Nominations open on 5 June:

https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/my-council/elections/community-council-elections-20-august-2026

We are keen to get your feedback on this development.

Iona Community Council has produced this information sheet. The company has its own website. The nearest turbines will be around 18 miles from Hynish. The array will definitely be visible from Tiree. Photomontages produced by campaigners and the company are very different.

The application to the Marine Directorate has been put back to the middle or end of June, after which TCC would have a month to give our reaction.

We need your opinions.

Iona brief MachairWind v2

https://www.scottishpowerrenewables.com/offshore/machairwind

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

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

Zoom link

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84003012693?pwd=pwDEE3BBuUESdwJvBCao1DVx1TLBlX.1

ID 840 0301 2693
Passcode jrHrb1m

1. Welcome: including new MSPs (list and constituency)
2. Apologies
3. Declarations of interest
4. Minutes of last meeting
5. Matters arising (not covered later): Tiree library
6. Police presentation
7. Correspondence: Local Place Plan delayed; Sky
8. Meetings report: Islands Business Resilience Fund Review; Mull CC meeting; Debrief of Tiree sub-sea cable and storm Incident; Planet Youth
9. Transport
10. MachairWind proposal
11. Dental service
12. Mortuary
13. Broadband/Resilience
14. TCC projects: Telephone boxes/Community Garden/ Bicycle pump
15. Visitor Levy
16. Recent planning applications
17. Councillors’ reports
18. Upcoming community council elections
19. AOCB
20. Next meeting including AGM will be held on 7pm 10th June in person, online and on Facebook

“Calmac have been in touch to update us about a further delay to the return of MV Hebrides. During this year’s overhaul, the visor was removed from the vessel, and a significant amount of remedial work was undertaken.

The visor was reinstalled and tested as per Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) procedures. On sea trials this afternoon, an issue was identified with the visor seal which will require an OEM adjustment.

The OEM will be onsite by noon tomorrow (Saturday).

Deployment plans for routes impacted by MV Hebrides’ delay exiting dock have been published up until today, and we’re now extending these plans until Tuesday 5 May.

This means:

•           MV Clansman remains on Little Minch

•           MV Isle of Mull remains on Oban-Coll/Tiree/Colonsay

•           MV Coruisk remains on Oban-Craignure alongside MV Loch Frisa

•           A passenger charter remains in place on Mallaig-Armadale.

I am aware of an urgent requirement for fuel on Tiree, and we are continuing to work on plans to get this to the island.

I am sorry for the continued disruption to you all through this period and I’ll provide updates as soon as possible.”

We have received this from Sky Public Affairs Team via the Scottish Goverment.

“As you know, the recent broadband outage affecting constituents was caused by storm-related damage to a subsea fibre cable. 

Recognising the inconvenience this incident caused our customers across Tiree, we can confirm that Sky has credited £469.06 to each of the affected Sky accounts.

Should any customers experience further issues, please direct them to our Customer Service team on 0333 759 2894 for swift support.

We appreciate the disruption this outage caused and remain committed to delivering connectivity to our customers throughout the whole of the UK. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.”

We would be interested if some customers are yet to be compensated.

 Next the other ISPs!

MINUTES

APRIL PUBLIC MEETING OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL (TCC)

7 pm 15 April 2026

Online and streamed on the Tiree Community Council Facebook page

1. Present: Gerard McGoogan (chair), Dr John Holliday, John MacCaskill and Frances Khetrat. There were no members of the public on the Zoom call, but 690 people had viewed the meeting on Facebook (FB) by the following morning.
2. Apologies: Cllr Willie Hume and Tim Arkless
3. Current election period: the chair reminded the meeting that TCC had to remain non-party-political.
4. Declarations of interest: GMG and JH were Directors of Solar, which used the Scarinish phone box. JH is a Director of the Hynish Trust.
5. Minutes of last meeting: these were accepted as a true record. Proposed JMC, seconded GMG.
6. Matters arising (not covered later):

• Bike stands and community garden: GMG will write a letter about these matters this week after the holiday period
• Increase in spending on community councils: we still have not heard how this will be divided up. We want it to be divided equally between the 56 community councils in Argyll and Bute because our fixed costs are all the same
• Heating oil and LPG: GMG has looked into this. GMG has looked into this. About 30% of Tree households use heating oil. None use LPG, although this may be an underestimate as the households using LPG for heatingare often in caravans which may not have been trecorded in the Census. The Scottish Emergency Heating Oil Scheme (which does include LPG) was launched on 1 April under Advice Direct Scotland. This amounts to £300 now and up to £300 every three months. A team from Argyll and Bute Council (ABC) were due to come over with information about grants for insulation but it was cancelled due to ferries. The visit will be rescheduled.
• JH is still working on a campaign about the difficulties getting patient travel tickets through the Health Board. He will wait until after the Scottish Parliamentary election, so that he can involve the new MSP

7. Correspondence:

• We had received correspondence about the difficulty in arranging Openreach home visits with the ferry disruption meaning that engineers have had to leave the island at short notice
• Belinda Ruthven, Resilience Officer for Argyll and Bute Council, is organising a meeting for island key workers on Wednesday 29 April
• A patient discharged from hospital was unable to get a booking in Oban on a re-scheduled ferry sailing. We raised this with Stephen Wood, the CalMac Area Manager, who told us about the CalMac medical priority protocol. The details of this can be found at

 https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/travel/urgent-medical-appointments/#/howitworks

We had been unaware of this. We have passed the link on to the surgery and will put the link on the TCC FB page

• Police Scotland report for March: 6 calls and 2 crimes
• We received a letter from Screen Argyll about a new youth programme called PlanetYouth. We have written to support this, and will try to attend its first meeting

8. Meeting reports: this month has been quieter. GMG and JH went to the Climate Action Group meeting. GMG had met the Deputy First Minister about communications resilience.
9. Transport update (JMC):

• There has been an unprecedented level of correspondence with travelling members of the public and business owners about the inadequacy of the current ferry service. We are grateful for this correspondence, as it is a good way to understand what is happening in the community. We are in almost daily communication with CalMac. The Transport Forum had a useful meeting with Stephen Wood, Area Manager. The Forum has decided to work constructively within the system, rather than embarking on media campaigns. There has been some criticism of this low-key approach
• The timetable next winter is being discussed at the moment. Coll CC have proposed a slightly earlier Monday sailing for next winter. The Tiree hauliers seem to be happy with this. The number of missed ferries in winter has been a problem. CalMac are currently looking into the possibility of offering a fortnightly ‘freight run’ Oban-Tiree-Oban’ which would be separate from the published Winter Timetable should it be deemed a viable proposal
• We have had the Isle of Mull on the run for longer than expected. Because this vessel has a closed car deck, there are difficulties carrying fuel on it. CalMac have been in touch to see if this was causing a problem on Tiree
• We hope to get the Clansman and the usual deck-space pilot back this Saturday
• The Scottish Government has announced a £10 million Business Resilience Fund to compensate for the ferry disruptions. GMG will correspond with Mull, Iona and Iona bodies about a joint representation to the Scottish Government on how this might work
• CalMac local staff have had a difficult period, and we are very grateful for their professionalism
• JMC and GMG me the Highlands and Islands Airports CEO and Chair. They are looking at opening up some additional car parking space. The airport buildings will get painted this summer. We thanked the local HIAL and Loganair staff for their excellent service
• Luke Farajallah, the CEO of Loganair, is visiting Tiree on 30 April
• Stephen Wood from CalMac is meeting the Transport Forum in person on 29 April. This clashes with the Resilience meeting (see above) so JMC will change this to the evening. SW will make a presentation on the carriage of electric vehicles
• TCC will start lobbying for a new Tiree-Coll ferry after the elections. This process takes many years but it needs to start soon

10. Tiree library re-instatement: this will re-open. The job has been advertised, although it is only 8 hours a week. There is some building work needed at the school.
11. Tiree dental service: we had a letter from a patient who had been waiting years for an appointment at the Tiree surgery. We asked for other peoples’ experience on our FB page, and got a huge response, with some terrible stories. One person said they had been waiting five years for an appointment. Many children have never had their check-ups. The service used to be one week a month, but was cut back to two between-plane days every two weeks. The Oban plane only comes 55% of the time. We wrote to Gill Rees, the Assistant Chief Dental Officer for NHS Highland, asking for a meeting. She is making enquiries and will get back to us.
12. Consultation on Local Development Plan 3: this considers local land use. We do not have the resources to respond to this fully and properly, and decided not to put in a response.
13. Mortuary: there has been representation that the Mortuary on the airfield is not fit for purpose. We have tackled this issue before without success. It was not clear who owned the building or who had responsibility for it. JH will make some enquiries.
14. Broadband and R100: Openreach were on the island last week. Their engineers will be on the island until June, but ferry problems have made their operations difficult. There had been a public meeting, which had been well attended. Tiree Broadband closes on 1 June. The recent break in the subsea cable in Orkney shows that there are still problems getting timely information out to islanders. If or when this happens on Tiree again, we will not have Tiree Broadband to rescue 150 customers.
15. Telephone boxes: the boxes at Caolas, Scarinish, Mannal, Balephuil, Heylipol, Middleton, Balevullin and Cornaigmore are all now taken, leaving only Kenovay and Crossapol to remove. GMG will contact SSEN abut disconnecting them.
16. Recent planning applications: external signs around the lighthouse shore station. We had no objections.
17. AOCB: we still have the Keder house from the community garden. GMG will enquire about putting it to use.
18. Date and format of next meeting: this will be in person on Wednesday 20 May. JH will contact Matthew Shaw from Police Scotland, who wished to attend.
19. [Note after the meeting: we did not deal with community transport, as we had intended. We will do this at the next meeting.]

The meeting ended at 8.20pm.

Dr John Holliday 16 April 2026

AGENDA

APRIL PUBLIC MEETING OF TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL

7 pm 15 April 2026

Online and streamed on the Tiree Community Council Facebook page

Zoom link:

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88972623657?pwd=tIInHSAxYzed5dZbyLEiQOKAVWIhIR.1

Meeting ID: 889 7262 3657

Passcode: jrHrb1

1. Welcome
2. Apologies
3. Current election period
4. Declarations of interest
5. Minutes of last meeting
6. Matters arising (not covered later)
7. Correspondence: including Planet Youth
8. Meeting report: including Climate Action Group meeting
9. Transport update: including the lack of a community bus
10. Tiree library re-instatement
11. Tiree dental service
12. Consultation on Local Development Plan 3
13. Mortuary
14. Broadband and R100
15. Telephone boxes
16. Recent planning applications
17. AOCB
18. Date and format of next meeting

Good news, the LOTI has been fixed. The less good news this has delayed Tiree getting the Clansman back. We do not know till when.

The full announcement is below. Bits that are of interest to Tiree:
“MV Isle of Mull will continue to operate on this route, as MV Clansman is required on the Little Minch and cannot yet be released back to Argyll.”

“We may swap MV Isle of Mull and MV Lord of the Isles on Thursday to allow gas to travel. ”

“With MV Lord of the Isles unexpected but welcome availability, we’ve urgently reviewed services across the network through to Thursday 9 April inclusive. Due to forecasted weather and berth availability, Lord of the Isles could reach in time, she’s not departing the Clyde until Monday. Therefore, any changes do not take effect until Tuesday.

MV Isle of Mull will continue to operate on this route, as MV Clansman is required on the Little Minch and cannot yet be released back to Argyll. Colonsay services delivered by Islay vessels will continue as timetabled. We may swap MV Isle of Mull and MV Lord of the Isles on Thursday to allow gas to travel. This will be confirmed along with plans for Thursday 9 April onwards early next week. Some sailings may be locked as traffic is moved, but we’re working to complete this and unlock them as soon as we can.

I know that your islands continue to be served by vessels that are not ideal for the run and apologise for the ongoing disruption and uncertainty this causes.

Finally, Storm Dave does pose a risk over the weekend, and our website and app will have the latest service information.

Here is a route-by-route view of deployment until Thursday 9 April
“

Update from Calmac. The bits Tiree is interested in:

“We are working on a plan that would allow us to improve services on the Outer Hebrides, Coll, Tiree and Colonsay from the middle of next week.  “

“Redeploy MV Clansman to Oban-Coll/Tiree/Colonsay, which she is much better suited to than the currently deployed MV Isle of Mull “

The message in full:

“We are working on a plan that would allow us to improve services on the Outer Hebrides, Coll, Tiree and Colonsay from the middle of next week.

Until then, our plan for Easter weekend is:

·       MV Glen Sannox will, subject to successful trials, return to service on Troon-Brodick on the afternoon of Thursday 2 April

·       MV Isle of Islay will remain on Kennacraig-Port Askaig 

·       Current deployment plans will remain unchanged 

 

We do not expect to be able to move vessels sooner due to the weather. From Tuesday, should weather improve, we intend to send MV Glen Sannox to Oban-Castlebay to carry out berthing trials and, subject to these being successful, putting her in service for Barra. We will also redeploy MV Isle of Islay to the Uig-Tarbert/Lochmaddy route. 

This will allow us to:

·       End the Uig-Tarbert/Lochmaddy/Castlebay shared service and restore services on Barra and the Little Minch to what they were planned to be

·       Redeploy MV Clansman to Oban-Coll/Tiree/Colonsay, which she is much better suited to than the currently deployed MV Isle of Mull 

·       Redeploy MV Isle of Mull to Oban-Craignure and enhance services on that route

It does mean that Islay will be a single-vessel service with MV Finlaggan, and Arran will be a single-vessel service with MV Caledonian Isles until MV Alfred returns from overhaul to operate Troon-Brodick. 

It also assumes MV Isle of Arran and MV Lord of the Isles, our two major vessels currently off with technical issues, remain unavailable. 

This deployment plan would remain under review, and would be in place until MV Hebrides returns to service from planned annual maintenance, which is scheduled for Wednesday 15 April

We’re working today to confirm details of this potential deployment plan and will share full, detailed information tomorrow. “