AN AMBITIOUS plan to create a state-of-the-art hovercraft commuter service linking Southampton and Portsmouth has been unveiled.

Hovertravel, which already runs a hovercraft service between Southsea and the Isle of Wight, has proposed a link between Southsea and a landing pad near Southampton’s Red Funnel Terminal.

The firm is currently working on a business case for the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership in the hope that it will be able to secure government funding for the project.

The plan has been spearheaded by Portsmouth City Council leader Donna Jones and is part of her aspiration to reduce motorway traffic in the Solent area by 20 per cent, as well as improve connections between the south coast powerhouses.

Cllr Jones said a study has indicated that the average journey between the cities takes around 28 minutes and she believes a 12-month trial could happen using two Hovertravel 135-seater crafts not currently in operation.

She said: “This would enable people who commute between the two cities to make that journey more quickly. It would be a huge boost for businesses who use the motorway as they would be able to get goods and services moved across the Solent far easier.

“It’s an exciting idea and we as civic leaders need to be pushing boundaries and making connections with the right people and getting things moved forward. We need to start using the water a lot more.”

Southampton City Council leader Simon Letts said: “Of course we’re very happy to look at the plan and it’s interesting. I have had some preliminary discussions with Red Funnel about possibilities of running a fast jet service between Southampton and Portsmouth. We are happy to look at the hovercraft plans, but I think the problem with a hovercraft is that it can be so affected by the weather and if you want to run a reliable service for commuters it needs to be just that. of course we are interested in this possibility and uniting the cities in this way but I think there could be a better solution.”

No decisions have been made about whether the hovercraft journey would include stops at other areas.

Hovercraft managing director Neil Chapman confirm it was in discussions over the Portsmouth to Southampton route.

“These discussions are in the very early stages and Hovertravel looks forward to working with the local councils during these initial stages,” he added.