MINUTES

JUNE PUBLIC MEETING OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)

7.15pm 12 June 2024

Tiree Trust Conference Room, Crossapol

and by Zoom and Facebook

1. Present: (in person) Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, John MacCaskill, Frances Khetrat and Aran Khetrat with Cllr Amanda Hampsey. Tim Arkless was present online. One member of the public was in attendance. There were 7 people watching on Zoom, including John Maughan, the Convenor of Mull CC, with 10 people watching on Facebook. By the next morning, there had been 91 ‘views’ on FB.
2. Welcome: by the chair, in particular to Cllr Hampsey
3. Apologies: Willie Hume
4. Declarations of interest: there were none.
5. Trust Housing Strategy and Action Plan Update: presentation by Augustijn van Gaalen, Community Projects Officer for the Trust. This had not been finally approved by the Board, but it indicates a direction of travel. There are five priorities: a) the development 12–14 units of new housing, mainly for rent. This will probably be in Scarinish; the feasibility study should be available at the end of the year, but the completion date may be 2027/8; b) creating the capacity within the Trust to manage housing, or identifying capacity elsewhere; c) purchasing housing on the open market; d) supporting owners of second homes to transfer from short- to long-term renting; e) developing a design of affordable (modular) home that could be self-built around the island. JM said that on Mull that it has been suggested that homeowners might leave their houses to community bodies. TCDT was liaising with MICT on Mull.
6. Minutes of last meeting: these were accepted as a true record. Proposed JMC, seconded FK.
7. Matters arising:

• Broadband: GMG has been in conversation with Mark Vale and the Scottish Government. The situation has improved since he was last on the community council. Currently, under the R100 scheme, fibre will be offered to all existing properties except 26 households. These will be offered vouchers. New builds will not be covered. The copper network was meant to be phased out later this year, but this deadline has slipped 13 months. AH offered to put TCC in contact with the relevant MSPs
• Scarinish fence update: JH is still waiting for a quotation
• Community garden: GMG has notified the Trust that he is now the TCC rep. for this
• Exclusion of home schooled children from the school playing fields after school hours: AH has been working on this. JH has received a letter from Jim Lynch saying that Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) has now transferred the management of the playing fields to Live Argyll. The matter has now been resolved satisfactorily

8. Meeting reports:

• Mull CC (JH): the Visitor Levy Bill has passed. Argyll and Bute Council now has to consult with TCC and local businesses and organisations. We will need to form a view on the subject. We will then have to wait 18 months before it comes into effect so that everyone can get ready. The earliest it could be introduced, therefore, would be spring 2026. Those on disability benefits are now exempt. There will be an ABC visitor levy forum to provide feedback. AH said that it was not clear if different parts of Argyll could opt out or in. Mull has similar problems with ‘mainland’ driving on island single-track roads. It was suggested Tiree, Mull and Coll CCs get together to try to tackle this. A combination of films, notices on booking forms, ferry posters, the employment of a ranger at the Oban ferry terminal and leaflets might be needed. It was suggested that the Western Isles might have some useful experience. JH will call a meeting of interested parties to take this forward
• Ferry Group (GMG): Tiree has done better than some other routes, for example, Mull. Everyone complemented the CalMac staff, despite all the challenges they face. RET is being looked at. It may be phased out or just applied to islanders. JMC has written about this in the Islands Connectivity plan consultation

9. Correspondence:

• Police report: there had been 4 calls May, with no crimes
• Dr Ambrose had written in support of the community bus service, saying that many patients missed it badly. JH will contact AH and the Trust to progress this. It was also pointed out that young people only get two return free trips to the mainland a year, although mainland young people get free bus travel. AH will take this up with SG.
• Letter of introduction from a new MSP, Tim Eagle
• 2022 Census: the Tiree population has increased from 653 to 695. Tiree and Mull have increased, Coll, Colonsay and Barra have gone down. Age groups 15-24 have gone down, 45-54 have gone up, over 65s have gone down. The average age on Tiree is 45, a number that has stayed steady. Tiree is younger than Mull, Colonsay and Coll

10. ABC Councillors reports: SAH said that most of the points she wanted to make had already been covered. Her contact details were on the ABC website, and she welcomed anyone approaching her.
11. The future of policing on Tiree: Steph Tanner was just about to, or had already, retired. Tiree was now being covered by mainland officers. TCC recorded their thanks to Steph for his years of service on Tiree, and wished him a long and happy retirement. The duty sergeant from Oban had said that he was going to try to join the meeting if circumstances allowed. However, it seemed that he was busy. JH would contact Police Scotland for a report on recruitment for Steph’s replacement.
12. Mains water on Tiree: on 24 May, JH and Phyl Meyer had met with Euan Innes, Technical Team Leader, Water Supply Optioneering, with Luke Johnson and Campbell Simpson from SW with Phyl Meyer from Trust. They confirmed that the current Tiree mains water supply often only just meets maximum demand. The new larger settling tank has helped, particularly with flushing the filters, but there is a lot of iron and manganese in the loch water, and salts build up in the boreholes. These are now cleaned once a year. The machair and loch are both environmentally important, and taking too much water from the loch lowers water levels, with consequences for wildlife. SW understands the problems Tiree faces and is committed to solving them. They are replacing a lot of the old asbestos cement pipes, which have a tendency to crack, and replace them with plastic pipes. They are also going to install a lot more meters so that SW can monitor how the network is functioning. This project will start next year and will cost around £10 million. They will also bring in their water efficiency team to the island to encourage people use less water. And they are looking to replace the water treatment works in the longer term. Options include abstraction from the loch itself using a membrane, more boreholes and desalination. The take-home message was that we need to adapt to a new world, one where water is in critically short supply on Tiree.
13. Crossapol Beach: wartime waste material has been re-exposed at the base of the dunes, presenting a danger to children. JH will contact the manager at Tiree Airport.
14. Ferries: there were continuing concerns about the Barra link. Although traffic is low, this route is very important to key sectors of the Tiree and Coll economies.
15. Air services: banked flights have been arranged to cover the film festival on Tiree in the autumn. This system is now going smoothly. We have had a letter about the reinstatement of the N-S runway and the use of planes other than Twin Otters on the other two runways. JMC will reply. Most HIAL airports are now being reduced to one runway. This is unlikely to happen on Tiree, because the second runway is also the taxiing runway to the terminal.
16. The future of Heylipol Church: we felt that TCC should be part of the discussions about this. JH had been in touch with Alex MacCallum, the Parish Minister, and we will join any proposed meetings.
17. Monthly planning applications:

• none that fall within the TCC Planning Policy
• Kim de Buiteléir, Senior Planning and Strategies Officer, ABC, had written about the next Local Development Plan (LDP3), which will be in place by 2029: ‘LDP3 will take into consideration any registered Local Place Plans, allowing a community-led, collaborative approach to help shape the places where the community lives, works and plays. We are inviting communities to prepare Local Place Plans whichshould be submitted by the end of June 2025’.  John Patience and the Trust were happy to be involved in this. JH will bring together a working party to investigate this, and report back. The community has to be consulted as part of this process

18. AOCB: there was none.
19. Date and location of next public meeting: 14 August virtually.

Dr John Holliday 13 June 2024

MINUTES

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL 2024 AGM

7pm 12 June 2024

Trust Offices, Crossapol, by Zoom and streamed on Facebook

1. 1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, John MacCaskill, Frances Khetrat and Aran Khetrat were present in person, with Tim Arkless online. One member of the public was present in person, with six online and ten watching on Facebook.
   2. Apologies: there were none.
   3. Minutes of last AGM: these were accepted, proposed by JH and seconded by FK. There were no matters arising.
   4. Convenor’s report: This had been published separately, JH ran through the main points.
   5. Treasurer’s report and presentation of the annual accounts: GMG and JH had spent some time reconstructing the accounts, after some papers had been mislaid. Our current balance was approximately £2500, of which £847 was ring fenced. We have ordered duplicate statements, and will have signed accounts ready for the August public meeting.
   6. Election of officers: GMG was elected as Convenor (proposed JH, seconded JMC); JH was elected as Secretary (proposed GMG, seconded by FK), and FK was elected as Treasurer (proposed GMG, seconded by JMC).
   7. AOCB: there was no other business, and the meeting closed at 7.14pm.

Dr John Holliday 13 June 2024

MINUTES

MAY PUBLIC MEETING OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)

8 May 2024

Tiree Trust Conference Room, Crossapol

and by Zoom/Facebook

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan, Dr John Holliday, Tim Arkless, John MacCaskill, Frances Khetrat and Aran Khetrat. One member of the public was in attendance. There had been 73 views on Facebook by the following morning.
2. Welcome: by JH. The new councillors were introduced.
3. Appointment of office holders for new council: GMG was proposed as Convenor by JMC, seconded by FK. There were no other candidates, and GMG was duly elected. He highlighted the ee mast in Cornaigmore and Solar Tiree as ‘wins’ for TCC in the past. We decided to leave the post of Treasurer vacant until the AGM next month.
4. Apologies: none were received.
5. Declarations of interest: there were none.
6. Minutes of last meeting: these were accepted as a true record. Proposed JMC, seconded AK.
7. Matters arising:

• JH had been contacted by Euan Innes, Water Supply Optioneering Manager for Scottish Water, for a chat about the future water requirements for Tiree. This had not yet taken place.
• Additional Hynish passing place: JH has looked at the site on the Hynish/Mannal boundary, and there does not appear to be room for one
• Scarinish fence update: JH has asked the contractor again for a quotation
• Scottish Islands Federation: TCC is now a member
• Fuel prices: TCC has submitted a letter to TCEL. This is on the TCC website
• Accounts: these should be ready for the June AGM. GMG and JH will prepare them
• Thatched house in Balevullin: JH had looked into this, following a request from the public at the last meeting. As far he was aware, the owner was still alive. It was a Grade B Listed building. It was not on the Buildings at Risk register. It is a much loved local landmark. We will continue to monitor the situation offline
• Use of the all-weather pitch: JH has written to the Council Leader, Jim Lynch, who has taken the matter up with officers

8. Correspondence:

• Police report: there had been 14 calls in March and April, with three crimes, including a Hate Crime. The First Aid box from Scarinish harbour was stolen on 24 or 25 March
• There had been a request for a memorial bench on Gott Bay. JH had passed this on to the estate
• We had received a letter from three young people on the island, highlighting the difficulty they have experienced getting a house. If they are unsuccessful, they will have to leave the island. We decided to ask the Trust to come to the next meeting to tell us about their current housing plans. There was an immediate need. JH will do this

9. ABC Councillors reports: there were none present
10. Planning: there was a pre-planning application for Balinoe (24/00837/PPP), two agricultural buildings (24/00707/PAAGRI and 24/00509/PNAGRI), and a change of use for Turas in Heanish (24/00181/PP). None came within the TCC Planning Policy.
11. Tiree Transport Forum: JMC reported on the first meeting of the re-convened TTF on 2 May. He had been elected chair. They decided to expand their membership to include one of the pier staff, one of the doctors and the vet and a crofter. They decided to contact Loganair about the recording of bank flights. Alongside TMF and the 10K, the Sea Change film festival in the autumn may need extra flights. There had been a request for a bus stop at the pier. The number of bikes on the boat had been restricted at a busy period. Families at Pier View were looking for a bus shelter for the school bus. TTF are going to ask the Trust to provide a wheelchair at the airport and pier.
12. Ferries: the pilot deck space reservation scheme is still not widely known, and so is not benefitting the island as it should. There appears to be a problem with booking cars on the mezzanine while the desk space is not completely filled. The scheme, which is still under review, is likely to need further revision.
13. Aviation: JMC had had a long and useful phone call with Michael Bratcher of Transport Scotland. Shortfalls to the Scottish Government budget meant there were no funds to build in extra capacity beyond the current fleet of three Twin Otters. This has reduced resilience, and was a ‘known risk’. Our service, however, was safe from cuts until October 2027. The resident card scheme is being well used, but passenger numbers this year have fallen. High ticket prices might be partly to blame. We wondered about more flexible fares. There had been an episode in Oban, when an elderly Tiree patient had been left ‘in limbo’ when the plane had broken down. JMC had contacted HebAir and they had apologised for this.
14. Island Connectivity Plan: JMC had filled in this consultation. This goes up to 2046. There is no mention of the Clansman being replaced. The Tiree pier will get some investment. There were questions about a banked ferry scheme, and changes to the RET scheme.
15. Communication: GMG had dealt with this portfolio before. He thought it unlikely that Tiree would get another Open Reach engineer. One option might be to have a bank of cheap mobile phones for people who were experiencing a failure of their copper line. He will liaise with the Trust about this. The vet’s surgery had been without a phone line for three weeks. The providers had been perfectly attentive, but Open Reach were very slow in sending an engineer.
16. Community garden: this had now received planning consent. GMG volunteered to take the project on again. He would like to thank the Trust for keeping the project going. It is poor ground. Seventy trees had been planted, but none have survived. TCC now owns a Keder house.
17. Phone box disposal programme: JH had contacted Keith to ask him to disconnect the boxes. JH has contacted John Patience to ask if there was any documentation that came with the boxes from BT. He did not have any. JH will ask Rhoda Meek.
18. Format of future public meetings: we agreed to continue the present pattern of alternate in-person/on-line meetings.
19. Date of next meeting: 12 June, which will be the AGM and will be in-person.
20. AOCB: use of the playing fields during school hours by the community. We decided to discuss this in a closed meeting. JH and JMC then met with the petitioners in person offline. JH will correspond to ABC about this.

The meeting closed at 9pm.

Dr John Holliday 9 May 2024

AGENDA

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL 2023 AGM

7pm 14 June 2023

Trust Offices, Crossapol and by Zoom

1. 1. Present: Phyl Meyer (chair), Dr John Holliday, Jacqui Bennett and Frances Khetrat were present in person, with Tim Arkless online. Three members of the public were present online.
   2. Minutes of last AGM: these were accepted. There were no matters arising.
   3. Convenor’s report: TCC had become quorate after a by-election. Significant issues had been a challenge to Argyll and Bute Council over their refusal to do an  ICIA, ferry disruption, fly-tipping in Crossapol, PSO flights on the Tiree-Glasgow route and our opposition to HPMAs.
   4. Treasurer’s report and presentation of the annual accounts: this was not available today as online access to the account had not been cleared. We would present them at our August meeting. Our expenses have been minimal, but next year the community garden and on-going telephone box reconstruction will make it more active.
   5. Election of officers: Phyl Meyer was elected as Convenor (proposed JH, seconded JB); Jacqui Bennett was elected as Treasurer (proposed PM, seconded JH); and Dr John Holliday was elected Secretary (proposed PM, seconded FK).
   6. AOCB: there was no other business, and the meeting closed at 7.15pm.

Dr John Holliday 15 June 2023