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Democracy Matter consultation from the Scottish Government

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

Contributions have to be submitted by 28 February 2024.

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

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

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

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

However, there are challenges:

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

So, any changes in the way we are governed:

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

 The full consultation is at:

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

You are encouraged to engage with this individually.

John Holliday

Letter from the police about cover 10.8.23

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

Dear Phyl,

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

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

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

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

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

Kind regards,

Matt Shaw, Sergeant for Partnerships & Management Support

Zoom Link – Hustings Event 29th April 2022 7PM

Click on the link below to join in with Friday’s hustings event. We will be starting at 7PM.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82574905408?pwd=S2ZRWFBUODY0WmZKN1BwQkhFYTdYUT09

Meeting ID: 825 7490 5408

Passcode: 452460

One tap mobile

+441314601196,,82574905408#,,,,*452460# United Kingdom

+442034815237,,82574905408#,,,,*452460# United Kingdom

Dial by your location

+44 131 460 1196 United Kingdom

+44 203 481 5237 United Kingdom

Meeting ID: 825 7490 5408

Passcode: 452460

Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kigAs3ulH

Meeting joining instructions:

Please note: our meetings are recorded for the purpose of minute taking. If you do not wish your camera feed to be recorded, please do not enable your camera. Keeping it off, rather than on but covered over also helps reduce internet load for participants.

When you first join the meeting at the start time – you may find you are in a Waiting Room, please just wait for the meeting to start and you will be admitted automatically.

Join Zoom Meeting online by PC or smart device:  

Guidance on joining the meeting:

You can choose how you view the meeting using the app if joining via the internet – “Gallery view” shows you multiple participants

Please note that by default you will join the meeting muted (i.e. you will not be sending sound out to the rest of the participants) – please leave yourself muted unless you need to speak, and when invited to do so by the chair, and remember to re-mute afterwards. This is needed to ensure that the call is not made very difficult to follow by background noise from multiple people, which can be extremely disruptive to the call.

We suggest that members of the public not enable their camera, unless wishing to be seen when making a contribution to the meeting. This saves bandwidth and reduces the size of the recording for the minutes.

If joining on a PC, tablet or other device, please set your screen name to a recognisable form of your actual name so that other participants know who you are – this is required if you wish to participate via either speaking or using the text chat.

The mute and unmute button is in the lower left, and looks like a microphone, next to the button for switching your webcam on/off.

If you are using a telephone to dial in, the mute and unmute command can be given by typing on your handset: *6

Requesting to speak:

If joining by computer, you can find a button to “Raise your hand” to ask to speak under the “Participants” menu, accessed by pressing the Participants button (looks like a human figure, in the middle of the bottom part of the window). You can also use the chat function to make a comment or to ask to speak on a point.

You can “raise your hand” to ask to speak if phoning in by using the code: *9

As ever if you have questions or if there is anything we can do to help you take part in the meeting accessibly, please let us know by e-mailing phyl@tireecommunitycouncil.co.uk 

Banked Flights

Banked Flights :

TTF and LoganAir have agreed to the same banked flights for 2019 as we had in 2018 Ie

1. Additional Easter Friday flight (any time) on Friday 05th April
2. Tiree 10k – Additional morning flight on Sat 04th May;
3. Tiree 10k – Additional afternoon flight on Sun 05th May;
4. Additional Peak Summer flight – Sat 06th July;
5. & 6. TMF – Additional morning and afternoon flights (4 flights in total that day) on Fri 12th July;
7. TMF – Additional lunchtime flight on Sat 13th July;
8. TMF – Addition lunchtime flight on Sun 14th July;
9. & 10. TMF – Additional morning and afternoon flights (4 flights in total that day) on Mon 15th July;
11. Additional Peak Summer flight on Sat 20th July;
12. Additional Peak Summer flight on Sat 27th July;
13. Additional Peak Summer flight on Sat 03rd Aug;
14. Additional Peak Summer flight on Sat 10th Aug;
15. August Livestock Sales on Sat 17th Aug – Additional flight with a requested 08:30am departure from Glasgow to fit in with sales times.  Also requested a later amended departure time to the current scheduled second flight time to 16:30pm out of Glasgow, again to accommodate sales times);
16. Tiree Ultra – Additional flight (any time) on Sat 07th Sept;
17. Tiree Ultra – Additional flight late afternoon on Sun 08th Sept;
18. Tiree Ultra – Additional flight (any time) on Mon 09th Sept.

Proposed Banked Flights Saturday Reductions (Down to 1x Saturday Flight) on:

26th October to 21st December 19  = 8 flights in total
11th January to 14th March 20 = 10 flights.

This gives flexibility to amend the Tiree flight schedule, on a cost neutral basis , to meet peak summer demand , also added flights for  TMF , the Tiree 10k and the Tiree Ultra

This is achieved by offsetting against some reduction in the schedule later in the year ie

Saturday Reductions (Down to 1x Saturday Flight) on:

26th October to 21st December 19  = 8 flights in total
11th January to 14th March 20 = 10 flights.

 

 

Tiree-Oban Air Service Update

 

TIREE-COLL-OBAN FLIGHTS TO BE GROUNDED

Tiree’s air service to Oban will stop on 16 May.

Argyll and Bute Council, having cut the subsidy it proposes to pay to an operator, has failed to find an airline willing to service the route on at the lower subsidy level . Flights to Coll and Colonsay will also stop

As per the previous edition of AnTirisdeach, TCC advised that the Policy and Resources Commitee (PAR) of the Council had decided at its February meeting to to re-tender. To date TCC has no infomatiion as to when this will happen, nor any of the details of any 2nd tender . TCC has stated that a simple repeat of the original tender is not likely to succeed.

At a meeting with two of our councillors( Roddy MacCuish and Jim Lynch) it was decided that TCC would make a further submission to A&B Council ,to garner the political will, to derive a 2nd tender more likely to succeed in maintaining, in full or part, the existing Argyll Air Services.

In view of the critical importance the Tiree-Oban air link has to Tiree High School, TCC has copied the submission to John Swinney , Minister of Educatiion and Micheal Russell MSP

TCC has done so covering the topics which TCC identified as Tiree’s primary Connectivity Issues:-

Education/Health/Veterinary/Construction/The Democratic Deficit/Tourism/ Our link with Coll

In turn TCC submitted this conclusion:-

Tiree Community Council and the Tiree Transport Forum place the utmost importance on the continuation of the Argyll Air Service. The island is well served with an air link to Glasgow. But Argyll and Bute Councillors must not forget that Tiree is part of Argyll and Bute Council, and that our regional centres are Oban and Lochgilphead. Other island groups in Scotland have similar or better air services. We do appreciate the problems in the service as it stands (see our previous correspondence) and we accept that there may be timetable and fare changes in a new successful tender. What we cannot accept is the loss of this service.

Our councillors also requested that TCC , as a supplementary ,commented on Oban Airport’s development potential .

In deriving the submission, TCC reviewed the tender process and documentation . Some anomalies were evident, consequently TCC added a supplementary to the submission 

This final submission was circulated to Tiree’s Councillors, for circulation within A&BC, but view the implications for education at  Tiree High School, TCC sent copies directly to John Swinney  MSP , Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills, also Michael Russell MSP

Air Service Submission