Minutes TCC Feb 2024

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)

FEBRUARY PUBLIC MEETING

7 pm on 21 February 2024

Due to double booking of the Conference Room at the Tiree Trust, this meeting has now moved to online only. Apologies. JH

On Zoom and streamed on the TCC Facebook page

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82281921522?pwd=N1h6S0ZkQ002RzhIZUVpUmwzYWlmUT09

Meeting ID: 822 8192 1522

Passcode: 923203

1. Welcome
2. Apologies
3. Declarations of interest
4. Minutes of last meeting
5. Matters arising: Winter timetable 2024; request for a new bus shelter at Pier View; rats; community garden; gritter; phone boxes; Scarinish fence; community bus service
6. Correspondence: Ferry consultation, National Climate Adaptation Plan consultation; Jenni Minto on island 15 March
7. Meeting reports: Ferry contract; Mull Community Council; Coll Community Council; Tiree Trust climate change initiatives
8. Argyll and Bute Councillors’ reports
9. A&BC budget proposals
10. Democracy Matters consultation
11. Ferries: possible changes to RET; timetables for winter 2024/5 and summer 2025; update on reserved deck space pilot
12. Scottish Water: will the island have enough water in future?
13. Balevullin Beach sand loss
14. Planning applications for the last month
15. AOCB
16. Date and location of March public meeting

‘Democracy Matters’: phase 2 consultation from the Minister for Community Wealth and Public Finance

Contributions have to be submitted by 28 February 2024.

The fundamental question being asked is: do those of us wo live on Tiree want more control over our own lives?

In general, Tiree Community Council thinks that the answer is yes.

Tiree has made great progress in building community capacity over the last twenty years:

• There is a community-owned livestock mart and cafe
• There is a community-owned hall
• There is a community development trust owning a wind turbine, community broadband, a harbour and two piers, a community shop, fuel station, business units, and employing a ranger (operating a croft camping scheme), Gaelic development workers and a youth worker
• There is a community business running the Crossapol business centre and the Scarinish public toilets
• There is a community trust running the Hynish lighthouse shore station

However, there are challenges:

• Recruiting enough directors and councillors is not easy. The island’s population is only 650, and there is a small-community reticence to stick one’s head above the parapet
• There is always a fear that a few people with sharp elbows will take over
• We know it costs more to deliver services on an island than on the mainland. If we were given our own budgets, we would need to make sure there was enough money in the kitty

So, any changes in the way we are governed:

• Should allow communities to opt-in. Not every community will be ready at the same time
• Should be slow and evolutionary, so the community has time to adjust and build capacity
• Will be more expensive, so funding will need to go up
• Will need support, possibly involving mentors from places where this sort of thing works
• While we try to keep up-to-date with our neighbouring islands, Tiree is a stand-alone community. We want to keep it that way, rather than be amalgamated with other areas.

 The full consultation is at:

https://www.gov.scot/publications/democracy-matters-phase-2-consultation-local-governance-review/

You are encouraged to engage with this individually.

John Holliday

minutes TCC january 2024 meeting

letter travel scheme 9.23

This letter was received from Sergeant Shaw on 10 August 2023.

Dear Phyl,

Thank you for making contact with the concerns that you and the community understandably have following last night’s incident [when a police party was flown in by helicopter, and, when that was unable to land, arrived on the lifeboat].

You are correct, PC Tanner, who is normally resident on the island was off on holiday. Our usual stance as a Division is to place someone on the island for continuity whilst he is off. You will have seen other officers undertaking this duty in the past and is something that we intend to continue.

Regarding the lack of Officer on the island currently, unfortunately, it is my understanding that we struggled to resource it on this occasion. This was due to a mixture of absences and demands on Policing Teams on the mainland, where we would normally pull the resource from. Due to the nature of the deployment we also need to ensure such an officer has a requisite level of experience to work in isolation, which narrows the pool we can utilise. As a consequence of this, we could not sanction the usual abstraction on this occasion. I apologise for this. Where an abstraction is likely to be more than a week or more we’ll routinely look to ensure someone is on the island. For example, PC Tanner is away for almost 2 weeks later this year and we’re already in the process of looking to ensure an office is out there to cover.

With regards to your last point, it is my understanding that we have no plans to remove the Police presence from the island. As soon as PC Tanner confirms his retirement it is the current intention to immediately review recruitment to ensure a seamless handover to the new post holder, to ensure continuity of service for the island.

I hope this helps to allay any fears the community might have. Should you wish to know anything further, just ask.

Kind regards,

Matt Shaw, Sergeant for Partnerships & Management Support