Welcome to the Tiree Community Council website
What do we do?
As a Community Council we are the first, or the grass-roots, tier of statutory representation in Scotland.
We bridge the gap between local authorities and communities, thereby ensuring that public authorities are aware of the opinions, and needs, of the Tiree community.
How do we do it?
We articulate the views and concerns of Tiree’s residents on a wide range of issues of public concern, and making representations to Argyll and Bute Council, Scottish Government and other public sector bodies within or affecting Tiree Community Council’s sphere of interest.
How do we gather the Community’s views?
Public meetings of Tiree Community Council are held regularly throughout the year, alternately in person and by Zoom. Our AGM will be held in person. You can find the digital joining details of our meetings under the ‘Meetings’ section of our website, along with the draft minutes of the previous meeting.
All members of the public are welcome.
Public meetings, and their agenda, are advertised a week in advance.
We are always happy to receive correspondence by e-mail with questions or issues to be raised.
Our website has a comments facility which requires you to register a named account to post.
We also operate a Facebook Page where routine issues are often flagged and comments can also be made there with a Facebook account.
Our public meetings are streamed on our Facebook page.
Both of these forms of comment are governed by a Moderation policy.
For those not wishing to use those mechanisms to comment on a page or a Facebook post, the option is always available to comment separately to us directly by email.
Planning Applications:
If you are interested in seeing what planning applications are currently being considered for Tiree, you can find the weekly lists of applications published here: https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/planning-and-environment/weekly-list-valid-planning-applications
You can search these PDF documents (Keyboard shortcut Ctrl-F) for “Tiree” to find any application within our area.
Our Facebook Page feed:
Following on from the AGM![]()
TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL ![]()
JUNE PUBLIC MEETING![]()
7 pm 18 June 2026 ![]()
In person at the Trust Offices, Crossapol; Zoom; and streamed on the Tiree Community Council Facebook page![]()
1. Present: In person: Gerard McGoogan (chair) and John MacCaskill. Online: Dr John Holliday and Frances Khetrat. Kirsty MacFarlane Convenor of Coll CC also joined online.![]()
2. Apologies: Cllr Willie Hume, Tim Arkless.![]()
3. Declarations of interest: JH and GMG are trustees of Solar, which uses the Scarinish phone box. JH is a trustee of the Hynish Trust.![]()
4. Minutes of last meeting: these were accepted as a true record. Proposed JMC, seconded FK.![]()
5. Matters arising (not covered later): the mirror at Pier View. JH has contacted West Highland Housing Association and it should be installed soon. ![]()
6. Correspondence: ![]()
• We have received the Coll Place Plan, which was excellent. KMF said that it had taken a meeting almost every week for 18 months to produce it![]()
• The May police report for Tiree and Coll recorded 7 calls and 3 crimes ![]()
• JH had contacted the doctors about the state of the present mortuary. Police Scotland will make it secure and wind and watertight. A replacement will be considered in the longer term![]()
7. Meeting reports: ![]()
• PlanetYouth: JH had attended. This youth work project has been rolled out nationally. Tiree already has an excellent youth programme, but there may be some additional funding available to expand this![]()
• Mull CC: JH had attended. there was nothing to report relevant to Tiree![]()
• Coll CC: JH had attended. The Coll capital roads maintenance budget for this financial year is £0. JH will write to Cllr Willie Hume to find out about the equivalent situation for Tiree. Coll has similar issues with the use of single-track roads by visitors. Coll CC has asked if the Tiree poster on the ferry could be changed to include ‘Tiree and Coll’. Their secretary will write to us about this![]()
8. Transport (JMC):![]()
• Members of Tiree Transport Forum had met the CalMac CEO Duncan Mackison and other members of his management team. This meeting has been separately minuted. They acknowledged that the Isle of Mull is not suitable for the Tiree run. KMF had also had a meeting with the group, and had liaised with JMC. She felt that the Area Manager should be out on the network and in the communities every other month or so, and having joint meetings with both islands. JMC agreed to support a joint letter to this effect. The company now agrees that the Colonsay service needs to be de-tangled from Coll and Tiree![]()
• A Freedom of Information request has gone in about the failure of the Isle of Mull to complete service on three specific days. On 7 May, the statement from the company was that weather conditions ‘were outwith the safety parameters of the vessel’. There was no acknowledgement of the state of the vessel’s bow visor. Transport Scotland has advised us that a FOI application should not be necessary in such circumstances. JMC will follow this matter up with CalMac![]()
• Deck space pilot: The pilot had been withdrawn during the turmoil of the last two months. JMC favours going back to a 7-day booking period for this. KMF said that the current 14-day period suited their community better, as one could be sure of making the return booking before one set off. We agreed to continue to monitor the situation. One problem is that it is, deliberately, poorly advertised. Michael Scobie, head of communications, has promised a mailshot to islanders about this and medical priority schemes once they are finalised. JMC and KMF will contact Area Manager Stephen Wood about this![]()
• KMF and JMC had written to CMAL about a new ferry. Kevin Hobbs CEO of CMAL has replied suggesting that a programme to procure a new vessel for Coll and Tiree is indeed likely to start next year, although no funding has been allocated for this yet. There are issues to do with the shallow berthing at the Tiree pier and the state of the pier itself that will also need to be addressed. Hobbs will visit the islands later this year![]()
• Kevin Hobbs also said that the new marshalling area and office at the pier are now going ahead![]()
• Transport Scotland (TS) Community Needs Assessment meeting at An Talla. GMG and JMC had attended and there was a healthy turnout from the island. One member of the public had put their points across very strongly, and it was important to treat visiting politicians and civil servants with respect![]()
• An online visitor survey for the Inner Hebrides conducted by Stantec concluded in June![]()
• The winter timetable submission from Tiree and Coll has gone to TS and will be passed to the Cabinet Secretary![]()
• Round 2 of the Business Resilience Fund: GMG has extracted the openly-published data from HIE on the Tiree and Coll businesses that have benefited. A typical grant was £5,500. One Tiree company had not heard of the fund, and if the fund is repeated—as promised in the SNP manifesto—we need to improve the publicity. Any future fund will only apply to tourist businesses and those handling perishable goods. A better way would be to have an improved weather cancellation compensation scheme![]()
• The Glen Sannox will not be coming to Tiree for a berthing trial![]()
• Coll, Tiree and Colonsay all agree to ask for a change in days to the HebAir service. KMF will write accordingly. A new contract for this service is not far away![]()
• Additional ‘bank’ flights for Sea Change and TMF have been agreed. The arrangements for the additional flights for the Tiree Ultra Marathon (early September) and Livestock Sales (October) are at the final stages of putting on the Loganair on-line booking system, and should be in place within the next week or so![]()
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9. Dental service: JH had met the Chief Dental Officer John Lyon and his deputy Gill Rees from the Highland Health Board along with two other members of their team. The minutes of that meeting have not been made available yet. They acknowledged that the service has reduced since the turn of the year. Instead of a dentist on site four days a month, they were coming for four hours a month. Taking one of two children to Oban means taking them off school for a couple of days and can cost around £200. This is impossible for many families. Lack of staff, contracts which do not specify overnights away from home and the use of an air service with a 55% success rate have contributed to this. They have plans to boost the service over the next three months, and we will meet again at the end of this period. Some Coll patients are also registered at the Tiree practice.![]()
10. Broadband resilience: GMG has written to BT but has not had a reply. He noted the passing of Tiree Broadband, which has been incredibly successful. He thanked those behind the project from the beginning. ![]()
11. TCC projects: ![]()
• Telephone boxes: three still need to be disconnected. This will have to be done by the next community council![]()
• Community Garden: GMG has spoken to a number of people about our Keder house, which is still in storage. We agreed to pass it to Heylipol Church Trust. If they are not successful, we will have to think again![]()
• Bicycle pumps: a cheque for £940 of restricted funds has been [assed to the Tiree Trust, who will now take over this project![]()
11. Recent planning applications: there have been 30 applications this year, the same number as last year. Some, however, are just amendments of previous applications. Most are at the east end of the island. The fragility of the road around Gott Bay to future sea level rises will need to be considered in times to come. No applications this month came within our protocol.![]()
12. Councillors' reports: Jim Lynch had sent his written report. There were no others.![]()
13. Upcoming community council elections: nominations are still live, and we are keen for as many as possible, particularly from younger and Gaelic-speaking islanders. An election would be good. Nomination details are on our website and Facebook page.![]()
14. MachairWind: this is set to be a large wind farm closer to Colonsay than to us. The nearest turbine will be 18 miles away from Hynish. The turbines will be very tall. We have asked for response from the public. There has been little reaction on the island, but we have around 14 replies to our Facebook post. Most have been against; some are in favour. JH will draft a letter summarising this for submission to the Marine Directorate when the time comes.![]()
15. AOCB: this is likely to be the last public meeting of this session of TCC. As usual, there will be no meeting in July and due to the community council elections, no meeting is currently scheduled for August.![]()
16. Final remarks: JH thanked councillors and members of the public for the support of the community council, which was more needed than ever.![]()
The meeting closed at 9 pm.![]()
Dr John Holliday, 22 June 2026
MINUTES OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)![]()
2025–6 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM)![]()
7 pm 18 June 2026 ![]()
In person at the Trust Offices, Crossapol; Zoom; and streamed on the Tiree Community Council Facebook page![]()
1. Present: In person: Gerard McGoogan (chair) and John MacCaskill. Online: Dr John Holliday and Frances Khetrat. Kirsty MacFarlane Convenor of Coll CC also joined online.![]()
2. Apologies: Tim Arkless![]()
3. Minutes of the 2024–5 TCC AGM and matters arising: these were accepted as a true record. Proposed JMC, seconded JH. There were no matters arising.![]()
4. Chair's report: 2025–6 has been a busy year with a lot of meetings, including with other island CCs, the police, health board and the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries. Over half the minutes over the last year were taken up with transport. JMC has borne the brunt of this and GMG paid tribute to him for his work. There should be a proper transport post on the next TCC. JMC said that our relationship with Coll CC was excellent, that transport problems were being brought to him earlier, and that CalMac local management had been very responsive. We had met the CEO and other managers from CalMac. The £4.4 m Business Resilience Fund was extended to include Tiree and other islands from the Inner Hebrides after lobbying from TCC among other CCs, and a number of local businesses had applied successfully. A few had not heard in time, and we should redouble our efforts to publicise any next round. The Oban air service had become less reliable. The new Transport Forum Facebook page has been useful. Storm Amy had a bruising impact on Tiree, with a prolonged communications outage. The island had rallied impressively to solve the many problems. This effort had been led by the team at Tiree Broadband and Rhoda Meek's political lobbying. Some lessons have been learned, but the essential vulnerability of the island to future similar weather events remains. The Tiree library closed but re-opened with reduced hours after lobbying by TCC. Unresolved issues were the Ring'n'Ride bus, the community garden and three remaining telephone boxes.![]()
5. Presentation of accounts: (GMG) This year we have overspent by £135. The previous year, we had overspent by around £1000. These were legacy costs due to a planning permission application and a copyright infringement cost of £150 (down from an original charge of £800). GMG had paid a number of small items personally and then claimed them back. These are marked 'GMC' in the accounts. We have paid £940 of restricted funds earmarked for the bicycle repair stations to the Tiree Trust. They have now taken over this project. JMC thanked GMG for his considerable work on all this. Next year there will be an additional £357 in the grant from Argyll and Bute Council (ABC).![]()
6. Election of officers: The current holders of the posts were re-elected unanimously. Convenor (GMG), proposed JMcC, seconded JH, Secretary (JH) proposed GMG, seconded FK, Treasurer (FK), proposed GMG, seconded JH.![]()
7. AOCB: there was none. ![]()
The meeting closed at 7.30 pm.![]()
Dr John Holliday, 21 June 2026
Note from Argyll and Bute Council:![]()
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We are currently within the nomination period for the full-term elections for Community Councils in Argyll and Bute. ![]()
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''This applies to all Community Councils with the current term coming to an end on 19 August 2026, and the new four-year term commencing on 20 August 2026.![]()
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If you wish to continue as a Community Councillor in the new term, you are required to submit a nomination form, regardless of when or how you were appointed in the current term (i.e. whether by co-option, election or by-election).![]()
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'''Nominations close at 4.00pm on Thursday, 25 June 2026, and I would encourage anyone wishing to stand to ensure their nomination is submitted by this deadline. ![]()
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Further information and nomination forms can be found at Community Council Elections 20 August 2026 | Argyll and Bute Council.![]()
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Should you have any queries regarding the process, please do not hesitate to get in touch.'
Just a reminder the next community council meeting is on Thursday (18th) due to councillor availability.![]()
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7pm at trust, , on zoom and streamed to Facebook.
For balance, this is the website of Scottish Power Renewables:![]()
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MachairWind - ScottishPower Renewables - scottishpowerrenewables.com
www.scottishpowerrenewables.com
ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) is excited to be developing the MachairWind project located Northwest of Islay and West of Colonsay.