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

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

1. 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

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.

1. 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.
2. 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 FEBRUARY PUBLIC MEETING

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)

7 pm Wednesday 18 February 2026

By Zoom

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, John MacCaskill and Tim Arkless. Dr Callum George, a candidate for the Scottish national election, was present as an observer.
2. Date of meeting: this meeting had been re-scheduled from the week before due to our being inquorate.
3. Apologies: Cllr Willie Hume.
4. Declarations of interest: JH and GMG declared an interest as directors of Solar, which uses the Scarinish phone box as a community food cupboard.

5. Minutes of last meeting: we agreed to delete from item 9, the phrase ‘Our new ferry is not due until 2045.’ The minutes were proposed JMCA, seconded GMG.
6. Matters arising:

• GMG had contacted HIE to find out which businesses had been successful in round 2 of the Business Resilience Plan applications. This information will be issued in due course
• JH had written to the owner of the Scarinish and Lodge Hotels. He replied that he had been trying to get a workparty to the island in January but had been unsuccessful due to ferry cancellations. It was pointed out that he had arrived on the island on the day of the meeting

1. Correspondence:

• JH, along with Coll CC, had written to our ward councillors to ask for an uplift in our yearly grant of £400. This matter will be discussed at the Council budget meeting on 25 February
• There will be a meeting with Laura Macdonald and Douglas Hendry from Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) and the Trust on 5 March about ‘Democracy Matters’, a Scottish Government and COSLA proposal to devolve some powers to lower levels of government
• Police report for January for Tiree and Coll: seven calls and three crimes

1. Meeting reports

• JH and GMG had attended the Tiree Climate Group Drop-in Session on 24 January. We had been very impressed
• JH had attended Coll CC: he had been asked to convey their gratitude to the working group behind Animal Health Tiree for re-establishing a veterinary service for the two islands. They had also had a discussion on the number of tar lorries sent to the island for road re-surfacing. Ferry problems often meant that some lorries did not make it, meaning the island did not get their allocated number. Their proposal is to compare the number of lorries arriving against those promised. The suggestion was that Tiree could do the same

1. Transport updates
2. Ferries

• A delegation of TCC and Tiree Transport Forum members had had an on-line meeting along with Coll CC and Coll Transport Committee reps on 21 January with the Scottish Government (SG) Cabinet Secretary for Transport Fiona Hyslop to address concerns from the Tiree and Coll communities. Issues conveyed to the Cabinet Secretary included:

1. a) The poor provision of our Barra Link Day on Wednesdays during summer 2025, when only about 50% of the planned sailings took place.
2. b) Both Tiree and Coll are concerned that the CalMac seasonal timetable consultations with our two communities are deeply flawed. CalMac is adamant that all proposals on timetable changes must be cost-neutral and not impact other communities. This means that Tiree and Coll have no scope to enhance our sea connectivity with Oban (for example, new additional Sunday double sailings over the peak summer season). This would not be cost-neutral, and it would impact the Colonsay and Islay communities that we share our ferry with. The shared ferry arrangement with Colonsay is deemed problematic to both Coll and Tiree.
3. c) We raised concerns about the imminent ferry replacement on our route. We requested reassurances that the MV Hebrides, being near the end of its planned operational life (it is currently 26 years old) will be kept fit for purpose and adequately maintained/refurbished.
4. d) In connection with the above, we urged the SG and CMAL to move expeditiously on a new ferry for our route.
5. e) Concerns were raised with the Cabinet Secretary on the accuracy of the CalMac deck space booking system. We have received a number of reports that the booking system indicates no space for vehicles when the car deck is not full.

• A further on-line meeting was held on the same day with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform and the Islands, Mairi Gougeon, and reps from Tiree, Coll, Mull, Iona, Islay and some Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) councillors on the Islands Business Resilience Fund. GMG reported that several companies have been unable to access the fund because either their workforce is self-employed or their turnover is below the threshold (for example a museum on Mull) and other reasons. We hoped the scheme could be extended or repeated next year with better rules
• A meeting of the group associated with the Deck Space Pilot has been urgently requested from CalMac by Tiree and Coll transport reps, as the last one was over a year ago
• We have the Clansman back till late Feb 26 then the LOTI back on our route again. However, the Clansmanwill not return to the Oban/Coll/Tiree run from its deployment up north until after the school Easter Holidays. Stephen Wood (the CalMac Oban Area Manager) has been asked to provide us with an update on any impact the reduced deck space capacity on the LOTI (in comparison to that available on the Clansman) will have on our ferry services over the anticipated busy Easter holiday period
• It has just been confirmed through Stephen Wood that the impacts of the forthcoming 8-hour, in-port vessel maintenance programme to the Clansman has still not been confirmed by CalMac, as to when this vessel maintenance will start or indeed what impact this maintenance regime will have on our 2026 summer timetable. I have urged Stephen for an answer to this matter. We suspect that the Barra link day is most at risk
• The bus and ferry pass are now being amalgamated. Travellers are recommended to apply as soon as possible

1. Air Transport to Glasgow

We are currently seeking clarity from Loganair on three issues:

1. a) Cancellation of the Sunday flight on 8 February whilst Twin Otter flights went out to Barra and surprisingly Islay that day.
2. b) Why passengers were notified that their respective flight bookings on Monday 9 Feb, Tuesday 10 Feb and Wednesday 11 Feb were cancelled then reinstated late on Sunday 8 Feb.
3. c) After Tiree Community Council received written confirmation from the Loganair CEO that Loganair’s overnight accommodation policy had not changed, three passengers on a cancelled GLA flight to TRE on last Thursday evening, 5 Feb, were advised initially by the Menzies rep to find their own hotel accommodation. After the Tiree passengers complained at the Menzies desk, the rep phoned someone within Loganair and that decision was overturned. We need reassurance this was an error at the Menzies desk and not standard practice.
4. d) Still awaiting confirmation from Loganair that our 2026 ‘banked flights’ for key Tiree events are fully in place through this air service operator, though progress slow on negotiations between Loganair and Tiree Rural Development on securing double-flights (on Saturdays) around our islands livestock sales needs for 2026. Shari from TRD is consulting directly with Loganair on this issue.
5. e) communications with the company is not as easy as it used to be
6. f) Luke Farajallah, the Loganair CEO, and his team are due to visit Tiree in April, and we will make these points to him directly.
7. Air Transport to Oban

An Annual Argyll Air Services Consultative meeting was held last month with Coll, Colonsay and Tiree transport reps in attendance, along with ABC councillors, Council managers and reps from HebAir Services and Task Air:

• Concerns were raised at the number of scheduled flight cancellations over the summer of 2025. Reps from Tiree, Coll and Colonsay were in agreement that this was a worrying trend and likely to put travellers off, as flights were increasingly deemed ‘unreliable’. Air service providers cited bad weather in particular, but also acknowledged there were issues with pilot sickness, airframe technical issues and the fact that their new Western Isles service is putting additional pressure on their fleet
• Community reps from Coll, Colonsay and Tiree requested that the current ‘days of the week’ of air-services through Oban to all three communities should be reviewed and possibly amended to better serve the three island communities. This process is at a very early stage, and JMC insisted that any proposed changes to the days Tiree flight to/from Oban must go through a community engagement process. The earliest changes could take place is winter 2026
• The three island communities have requested from the officers of ABC more frequent flight statistics (preferably monthly), as all we get at the moment are annual figures
• A new seasonal Search and Rescue Helicopter facility will open this spring with a dedicated Augusta Helicopter to be hangared at Oban Airport. This will reduce emergency helicopter deployment times to Coll and Tiree

9. Current status of the Tiree Library: the Helensburgh Leisure Centre roof has still not been repaired. This is putting a financial strain on liveArgyll and ABC. ABC have decided to reduce rather than increase the annual grant to liveArgyll. A proposal to close five libraries, including Tiree, will be put to the budget meeting on 25 February. The last running costs we have for the Tiree library was £18,000 per annum. We suspect the decision has already been taken in principle. We are in discussion with community leaders in Tarbert and Cardross.
   10. Broadband and R100: claiming compensation for the outage is proving anything but straightforward. Many thanks to Heather Wolfe, Senior Parliamentary Assistant to Jenni Minto, MSP, and Debbie Wilson from the Scottish Government. GMG has been helping people with these applications. Most properties are now capable of ordering full fibre. BT Openreach are in the process of checking the final properties that are not connected. People do need to put in an order, otherwise they will not get a connection. New builds need to notify Openreach six months in advance; they will probably have to pay for the installation. Openreach will have teams on the island for the next six months or so. The copper network cut-off date has not yet been decided. Around one-third of Tiree properties are currently connected to fibre. Openreach seems quite pleased with this take-up.
10. Projects: TCC purchased 11 phone boxes from BT in 2017. We asked for local interest. Four have been renovated:

• Caolas: defibrillator
• Scarinish: Solar food bank
• Mannal: painted and empty
• Balephuil: unfinished heritage exhibition

Awaiting renovation:

• Balevullin
• Silversands
• Crossapol
• Kenovay
• Heylipol
• Middleton
• Cornaigmore

A rough estimate for electrical decommissioning and removal is £400 per box £200. GMG and JH will meet to progress this before the election in May.

GMG will also contact the Trust about the community garden and the bike stands in Scarinish and Crossapol.

11. Planning applications since last meeting

• 26/00254/NMA Comraich, Mannal Non Material Amendment of Planning Permission 24/01153/PP
• 26/00186/PNELEC Loch Phuill pump house proposed installation of approximately 60m of underground cable
• 24/02056/DOC02 Caolas Request to discharge conditions relative to application 24/02056/PP

No imput from TCC is needed under our planning policy.

1. Argyll and Bute councillors’ reports: there were none

13. AOCB

• We congratulated Animal Care Tiree for setting up UK’s first community vet practice. We understood how much work had gone into this

• We noted that Tiree Broadband was closing in June. We noted the outstanding contribution this had made to the island, particularly following Storm Amy

• Argyll and Bute Council is waiting for the Scottish Government to re-legislate the Visitor Levy before deciding whether to adopt it

1. Date and format of next meeting: 11 March. Format not decided.

The meeting closed at 8.20pm.

Dr John Holliday 19 February 2026

MINUTES OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC) JANUARY PUBLIC MEETING

7pm Wednesday 14 January 2026

Tiree Trust Conference Room and on Zoom

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, John MacCaskill, Frances Khetrat and Tim Arkless. Police Constable Rinath De Vetter attended. There were two members of the public on Zoom. We were unable to stream live to Facebook, but the recording was put up there the following day.

1. Apologies: there were none.
2. Opening remarks: GMG felt that we should continue to use Zoom, as we still had 10 months’ subscription left. There were some advantages to using Teams, and the next council can consider these. The Holyrood elections will be on 7 May. TCC are meant to remain a(party)political. The last day for voter registration is 20 April. The next election for TCC will be in August, so our last meeting is likely to be in June (five more meetings).
3. Declarations of interest: FK lives in Pier View.
4. Minutes of last meeting: JMC proposed, FK seconded.
5. Matters arising (not covered later):

• Matters that are resolved by TCC cannot be revisited for six months
• There is a national consultation about EV cars and a possible new mileage tax at MOT stations on the mainland. This could be very expensive for islanders. GMG has responded to our MP
• Business Resilience Plan applications: this scheme has now closed. At least one Tiree company was rejected because its ‘employees’ were self-employed. GMG will ask HIE in April to see how much money Tiree had received

7. Correspondence:

• Bus stop at Pier View blocking view of oncoming traffic on Pier Road: JH had been to the site, and could confirm the problem. He had discussed the matter with John MacDonald, a director of WHHA. He was aware of the problem and proposed putting up a mirror on the other side of the road for three months, and then reviewing. He pointed out that the present siting had been their third choice. JH will chase this up in May, and FK will monitor comments from Pier View. We may need to involve Highways to ask for additional signage on the road. There is currently no special police constable in post
• Kate Forbes, the Deputy First Minister is coming to Tiree in March to discuss resilience
• There had been an updated Risk Assessment for the Tiree pier. The only medium risks are contact between the ferry and divers, and snapped ropes
• Police report for November: 4 calls and 0 crimes

1. Meeting reports: JH had attended the January Mull CC meeting. There was nothing to report.
2. Transport updates (JMC):

• We have had the Isle of Mull for a month. Her slower speeds meant that arrival times in Oban were delayed. This led to passengers missing train and bus connections. CalMac acknowledged their mistake and had provided a relief. They will try to remember about this problem in future
• There was a large meeting last week chaired by Jenni Minto about the ‘eroding’ air service from Oban. Passenger numbers have fallen due to the perceived unreliability. Costs have risen, the service provider is stretched in other areas (Shetland and Uist), and there is no more money. Coll and Colonsay would like to change the days of service
• JMC and GMG are meeting the Transport Minister next Thursday at 1500 for 30 minutes (15 minutes for Tiree, 15 for Coll) about the issues with our ferry. It is difficult to get any changes because ‘cost neutrality’ and our link with Colonsay. Our new ferry is not due until 2045
• Since the New Year, Loganair are telling passengers who they cannot get to Tiree to make their own accommodation arrangements. JMC will complain to Loganair about this
• Next summer, the vessel will have a weekly 8-hour maintenance period in port. This will impact the sailings. Summer bookings are already open. The exact days have not been fixed. The Oban pier is also having some work done on it next summer. The Tiree pier office and marshalling area are scheduled to be replaced by CMAL this year. Work may start in the spring and will last a year. Funding is not certain yet, however, and this project may not happen this year or at all. Our summer sailings are likely to be severely disrupted
• 50% of the Barra leg sailings were lost last year
• The Island Connectivity questionnaire closes at the end of the month. The address is https://arcg.is/qOzez0. JH will post again on FB
• The banked flights for key events in summer 2026 have been fixed

10. Tiree Library: Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) told LiveArgyll (LA) last June that they were quite sympathetic to their plight, and asked for a new budget. ABC have now told LA, however, that there is no additional money, and, in fact, last year’s deferred cut of 15% on LA was being reinstated. ABC also told them not to close any libraries because the closures had been unpopular. LA has a new chair. The old music room in the Cornaigmore School is still lying unused. GMG and JH will write to the new LA chair and our councillors to find out what they know about this.

1. Resilience following Storm Amy and R100:  Phyl Meyer from the Trust is working on a new emergency plan for the island. GMG has writte to Heather Wolfe, Jenni Minto’s secretary with a report. The automatic compensation for the outage dates from the 10^th. It is worth doing this, although it can be a bit of a slog. Compensation should be around £400-460 for some people.
2. R100: BT Openreach still has teams on the island and are working through their orders. Crossapol will be opening up soon.
3. Infrastructure: the fire at the Baptist church and the insolvency of both hotels: the fire was noted with great sadness, as it will affect both the congregation and the wider community (exercise classes, the art show, for example). The company owning the two hotels has gone into liquidation with debts of £120,000. At least one of these has been re-acquired by the previous owner. It appears that the drinks licence is currently held by the liquidators. This was also a huge loss to parts of the community. GMG and JH will write to the current owner (Tiree Pizza Co.) to ask what the future holds. There is apparently a holding webpage announcing that Tiree Beach Hotel self-catering will be coming soon.
4. Planning: there was one provisional application, PPP25/02118/PPP. This was for access to a new dwelling house site in West Hynish. We had nothing to add.
5. Councillors’ reports: there were none.
6. Police Report: PC De Vitter had no specific points to report. We thanked her for attending.
7. AOCB: TCC finances. GMG reported that he has paid himself back £477.30. TCC has a bank account but no card, so he himself has paid many of the expenses (for example, our Zoom account, penalty for copyright infringement and hire of the hall). TCC expenditure is currently more than our income, and our projected end-of-year balance is around £360. The ABC grant to community councils has remained at the same level for almost a decade. An increase has been discussed, but unlikely in the present climate.
8. Date and format of next meeting: this will be on 11 February and will be online.

The meeting closed at 8.20 pm.

Dr John Holliday | 07786 496 275 | doc.holliday@tireecommunitycouncil.co.uk

MINUTES TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

SEPTEMBER PUBLIC MEETING

7pm Wednesday 10 September 2025

1. Attendance: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, Frances Khetrat, John MacCaskill, Tim Arkless. Cllr Kirsty MacFarlane from Coll CC attended. One member of the public attended the Zoom call. There had been 490 views of the Facebook page by 12 September.
2. Apologies: Cllrs Jim Lynch and Willie Hume.
3. Welcome: the meeting was recorded and streamed live on Facebook. This recording was kept for 30 days and then deleted automatically. The Zoom recording was kept on a secure PC until the draft minutes had been approved and then deleted manually.
4. Minutes of last meeting: there were two corrections. Item 7: ‘Tiree is losing the Barra link on 10 and 17 October’ should have read ‘10 and 17 September’. The mezzanine deck’s inclusion in the booking system only went live last week. This is for a month’s trial. The minutes were proposed by GMG and seconded by JMC.
5. Matters arising (not covered later):

• The new container at the recycling centre: GMG had visited. The doors are shut due to the wind, and there is no signage. It would be better if it was inside, but there was currently no space. He was pleased to have been called a ‘customer’
• Visitor Levy: the Argyll and Bute Council consultation had now been published at https://www.argyll- -bute.gov.uk/moderngov/documents/s223618/APPENDIX%201.pdf

There had been 3,352 responses, two-thirds from residents. ‘Overall, the consultation found limited support for the implementation of a visitor levy scheme in its current form.’ 42% of residents did not support its introduction, compared to 26% who agreed with the levy coming in.

The ABC visitor levy Short Life Working Group will meet on 15th September, with a full Council meeting to follow on 25 September

• None of the three electric car chargers at the pier, which are run by ABC, have worked for a year. They are aware of this, and have tried to get engineers to the island without success. The Tiree Trust has been able to repair their charging points using a different contractor. Out of the eight public chargers on the island, four do not work. This appears to be a problem for island charging points. However, the island is theoretically quite well supplied (if they were all working) compared to the mainland

6. Correspondence:

• The Tiree Youth Partnership has made contact. We strongly supported this initiative. FK will get in touch with them, and TA will help
• It had been reported to us that the Kirkapol Church of Scotland, now in private ownership and a listed Schedule B building, had deteriorated. Historic Environment Scotland operate a Buildings at Risk Register, but this was not taking new applications
• We had been notified of a build-up of industrial waste at a location. We will research what is the correct agency and inform the correspondent

1. Meeting reports

• Mull Community Council: there had been an expression of interest from a sports organisation to send a team from Mull and Iona to the 2027 Island Games. We wondered if the same opportunities might be available for Tiree athletes, but most of the competing teams represented island groups like the Western Isles. We will contact in the first instance
• Integrated Emergency Management Workshop had been attended by GMG: he had been impressed by the way all the different emergency teams on the island worked together. He wondered if we should have an Island Evacuation Plan
• Community Link Work: this had been attended by GMG. The idea is to link the medical practice, social work and local groups. It works in Glasgow and Taynuilt, and they are looking to try it in a rural location
• Western Isles Environmental Hub had been attended by GMG. There is one in ABC. They are holding a COP2 at the end of the month. There is an Environmental Hub in Argyll and Bute

1. Transport updates (JMC):

• Islands Business Resilience Fund: JH and GMG had attended a meeting with representatives from Coll, Mull, Islay and Jura. The result has been a joint letter to the Cabinet Secretary to protest at our islands’ exclusion from the scheme. This had made the front page of the Glasgow Herald
• JMC will be away for two weeks. GMG will stand in for him
• We expect a Deck Space Pilot meeting soon
• The Tiree Transport Forum meeting has been postponed to the end of October. CalMac will attend. There are no minutes from the last meeting
• The winter ferry timetable has been published. One-third of our winter service will be supplied by the LOTI. They will restrict the Clansman’s booking capacity to that of the LOTI for the first two weeks, in case of delays. This is to prevent having to cancel bookings if there is an over-run in the dry docking programme. The bookings will be open from the 11th
• He had been asked to delay flight on 13/9 to allow more buyers to attend the livestock sale. This had come in very late. Loganair was happy to make the change, but the problem was the additional cost of keeping the airport open. Tiree Rural Development was looking into this
• There will be an upgrade to the ‘infrastructure at the Oban 1 linkspan and adjacent slipway to support the requirements for new vessels being proposed for routes from this berth’. A consultation will be open until Feb 2026. It is likely that this will cause some disruption during the build time, which is anticipated to be 48 weeks
• The start of the works on the new terminal building at the pier has been delayed to ‘early next year’, meaning there may be disruption over Easter

1. Future Tiree veterinary arrangements: the Trust and others have put in a lot of work on this. Animal Care Tiree, a group of farmers and crofters, has been set up to progress things for large animals. They have arranged a visit from Clyde Vets 22/9. All small animal care involves a trip to Oban. Coll was also affected. GMG will send KMF the details he has
2. Tiree Library:  Paul Ashworth had written: ‘I can confirm that LiveArgyll has been in discussion with Argyll and Bute Council, and the proposed closure of Tiree Library will not be proceeding at this time.’ Jim Lynch had written: ‘In terms of timescales – the council is due to set its budget on 25^th February next year and the budget development process will start over the winter months.’ In other words, the library was effectively closed until next year. The work to reconfigure part of the school for a library had not started. We agreed to write to our ward councillors to ask that the money that had been saved by the temporary closure of the library should be released by ABC to enable the library to re-open now.
3. Changes to Argyll and Bute Council Service Point at Crossapol: this is now temporarily closed. Rona Campbell has been seconded to a new role in the Council, but is still the registrar and will issue blue badges. Everything else is online now. We agreed to write to Rona to thank her for her work in the CSP.
4. A&BC budget: an FOI has been not been submitted, to some extent because other organisations have already put in targeted FOIs which should take priority.
5. R100: an extra stage has been added. This includes Caolas, Salum, Ruaig and Baugh. The next phase is Gigabit, which will fill in the gaps left by R100. A few properties will not get fibre because of technical problems like rock or distance. Some business properties are having to take up a commercial package with their new providers. This more expensive. Two properties have been charged for connections. If this happens, contact Stephen Chambers at Openreach.. People can contact GMG if they are having problems. The public phone box in Baugh will be kept operational in some way when the island stops using copper in a couple of years.
6. Planning: we had no comments on the following:

• House in Ruaig
• Boathouse in Ruaig
• Three holiday units in Heylipol

All these applications had received a comment from Scottish Water about a lack of guarantee of a water supply. If this continues to be an issue, we are likely to prioritise our lobbying efforts on island residents’ buildings and businesses.

1. AOCB: there was none.
2. Date of next meeting: 15th October 2025.

Dr John Holliday, 11 September 2025

MINUTES

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC) JUNE PUBLIC MEETING

7.30pm 11 June 2025

Tiree Trust Conference Room

In person, on Zoom and on live Facebook stream

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, Frances Khetrat, Tim Arkless (all in person) and John MacCaskill (remotely). Cllr. Amanda Hampsey was present in person. Kirsty MacFarlane, convenor of Coll Community Council, was present remotely. One member of the public was on the Zoom call, and there had been 636 views on Facebook within two days.
2. Apologies: there were none.
3. Minutes of the last meeting: these were accepted: proposed GMG, seconded TA.
4. Matters arising:

• All-weather pitch: there was nothing new to report
• Re-use container: JH had contacted John Blake from Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) and he suggested speaking to Hazel Cowe on Mull. They have had a re-use container for a few years. Hazel is employed to go up once a week to remove items that might sell in the three second-hand shops run by the Mull Trust. It has been quite lucrative, but it takes time. JH had asked the Tiree Trust and the Hall if they were interested, but neither had the capacity at the moment. No other group had come forward. The Coll container has arrived already. We supported this project, and agreed to suggest this starts as a self-service arrangement in the first instance. It was pointed out that Tiree Facebay is well used. JH will write to John Blake and liaise with the Tiree Council staff
• The £4.4 million given to Councils to compensate for poor ferry services: AH had not heard what was happening with this. We have not heard back from Jim Lynch on this matter
• The new ferry terminal and marshalling area: plans will be shared soon

5. Correspondence:

• The Scottish Islands Team are coming to Tiree on 19 June and will meet with various groups as they develop the next Islands Plan
• The Radio Tele-switch Service is meant to be ending on 30 June. This system controls Total Heat Total Control electric heating systems. Around 300,000 people in the UK have not yet been switched over, and the cut-off date has been postponed several times. The problem is that the electrical supply companies do have enough capacity to meet demand. However, customers should not be cut off if they contact their supply company
• Gaelic media interviews: we are still seeking a Gaelic-speaking councillor/spokesperson who can take on this role
• Risk assessment for the pier: we were interested in ship-to-shore radios
• Mull school campus: we have had some correspondence from campaigners on Mull

6. Councillor report: AH reported that the Head of Legal Services in ABC had reassured her that there was no plan to close the Tiree library. She is still waiting for Kirsty Flanagan, the Head of Finance, to come back to her on ABC spend on Tiree. She has had a number of enquiries about the lack of housing on Tiree. She encourages everyone who needs housing to put themselves on the Housing Register, as it looks at the moment as though there is little demand. There are a number of grants for local businesses; she is happy to help islanders apply. AH will investigate getting more large bins around the island.
7. Transport Report (JMC): there had been a meeting of the Deck Space Pilot group on 23 May under Paul Cook. The Coll Transport Group are looking for a residents’-based card system for this scheme. The situation on Tiree is slightly different, with family members wanting to come back for island funerals, and contractors needing to travel at short notice. We did not currently favour a residents-based system, but we have an open mind on the matter. KMF said that each island could decide who would be eligible. The ‘pilot’ had been going on for two years. She wanted a system that was controlled by the islands themselves. Coll, Tiree, Mull and Iona had done surveys, but the results seem to have been ignored by CalMac. Phyl Meyer will be stepping down from the Deck Space Pilot Group to be replaced by JMC. We thanked Phyl for his sterling service. The CalMac customer satisfaction survey indicates that travellers are quite happy with the ferry service. The company has been reminded that this might not be the whole story. The Clansman will be replaced by the Hebrides for a couple of months next winter, rather than using LOTI. There is a new CalMac Area Manager, who will be visiting Tiree on 24-5 June. The Barra leg is now operational again as of 4 June.
8. Library: there has been a lack of communication from LiveArgyll (LA). GMG has put in a number of FOI requests, and the results of the first tranche are now on our website. He had also put in a complaint to ABC about the lack of an Island Community Impact Assessment. We have been in contact with Tarbert and Cardross CCs. We were initially promised a twelve-week consultation, but we have not heard anything. Nor have we been involved in plans to re-locate the library inside the school. We do not support making the Tiree library a volunteer-only service. We want the Library Assistant paid post to continue. We also want ABC to take back library services from LA. Jim Lynch has notified us that he has received our letter to this effect, but we have heard nothing more from him. We noted that Tarbert have had a three-month extension for their library closure.
9. R100 update (GMG): OpenReach are about to do another 20 properties in the Hynish area, and another 50 premises on the island generally by the end of June. That will make around 400 properties altogether, roughly what was planned for. He noticed that someone on the island had a phone number prefix that was not 220, implying that there are now more than 999 phone lines. The OpenReach teams are now at work surveying the best way to access individual properties, and this work will continue into September. Project Gigabit will extend the coverage to the rest of the island by the end of the year. Everyone who wants fibre should go onto the OpenReach website to express an interest, otherwise you will miss the next deadline. We would like to thank the OpenReach team who have done a great job. GMG had also looked at the coverage of mobile phones on the island. There is now a project to open up the phone masts to all companies. This will extend coverage. He will look into this.
10. Planning: there has been just one application, which did not concern us.
11. AOCB: we will not hold a July public meeting. The next meeting will therefore be on 13 August online. There was no other business.

Dr John Holliday 12 June 2025