MINUTES

APRIL PUBLIC MEETING OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

7 pm 20 May 2026

In-person at the Trust Offices, Crossapol; Zoom; and streamed on the Tiree Community Council Facebook page

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), John MacCaskill, Frances Khetrat (in person); Dr John Holliday (online); Sergeant Matt Shaw (online). There was one member of the public who joined online towards the end of the meeting. By the following evening, there had been 345 views on FB
2. Apologies: Cllr Willie Hume, Tim Arkless.
3. Scottish Parliamentary elections: we congratulated Jenni Minto on her re-election as constituency MSP. There are also seven list MSPs for the Highlands and Islands.
4. Declarations of interest: GMG and JH are directors of Solar, who use the Scarinish phone box.
5. Minutes of last meeting: these were agreed as accurate. Proposed by JMC and seconded by FK.
6. Matters arising (not covered later):

• Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) has given an uplift to all community councils of £20,000, divided equally between all of them
• GMG has talked to the LPG and heating oil distributors on the island, and told them about available grants. The ABC energy saving visit has been re-scheduled to 26-27 May
• Patient travel expenses. JH will re-start this now Jenni Minto is back in post
• Library: Louise Cook has been appointed librarian at 8 hours a week. We welcomed this. It will not be moving to the school after all.
• Mirror at Tank Farm: this has not been installed and is needed more than ever in the busier summer months. JH will chase up West Highland HA

7. Police presentation: Sgt Matt Shaw is part of the management team for the southern Inner Hebrides. He is reviewing the evidence for the police model in this area, including the number of officers, the state of their police stations, vehicles, shift patterns and community wants. Police Scotland aims are: Safer Communities, Less Crime, Supported Victims and a Thriving Workforce. He is looking at best practice around Britain and the world. He is aware of the obligations imposed by the Islands Act. He is sending out an anonymous questionnaire, and is asking that we distribute it. He is asking for honesty. He is keen on parity of service for islanders, and his initial feeling is that service to some of the islands is below that on the mainland. TCC has been told that the Tiree community likes to have a police presence. There has been a lack of clarity over when they can be called out while off duty. Sometimes back cover for officers on leave, away with court appearances or for training has been lacking. Prevention is also important. Corroboration is a problem with single-manned posts. Body worn videos are now worn in Argyll. While evidence from these is accepted by the courts, there is a current discussion on their use with the Scottish Police Federation. They are not currently routinely used for corroboration. The one-officer model we have on Tiree is very rare, with only one other example. Models based on demand analysis do not work well on small, remote islands. Recruitment is also getting harder, and the high housing costs have a negative impact. JH will post the questionnaire on out Facebook page.
8. Mortuary: the doctors had told JH that access had been an issue last year. MS said that Police Scotland (PS) thinks they own this facility, although some documents have not yet been found. His estates department will send in a team soon to make it functional. PS will look at the mortuary in the longer term to see where we go from here. PS does not normally own and run mortuaries.
9. Correspondence:

• Local Place Plan has been delayed. TCC is not currently taking part in this.
• PS monthly report: 6 calls for Tiree and Coll, 0 crimes
• The Hynish road has a passing place sign but no passing place. The road is busier with the developments at the Hynish Trust. JH will write to Willie Hume about the whole stretch of road

10. Meetings report:

• Mull CC meeting: nothing to report
• Planet Youth: FK reported that she had been to a meeting about this project, which originated in Iceland, aiming to combat drink and drug about and mental well-being. TCC will stay involved, as the whole community needs to be part of this. Next meeting is in June
• Seagrass survey: GMG had met them

11. Transport (JMC):

• TCC and Coll have battled with CalMac for the last month to get the Clansman back on the route. Businesses have been severely impacted. The Transport Forum and Coll CC will get together soon to write a framework, including the need to start planning a new ferry for Coll and Tiree. Mull have already started this process, although no funding has been allocated
• Tiree Transport Forum and TCC are meeting the CalMac CEO next week (1300 27 June)
• The Deck Space Pilot has been abandoned during the recent ferry difficulties and has only now been re-introduced. It is now set at 14 days, while many people now on Tiree would prefer to revert back to a 7 days booking window (JMC to check if this is possible or not via CalMac Area Management). Publicising it has also been limited, and many island passengers did not know what had been happening
• Tiree Transport Forum met Stephen Wood on 29 April. It was a hard-hitting meeting, but most of the issues need to be dealt with a higher levels of management
• Winter timetable consultation ‘26/27 is currently open. We are looking for the same timetable as last year, plus a weekly freight-only Oban-Tiree sailing. Coll supports this. We should hear by June. TTF feel that the LOTI is no longer fit for purpose
• The new Tiree Transport Forum FB page had 282,000 views in the last month. Thanks to David Beaman for setting this up
• The Isle of Mull did not sail recently in seemingly reasonable conditions. We have written to CalMac to find out why
• There is an on-line ‘Island Visitors: Community Needs Assessment Survey’ now available for visitors to complete (as per a link shortly to be made available on the TCC website and also available now on the Tiree Transport Forum FB Page. This survey, run by Transport Scotland, closes on 14 June 2026. There is also a separate Community Needs Assessment Drop-in session at An Talla on 10 June from 1530 to 1900) for Tiree residents, again facilitated by Transport Scotland. TCC urges the community to attend and make the case for improved transport links to/from Tiree. JH will put the up on the TCC FB page
• Kirsty MacFarlane from Coll has made a Freedom of Information request about loading factors on the boat. Cars and passengers carried this March are down 26% compared to last year, and last year was bad enough
• An Islands Residents Card is being considered
• Our meeting with the Loganair CEO has been postponed to the summer
• JMC had attended the airport users’ group meeting on 30 April. They are going to expand the carpark by nine places, and introduce a one-way system
• JMC has a new point of contact with Loganair
• We thanked JMC for his hard work, as well as the Tiree port team
• Islands Business Resilience Fund: GMG submitted a response to a survey on the first round of this. The fund needs to be set up quickly. Hauliers should also be included. The SNP have promised a £10 million fund within 20 days of assuming office. He hoped it would be less restrictive than the last one, which left a few Tiree businesses unable to apply. The economic damage is likely to be long term. GMG will write to Joe Reade on Mull and also contact other islands
• There was no news on a community bus

12. MachairWind proposal: JH has been attending a group organised by Iona CC. Scottish Power Renewables (SPR) is working on a proposal to build a large windfarm off Iona, Colonsay and Islay. There will be 90 turbines, possibly up to 340 m high (7 x higher than Skerryvore Lighthouse). The nearest will be 18 miles away from Hynish. There will be red lights on the top of each tower. SPR will be making an application to the Marine Directorate towards the end of June. Tiree has not been designated a ‘host community’, and, as such, is unlikely to get much from any community benefit fund. The company’s photomontage shows a few white dots on the horizon towards Colonsay; those generated by campaigners on Iona are much more intrusive. JH will put the relevant links for both sides of the argument on our FB page and website. We are asking for views on this.
13. Dental service: JH is to meet NHS Highland Dental management on 11 June. The service has improved to some extent recently.
14. Broadband/Resilience: there was an in-person de-brief on Storm Amy three weeks ago. It was useful, but we still feel that the emergency response team does not understand the true impact of an event like this on an island. MCG has written to Ofcom about the different compensation packages from the various ISPs. Sky has been the best. He has also written to BT and is awaiting a response.
15. TCC projects:

• Telephone boxes: we now have a quote to disconnect the electrical grid from three boxes. GMG will proceed. We will then uplift the boxes at Kenovay and Scarinish. JH will find out about the Community Support Fund
• Community Garden: this was set up by TCC but is now managed by Tiree Community Business. We debated what we should do with the Keder house which we procured three years ago but is still in storage. GMG had discussed this with the manager of the Trust. The school and the possible community garden at Heylipol Church were mentioned. Sam Bouchnak, a member of the Tiree Community Garden WhatsApp page, joined to say that the group was still active and hoped to use the Keder house themselves. GMG will negotiate with the different parties
• Bicycle pump: the Trust will take this over, and we will pass on the funds that pertain to this project

16. Visitor Levy: an amended Levy has returned from the Scottish Parliament and will be consulted on by ABC. TCC will respond appropriately.
17. Recent planning applications: there were three planning applications in the previous four weeks, none of which concerned TCC.
18. Drinks Licence extension: the Reef Inn has applied to extend its licensed hours to 11am to midnight. We had no objections.
19. Councillors’ reports: Jim Lynch has provided a written report of his month’s activities.
20. Upcoming community council elections: the next meeting of TCC will be its last. Nominations for the new TCC will open on 5 June and close on 25 June. Anyone 16 and over and on the electoral roll can apply. We encouraged a wide application.
21. AOCB: there was none.
22. Next meeting including AGM will be held on 7pm 17 June in person and online and on Facebook

Dr John Holliday 21 May 2026