Local Police Plan consultation 2023
The following has been shared from the latest local police report for Oban Lorn and the Isles:
The new Policing Plan for your local area is currently under review and we want to have it shaped by you.
Police Scotland wants to know and understand the views of Scotland’s diverse communities. One of the ways the service listens and understands the views of people living here is the Your Police survey.
Your Police 2023-24 is live on their Engagement Hub and Police Scotland is inviting anyone to take part.
The survey is open all year and asks about your experiences of feeling safe in your community and what you think about the police. The survey also aims to help the police understand more about your experiences of interacting with them. The police will make decisions using the insights gathered through the survey to help inform local service delivery. It’s about all of us working together to improve safety and wellbeing in communities throughout Scotland.
Everyone is invited to take part, even if you have taken part previously. This is your opportunity to shape policing in your local area. Responses are reviewed regularly and reports are shared each month with the Police Scotland Executive. Senior management teams in local areas use what you say in the survey to respond to local needs and priorities.
Take part in the survey here: https://consult.scotland.police.uk/strategy-insight-and-innovation/your-police-2023-2024/consultation/intro/
An easy read and British Sign Language version of the survey is also available via the above link.
August 9th 2023 public meeting
Our next meeting will take place on Wednesday 9 August 2023 at 7pm. This will be taking place via Zoom remote meeting.
AGENDA
- Welcome
- Apologies
- Declarations of interest
- Minutes of the last meeting
- Matters arising: beach signage update; Tigh a Rudha redesign project; digital hub delay; Heylipol and Balevullin phone box renovation; community garden update
- Correspondence: Baugh phone box repair; canvassing job opportunity
- Reports of meetings: Argyll and Bute Council ‘Engagement Meeting’; Arianne Burgess, MSP; Tiree housing meeting with ACHA, WHHA and ABC; Carly Maynard project on sustainable water supplies; Mull Community Council September meeting
- Forthcoming meeting with Argyll and Bute Council Chief Executive on 17 August: matters for discussion
- Scottish Parliament’s call for views on a proposed Visitor Levy (or ‘Tourist Tax’): a discussion on how we should proceed. Our report must be completed by 1 September
- Ferries: summer timetable 2024 consultation, including discussions with Coll Transport Forum; transport of the new refrigerant R32; island essential travel pilot update
- Planes: applications for Residents Fare Card now open
- AOCB
- Date and venue of next meeting
Those wishing to join can do so using the following Zoom link:
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81712301118?pwd=QXZ0ZVhRUTQxU3M4ZFUxcDRhRnVwQT09
Dial in by phone:
+44 131 460 1196 United Kingdom
Meeting ID: 817 1230 1118
Passcode: 443867
Guidance on joining the meeting by Zoom:
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. Please note that our meetings may also be streamed to our Facebook page, where they may remain and be viewed after the meeting has ended.
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
TCC minutes June 2023
Minutes TCC AGM 2023
Minutes TCC meeting May 2023
Minutes April 2023 public meeting
TCC Survey on ferry disruption for Tiree residents/business
TCC has now launched a survey to allow residents and business owners to capture the impacts (financial or otherwise) of the current disruption to ferry services. Responses will be collated to give an overall sense of the impacts, as well as individual examples potentially being used as case studies (if respondents indicate they are happy for us to do so – that part is up to you).
Please complete the survey here: https://forms.gle/nKtJ8GcoxNTzsX137
HPMAs – full statement by TCC and Tiree Trust
THE PROSPECT OF AN HPMA AROUND TIREE AND COLL:
Statement from Tiree Community Council and Tiree Community Development Trust
It is not an exaggeration to say that the designation of the waters used by the Tiree fishing fleet – from Skerryvore to the Cairns of Coll – as a Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) poses an existential threat to the Tiree community.
The island’s population at the 2011 Census had declined to 653, a 15% fall over the previous 10 years. This is perilously close to being non-viable. Our secondary school roll is now 30, and an increasing number of young people are choosing to transfer to Oban to complete their education. Social capital has been hollowed out and many voluntary committees are under strength. The Tiree community is hanging on by its fingertips.
Tiree, known as the ‘Hawaii of the North’, is internationally famous for its water sports and marine wildlife tourism. If HPMA rules are interpreted strictly, these would be restricted. Future developments that hold out the prospect of a more sustainable future for the island – developments such as the construction of a breakwater to protect the island’s exposed harbour, a fixed link to Coll, shellfish aquaculture or seaweed farming – would become almost impossible.
Tiree has been a centre of fishing since Viking times, becoming a commercial exporter of fish in the 1840s. Fishing remains one of the three legs that supports the island’s economy, along with tourism and crofting.
The island’s small harbour received a major upgrade in 2020, thanks to a £1.1 million investment from the Scottish Government, HIE and the Tiree Community Development Trust. From two boats in 1995, the local fleet is now nine strong providing 20 full time jobs. The annual catch of crab and lobster has a value of around £1,000,000. A quarter of the children in P4 and below (14 out of 59) come from fishing families. It has been a real success story.
The Tiree current fleet uses fixed-line creels, which have little impact on the sea bed beyond the prey species.
The most crucial point is this: Milton harbour is shallow, tidal and relatively unprotected. This means that the largest boats that can berth there safely are less than 10 m in length. These are day boats. They simply cannot steam off to new fishing grounds if there are local restrictions. If the Tiree fleet cannot work local waters, there will be no fishing boats, no fishermen, and no fishing families. It is a binary choice.
Even partial designation would have the same effect. The Tiree fishermen need the whole area to take advantage of shelter as weather systems sweep over the island, and to work the ground less intensively and more sustainably.
Tiree Community Council and Tiree Community Development Trust have no comment to make about the concept of HPMAs. But we will strongly oppose the creation of an HPMA around Tiree and Coll. It would be the end of our community.
Tiree Community Development Trust
Tiree Community Council
14 March 2023
HPMA consultation – TCC / Tiree Trust joint press release
EDIT: The deadline for the consultation has now been delayed to April 17th and can be completed here
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE USE: THE ISLE OF TIREE RESPONDS TO THE HIGHLY PROTECTED MARINE AREAS CONSULTATION.
“We would be wiped out overnight with one stroke of the pen”.
Tiree Community Council and the Tiree Community Development Trust have raised grave concerns in response to the Government’s Highly Protected Marine Areas consultation saying, “It is not an exaggeration to say that the designation of the waters used by the Tiree fishing fleet – from Skerryvore to the Cairns of Coll – as a Highly Protected Marine Area (HPMA) poses an existential threat to the Tiree community.”
Tiree’s small harbour received a major upgrade in 2020, thanks to a £1.1 million investment from the Scottish Government, HIE and the Tiree Community Development Trust.
From two boats in 1995, the local fleet is now nine strong providing 20 full time jobs. The annual catch of crab and lobster has a value of around £1,000,000 and a quarter of the children in P4 and below come from fishing families.
“One boat’s worth of economic impact.”
Local fisherman Neil MacPhail said, “My boat alone puts food on the table for eleven people. One boat’s worth of economic impact is huge in a community such as Tiree. It’s the only industry in the island which has genuinely bucked the depopulation trend. If this landed on top of us, we would be wiped out overnight with one stroke of the pen on a chart.”
Tiree’s population at the 2011 Census had declined to 653, a 15% fall over the previous 10 years. The secondary school roll is now 30, and an increasing number of young people are choosing to transfer to Oban to complete their education.
Rhoda Meek, Chair of the Tiree Community Development Trust said, “Our island, as a thriving community, is perilously close to being non-viable. Social capital has been hollowed out and many voluntary committees are under strength. The Tiree community is hanging on by its fingertips. If the Tiree fleet cannot work local waters, there will be no fishing boats, no fishermen, and no fishing families. It will be the end of our community.”
ENDS
FURTHER INFORMATION & CONTACTS
Rhoda Meek (Chair of Tiree Community Development Trust) and Neil MacPhail, (Fisherman) are both available for comment.
Rhoda Meek: 07771394030
Neil MacPhail: 07747791400
IMAGES
“One boat’s worth of economic impact”
This image features the crew and families who make their living from just one of the boats in Tiree, belonging to Neil MacPhail. “One boat worth of economic impact.”
Further images and video are available at the following link – https://photos.app.goo.gl/kQ3nRGafFaKGxY3e7. Please get in touch with rhodameek@gmail.com for high res copies and HD raw footage. No credits required.