News of the fence was disclosed at this week's meeting of Bute Community Council - though it wasn't until Mike Moffat, the engineer supervising the pier and harbour development work for Argyll and Bute Council, filled in some of the factual gaps for us after the meeting that we realised what the fence would look like.

Due to be put up between July 22 and August 18, the fence will feature steel posts three metres high, at three metre intervals, with welded mesh steel sheets two and a half metres (8.2 feet) high in between, all topped with three strands of barbed wire.

Tim Saul, chairman of the Isle of Bute Marketing and Tourism Group, said on hearing the news: "I would urge the council to think again and find a more aesthetically pleasing solution to the safety and security issues on the pier.

"Given the vast sums of money that have been invested in waterfront improvements in Rothesay, it seems that the new ship is to be spoiled for a ha'porth of tar.

"Let us give warm welcome to our visitors, not put them off ever returning."

Mr Saul has also canvassed opinion among members of the group, and responses so far have unanimously condemned both the need for, and the design of, the fence, with one even questioning the legality of barbed wire in public places.

Island councillor Robert Macintyre said he had contacted the council's planning department to find out if the fence needed planning permission.

"I suspect I will be told that it is 'permitted development'," he said "but I would like to know who designed this fence.

"It will give visitors to this island a first impression that they are approaching a prison – Alcatraz springs to mind.

"I will be urging my two colleagues to delay this scheduled work until some sanity prevails. Do these people who don't live on our island care about the scars their decisions will permanently leave behind them?"

His colleague Cllr Isobel Strong added: "I think this is security gone mad. Do the powers that be think that Rothesay is in the forefront of international terrorism, and that a high fence with barbed wire is necessary?"

Cllr Scoullar said he had been advised that the height and design of the fence was indeed necessary to meet the terms of the legislation, but that consultants Scott Wilson Scotland are to be asked to revisit
the design "in light of public disquiet".

Mr Moffat advised that the fence was needed to comply with the Department of Transport's 'Transec' policy on the protection of passengers, ports and shipping.

"In addition," he told us, "the new plant and machinery now in place, the changes to the traffic routes on and off the ferry and the creation of the additional berth for overnight use by CalMac at the former linkspan location have all put additional health and safety responsibilities on the council as pier owner in relation to the maintenance of public safety."

Brian Fulton, Caledonian MacBrayne's regional manager for Bute, said the decisions on the need for the fence and its erection and design had been taken without any involvement from the company.

Cllr Macintyre said he would be seeking a meeting with the council's health and safety officer and the official in charge of piers and harbours to look at possible alternatives.

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