Category Archives: News

Opinion survey on Gott Bay Pier, marshalling area, car park

As discussed at recent meetings there have been a number of communications to TCC about the Gott Bay Pier, marshalling area and the road and car park areas there. Caledonian Marine Assets Limited (CMAL) are considering some works there, and there have been suggestions that wider work could be done to improve safety, appearance and functionality of the area.

We would like to invite members of the community as well as regular visitors to Tiree to respond to a survey we are running on this issue, which can be accessed here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/YN2QBNJ

Winter ferry timetable extended

Today we received the following update from Calmac:

Further to my email of 26th February, I can now confirm that following further advice received from Transport Scotland, the current Winter timetable will remain in force until Sunday April 25th. Consequently, the Summer timetable for 2021 will now commence on Monday 26th April.

All customers with existing reservations from for the period March 26th through to April 25th will be contacted to advise of these changes and, where necessary, moved to an alternative sailing. This may take a few days to complete.

Wider communication of this information will now follow, with changes to our booking system and website to follow as soon as we can facilitate this.

As a general advisory we would suggest that any residents who will need to make essential travel in the coming months should book as soon as possible to secure the best chances of avoiding disruption due to capacity issues. The TCC will be discussing at our upcoming meeting  how we might engage with Calmac and Transport Scotland to discuss ways we might make some provision to ensure resident essential travel is not unduly impacted by restrictions.

Comments facility re-instated on this site – registration now open

Following discussions at the meetings in January 2021 and then the agreement of a Comments and Moderation Policy in February 2021, a comments facility has now been reinstated on this site.

In order to comment you must register an account on the site, in your own name, and verify an e-mail address associated with it. In addition to the above link, the Registration Page is linked in the menu bar on any page of the site, and the registration form also appears on the log-in or “My Account” page you will be referred to on the comment function itself if not already logged in.

You must include a recognisable form of your actual name as your username – this will appear next to any comment you make, and a valid e-mail address (which will not be shown).

This information will only be used for the purposes of this comment facility – you will only receive email directly related to that function and you may choose to “subscribe” to pages if you wish to be notified of any new comments.

Comments may then be posted by logged in users on most pages and posts. These must be in accordance with the policy, and will be moderated by several members of the TCC.

If you wish to make comment on any post without wishing to register, or without doing so publicly, you can do so directly by e-mailing us.

Recent correspondence re Tiree air service vehicle replacement

On behalf of both the Community Council and the independent Tiree Transport Forum our Convenor recently sent the following letter:

Dear Michael,
Tiree Community Council and Tiree Transport Forum have asked me to write to you.
Both bodies are concerned about the consequences of Loganair’s pivot away from
their SAAB 340 fleet to the ATR 42 as the airline sought to develop scale and a wider
footprint before Covid-19 struck. The ATR is unable to land at Tiree airport.
As you know, pre-pandemic, the Scottish Government’s two Twin Otter DHC6-400s
occasionally struggled to maintain the busy Glasgow, Barra, Tiree and Campeltown
rotations. The availability of the SAABs allowed Loganair to task these planes on an
emergency basis if one of the Twin Otters were taken out of the schedule. This has
not been infrequent on the Tiree run.
Obviously, passenger numbers have been heavily impacted by Covid and you must
have more pressing matters in your in-tray at the moment.
However, adding or replacing plane capacity is an expensive and complex task with a
long lead time. We wondered if the programme to phase out the SAABs has slipped
because of the pandemic, and how Transport Scotland intends to replace the
capacity that the SAAB fleet has given Loganair in the past.

Yours sincerely,
Dr John Holliday, Convenor, Tiree Community Council on behalf of the community
council and the Tiree Transport Forum

 

We have now received the following reply:

Dear John

Thank you for your e-mail of 18 November 2020 about Loganair’s fleet replacement plans. I hope you are keeping well in these difficult times.

My understanding is that, while Loganair’s plan to phase out their Saab 340s and replace them with ATRs has been delayed due to the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is still their intention to complete their fleet replacement programme. As you note, the Saab 340 is sometimes used on the Tiree-Glasgow service and the ATR cannot be used due to its weight. Two of the assessment criteria as part of the tender process for the PSO contract are relevant here – ‘maintenance and back-up arrangements’ and ‘proposals for non-availability of aircraft’. The ‘maintenance and back-up arrangements’ criteria recognises that the aircraft normally used on the routes will be out of service at various times in order for routine maintenance to be undertaken. This includes each aircraft’s annual heavy maintenance check which takes several weeks. Loganair confirmed as part of their bid that they own a Twin Otter aircraft, in addition to the two they lease from HIAL, that will be used in the delivery of services from Glasgow to Campbeltown, Tiree and Barra.

In relation to ‘proposals for non-availability of aircraft’, Loganair’s bid set out a clear, multi-layered approach offering a high degree of resilience which provided us with assurance that they could continue to provide the services even if the normal aircraft used on them were unavailable. This included use of their own Twin Otter aircraft as well calling on other aircraft in their fleet should that be necessary. At the extreme, the leasing in of further aircraft would be considered.

There is no requirement within our contract for Loganair to use specific aircraft types for the provision of services. This is deliberate so that it gives an airline the maximum flexibility to ensure that services are provided. Loganair is, however, contractually required to provide the services as per the specification. Should they fail to do so then we would take action under the contract to address the situation.

You will be aware that Covid-19 has led to a significant drop in passenger numbers across the air network and including the Glasgow-Tiree service. As a result of this, the number of weekly rotations has been reduced to take account of this lower demand. It is neither economically nor environmentally desirable for an airline to be flying empty planes. We expect, however, that this reduction in frequency will be a short term measure. We expect demand to pick up again next year as the Covid-19 situation is resolved and travel restrictions are lifted. In the longer term, we are committed to the provision of the current specification during this contract period and I look forward to continuing to engage with you and your colleagues on the Community Council and Transport Forum, both in terms of ensuring that services are currently operating as they should in meeting the needs of the community as well as considering further refinements to the specification for the next contract period.

Should you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Yours sincerely

Michael Bratcher
Aviation Policy
Transport Scotland

 

Royal Mail post to Tiree

Following the matter being raised by a constituent we have been making enquiries into additional (i.e. not the usual weather related) delays to the mail service reaching the island over the last months.
We made enquiries with Loganair, who confirmed the issue to be due to the increase in volume of postal deliveries to the island since the start of COVID-19 restrictions. The increase was such that the maximum carrying capacity allowed for on the regular plane service was being reached quite frequently, and this caused delays to post that then couldn’t be loaded until a following flight. They referred us to the appropriate contact at Royal Mail who determine the service provided.
We have since been in dialogue over the past month or two with Distribution Manager for the area, Paul, who went away and looked into the options possible to address this for Tiree.
We are delighted to have just heard that additional capacity on the flights has now been agreed and put in place which should resolve the capacity issue. Welcome news indeed ahead of the Xmas period!
We are grateful to Royal Mail for their response and commitment to serving all customers in the UK regardless of where we live – and of course to the staff locally and further afield whose efforts all mean that Tiree residents (many of us not making trips to the mainland to shop for less common items because of COVID-19) have access to much of the things we all rely on and/or which provide welcome comfort during trying times.

By-election Results

We have  received notice from Argyll and Bute Council of the results of the recent by-election and the number of votes received by each candidate was as follows:
BENNETT, Jacqueline – 74
CAMPBELL, Iona M – 240 – ELECTED
CARR, Stewart G – 88 – ELECTED
LARG, Iona M – 74
PATIENCE, John – 214 – ELECTED
REID, Louise J – 261 – ELECTED
There were 302 ballots counted, with 6 rejected, which means a turnout of 58% of those able to vote.
We would like to thank all candidates for putting themselves forward, congratulate those successfully elected and welcome them as members!

By-election Notice – nominations open Sept 9th 2020

Argyll and Bute Council have announced that the by-elections to community councils across the local authority area, postponed in the spring due to COVID-19, will now go ahead. The elections themselves will take place on November 5th, with nominations opening on Wednesday 9th September (coincidentally, the same day as our next meeting) and close on the 24th September.

What does this mean?

There are eight elected places on the Tiree Community Council. These are public elected offices, which all persons on the electoral roll for the island of Tiree may nominate to and vote for. At the last election, four people were elected (John Holliday, Phyl Meyer, Alison Clark and Gerard McGoogan).

Elected members are allowed to co-opt to fill vacancies temporarily, as well as invite others to participate on a non-voting “advisory” capacity to bring in needed skills/perspectives. TCC had brought two others in by these methods, and was working towards further co-options – but if a by-election is held any spots filled by co-option are offered up for election again.

For these reasons, this by-election will be for the four places on TCC not already filled by elected members. Previously co-opted members may of course stand for election.

How does it work and how do you put yourself forward?

Because this is a public role, there are formal procedures that have to be followed if you wish to be considered to join the community council.

  1. You must be eligible – meaning you must be (already, before this point) a registered elector on Tiree, 16 years old or above at the point of the election, and not excluded from holding public office (there are some types of job which include a prohibition against this). This effectively means you should be a “permanent resident” of Tiree, and this is the stated intent in the terms of the TCC constitution – anyone ceasing to be such would automatically be deemed to have resigned.
  2. You have to complete a Nomination Form, which two other registered electors from Tiree must sign to put you forward for election. The form is not too complicated, and assistance with completing it can be provided by existing members or by Council staff). The form must be submitted to Council staff by the deadline on September 24th.
  3. If nominated, and the number of nominations is less than or equal to the number of places – there is no actual election. Uncontested, valid candidates are simply deemed to be elected immediately following the close of nominations.
  4. If more candidates come forward than places, a vote will take place on November 5th. Due to COVID-19 this will be a postal ballot – every registered voter on Tiree will be sent a mail-in ballot to complete in advance of the election date where they can say which candidates they wish to be elected – you can vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies – in this case four. These must be returned by post before the election day.

Why should people stand?

Community Council is a vital layer of representation, with responsibility and rights to play a key role on matters such as planning policy and consultation, as well as identifying the needs and wishes of the local community and making representation to other bodies and levels of Government, etc. A strong, healthy community council can make a real difference in raising matters of concern to residents and driving forward positive changes and improvements to services, as well as supporting and promoting local culture, tourism and economy. On Tiree, we are fortunate to have organisations such as the Tiree Community Development Trust to take forward much of the practical development of work to build our community resources – it’s a huge help to them for us to be here to support good communication and representation of what people feel are priorities, and what they need, etc.

The recent pandemic has shone a powerful light on how important this function can be – TCC members played a big role in making representation to Calmac, MSPs, government ministers and others about the effect lockdown restrictions could have on our community and local economy.

Why should I stand? What could I contribute?

Many people don’t tend to think of themselves as being “political” or having the skills or expertise they think is needed to play a useful role on something like a community council – but the truth is that one of the biggest needs is for the community council to have a real breadth of voices on it, with a range of backgrounds and experiences, so that when the rest of the community look at who is supposed to be representing them what they see is reasonable reflective of themselves. The most important thing is that you have a real wish to see good done in your local community for all who call it home, and that you are willing to look at the information, ask questions and work with others to ensure that a fair reflection of the views of the community is heard, and where needed a fair decision reached on what we say or do about something.

As has been mentioned above, we can bring in additional people with expertise, skills, etc if we feel there are gaps in those which would be useful to fill – but don’t underestimate the value of the contribution you could make! A lot of what we deal with is just a matter of looking at the facts, looking at any existing rules or policies and applying a bit of common sense as to what will be good for people here on the island.

How much time does it involve? What work would I need to do?

There isn’t too much of a fixed expectation on this – it does vary. As you can imagine the existing members were all quite a bit busier with TCC business during the last several months with COVID-19 than we expected we would be!

The main expectation is that you be willing to participate in most meetings (it’s fine if you occasionally can’t make some!) – which we currently tend to hold monthly, with a gap usually in the summer and sometimes around Xmas or New Year. Since COVID-19 came along these have all been taking place as online video/phone conference calls, and this has proven to work well and be more convenient and accessible for many of us. At some point physical meetings are likely to resume, but we are keen to keep the digital option going as it is very helpful for some, especially those with care responsibilities or mobility/energy impairments.

Between meetings, there is usually a background level of emails that come in and are circulated to the members, such as the regular planning application lists and other news items and consultation requests from the Council. These can usually be dealt with in a very flexible way, as and when you can find the time, and the members can agree between themselves how tasks are split up. So for example if there was a particular task you didn’t feel able or willing to contribute to, you could say so. There might be something else you were especially keen on, and others might then bow out of that task – and so on. Ultimately this is a volunteer position, and it is always up to you – we are very keen as a group to help each other to not take on too much, and understanding of the occasional need to take a break, etc. If you are concerned about this – please do speak to one or more of the existing members.

What support and training are provided?

Argyll and Bute Council can offer induction training and guidance to newly elected councillors, and the existing members are all very keen to provide any support needed for anyone that joins us. There are often opportunities available to council members to take part in further training sessions, and to attend meetings on particular subjects where we might have a role to contribute. Being an active community councillor can be a great way of gaining transferable skills and knowledge for a current or future career, while doing something useful for your local community.

I’m not sure I could manage / accessibility:

If you are interested but are concerned about taking part in connection with caring responsibilities, or a health condition, physical, mental or sensory impairment – please get in touch to discuss. There are all sorts of things that could be done to make reasonable adjustments to ensure you have the option to be involved and take part fully – elected office should be open to everyone.

Where can I get more information?

The nomination pack is attached below, which contains some information, and there is an excellent website run nationally to support Community Councils which has a set of pages about what a community council is and what it involves for members:

http://www.communitycouncils.scot/what-is-a-community-council.html

We hope to see a good number of candidates come forward – Tiree has been complimented recently for the extent to which our Community Council has been organised and working, and it would be a great endorsement of how active and engaged we are as a community to see a contested election!

Contested election! That sounds scary!

Please don’t be put off by this possibility – it’s not that scary really! Your name goes on the ballot papers that go to everyone and they vote – if you are especially keen to be elected you can choose to campaign if you wish – but this can be as simple as asking for friends to vote for you, maybe doing a social media post – or nothing at all and leave it up to people who already know you if that’s what you prefer. Nobody will be dragging you on stage or putting you on TV or anything like that! The role is a form of public elected office so a democratic process is just part and parcel of that.

Getting in touch to ask questions, or for help with the process:

The current members are also keen to offer any assistance we can – if you would find it helpful to talk to one or more of us informally about what is involved, please contact us either by e-mail (you can reach the Secretary, Phyl Meyer, at phyl@tireecommunitycouncil.co.uk), via our Facebook page, or directly.

Nomination Pack 5 November 2020

Nomination Form only 5 Nov 2020 – this is the only bit you need to print if completing a nomination form – or you can ask for one via Rona at the Council office.

There is also a series of documents on the Argyll and Bute Council website, including training resources about being a CC member, and if you’d like to delve into the more technical documentation, you can also find the “Scheme of Establishment” which defines the rules and the default constitution of the TCC here: https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/council-and-government/community-councils – it is definitely not necessary to familiarise yourself with all of this to put yourself forward however!

TCC looking to recruit two new co-optees, keen to address diversity

The lockdown has seen a boom in volunteering and in participating in the Community Council public meetings, with around sixty people joining in by Zoom. We now want to appoint another two community councillors to take us up to full strength. It is no secret that the council has plenty of men of a certain vintage. We have recently been strongly encouraged to become more diverse, to bring in a younger generation, particularly women, as well as crofters and members of the fishing community. We would particularly, therefore, welcome expressions of interest from these groups.

If you feel that you have skills that you can bring to the council, we would of course also be interested in hearing from you whoever you are – though there is a requirement that you be a permanent Tiree resident who is on the electoral roll at a Tiree address, and only those aged 16 and above may be formally co-opted as members).

Please contact us within the next week. If you want to chat this through, contact John Holliday, Phyl or any of the other community councillors.

Ferry capacity increased with new 1m distancing guidelines

Calmac have released an updated set of information following recent easing of lockdown restrictions, which includes greatly increased maximum passenger numbers and also extension of the booking period to 30 days.

More information here: https://www.calmac.co.uk/covid19/calmac-latest-update-09-july-2020

We are hopeful that this, combined with an expected additional sailing to be added soon on Saturdays (EDIT: Now confirmed, starting July 18th), will substantially ease the difficulties many islanders have been experiencing with getting booked to travel – although capacity is still far short of what we’d usually expect this time of year pre-COVID-19 of course.

At the moment we have not heard if the provision for picking up tickets on the day of travel at the pier office, as mentioned in our article in this week’s An Tirisdeach, has changed – we are not sure if it would still operating on the basis of 20% given the increased capacity. (EDIT: WE have now had confirmation that this is still in place, for passenger capacity only, and will be reviewed on basis of demand as things move forward)

Islanders may wish to consider, however, that given the increased passenger allowance the availability of unbooked space on the car deck is likely to be much lower –  whereas with 86 passengers maximum it was very unlikely for the car deck to be fully utilised so those getting tickets on the day could generally be confident of also getting space for a vehicle – with the new higher passenger numbers it is now very much possible for the car deck to be fully booked in advance, so getting booked on in advance remains the preferred option. (EDIT 14th July: We’re told by Calmac that, thus far, there have not been capacity demand issues relating to this, but things may busy up as word spreads about increased capacity so best to book soon if you need to)