Minutes of the inaugural December 2022 meeting of Tiree Community Council

Inaugural Meeting of the Tiree Community Council held in An Talla Centre on Monday 19th December @ 2pm 

Present:        Jacqueline Bennett,  John Holliday , Phyl Meyer, Shona Barton (on behalf of the Returning Officer)

One member off the public attended

  1. Shona Barton, on behalf of the Returning Officer, welcomed all to the meeting.
  2. An apology for absence were received from Tim Arkless.
  3. There were no declarations of interest.
  4. It was agreed to appoint Phyl Meyer as Convener of the Community Council.
  5. It was agreed to continue the appointment of a Vice Convener.
  6. It was agreed to appoint John Holliday as Secretary.
  7. It was agreed to appoint Jacqueline Bennett as Treasurer.
  8. It was agreed to continue the appointments of specialist administrators.
  9. The community council considered and adopted the Model Constitution.
  10. The community council considered and adopted the Model Standing Orders.
  11. The community council considered and adopted the Best Practice Agreement.
  12. Shona Barton highlighted a range of governance issues including timescales for issue of agenda and minutes; the co-option process; forming committees; information on complaints processes and the process sanctions; Data Protection and training opportunities

It was noted that any policies which had been agreed by the previous Community Council would still remain valid until such times as they are reviewed by the new Community Council.

13. The date of the next meeting will be on Wednesday 11th January 2023 at 7pm                             via Zoom and thereafter meetings would be held monthly on the 2nd Wednesday of the month (with the exception of January and July).

Shona Barton

New TCC first meeting of 2023 – Wed 25th Jan, 7pm

Following a brief period of being unable to operate due to insufficient numbers, the Tiree  Community Council has now been formally reconstituted after a by-election increased our numbers to the required level.

Your current Community Council is now:

Phyl Meyer (Chair), John Holliday (Secretary), Jacqui Bennett (Treasurer) and Tim Arkless.

Our first public meeting will take place via Zoom at 7pm on Wed 25th Jan 2023.

Agenda:

  1. Welcome by chair Phyl Meyer and housekeeping
  2. Apologies
  3. Declarations of conflicts of interest
  4. Minutes of last meeting
  5. Matters arising
  6. Correspondence: Police report, HIAL, Response from Douglas Hendry re our letter on Island Community Impact Assessment,  resignation of Dr Mike, Potential meeting with Andrew Kain and Ross McLaughlin, Argyll and Bute Islands Sounding Board
  7. Duties of Councillors – Discussion of who will do what in terms of e.g. Facebook page, meeting streaming, website maintenance, banking signatories, handling of correspondence, representation on Tiree Transport Forum.
  8. Reports from Argyll and Bute Councillors and Members of the Parliaments
  9. Co-option of more members – discuss a process
  10. Potential closure of Tiree Service Point – response from TCC and the community
  11. Reports on Meetings: Ferry Stakeholders Group, including an update on waiting room at the pier, Community garden project
  12. Potential joint working with other island Community Councils
  13. Engagement with Parent Council
  14. Planning matters: Proposed amendment to our planning policy – under “Scope” replace requirement for comments to be made directly to us with requirement for the comments to be made via the Argyll + Bute Council planning portal. Report on any current planning applications from December/January.
  15. Policy on the balance between virtual, hybrid and in-person meetings
  16. AOCB
  17. Date of next meeting

Meeting papers:

Tiree CC Inaugural Minute 19.12.22

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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

Cal Mac Summer timetable 2023 opens 31 January

Good Afternoon,

CalMac has today announced that bookings for Summer 2023 (31 March – 15 October) will open on Friday 20 January. 

All routes can be viewed on our website from Thursday 19 January and will be available to book on Friday 20 January, with the exception of: 

·         Mallaig-Small Isles 

·         Mallaig-Armadale 

·         Mallaig-Lochboisdale 

These routes require additional time due to the number of tidal amendments required and the complexity of operating three services from one berth in Mallaig. Due to this, sailings in and out of Mallaig will open for bookings by Tuesday 31 January. 

Online bookings will open at 7am on Friday 20 January, with telephone reservations available from 9am. A queueing system will be in operation on our website to manage the quality of the customer experience when booking online. 

We’re working to finalise timetables for the last week of the Summer Timetable (the period between 16 and 22 October inclusive) as we work to finalise vessel deployment during the start of the annual overhaul period. 

The fares freeze will apply for the whole of the Summer Timetable, up to and including Sunday 22 October. 

For more information, please see our website here  

Kind regards,

Don McKillop

Area Operations Manager – Clyde

CalMac Ferries Ltd

On behalf of Donna Lockhart

Inaugural meeting of the new 2022 session of the TCC

Following the election of Community Councillors in 2022, unfortunately TCC did not quite have enough members to re-constitute. We therefore had to suspend operations while a by-election was held to try to top-up our numbers. Fortunately this was successful and we now have the minimum required number to re-form.

The inaugural meeting of the new session has to be facilitated by an official from Argyll and Bute Council – this took place on 19th December 2022. Office bearers were elected, and an updated form of the TCC Consitution (incorporating changes to the scheme of establishment made by A+BC last year to make holding virtual meetings permissable permanently) was approved, as well as the Standing Orders.

The new office bearers are:

Chair: Phyl Meyer

Secretary: John Holliday

Treasurer: Jacqui Bennett

The note of the meeting and all papers, including the passed documents, are linked below:

Tiree Inaugural Minute 19.12.22

Tiree Community Council Signed Constitution 2022

TIREE COMMUNITY COUNCIL STANDING ORDERS FOR MEETINGS 2022

Co-option Form

Declarations of Interest Protocol

Model complaints procedure for Community Councils

By-election to ensure continued operation of TCC

STAND UP FOR TIREE

As we’ve notified previously via An Tirisdeach and social media, unfortunately only three candidates put themselves forward for the normal scheduled election of Tiree Community Council – one less than the minimum required to convene. A second chance to keep this vital layer of democracy and representation going is underway, with a byelection having been called. This is the last call for anyone willing to stand for Tiree Community Council.

Without a council, we would not have been able to lobby for reserved spaces for islanders on next summer’s ferries. Or badger Argyll and Bute Council to get the school’s security lights switched off at night. Or make the case for a new water treatment plant for Tiree to ensure new homes can continue to be connected.

There are five places up for grabs, and an election is highly unlikely. Nominations close on Thursday 3 November. You can get forms from Rona at the Crossapol office or from us:

Dr John Holliday | 220385 | doc.holliday@tireecommunitycouncil.co.uk
Phyl Meyer | phyl@tireecommunitycouncil.co.uk

CalMac – Advanced Standby Consultation

CalMac are running a consultation on proposed changes to the current ‘waitlist’ process; to be replaced with an ‘advanced standby’.

This consultation will be open from the 5th of September 2022 and will close on the 5th of October 2022.

You can find details of this proposal and how to submit a response to the consultation in the document below:

Advanced Standby Consultation – Information

Islander Priority on Ferries – Pilot Scheme

Many times over the years, Tiree Community Council has discussed the difficulties islanders face getting a ferry slot during busy periods.

Mull have been working to convince the Scottish Government and CalMac to find a way to give islanders fair access to ferry space, when so much of it is booked months in advance by visitors.

The ‘Samso System’ is modelled on arrangements used on the Danish island of Samso that ensure island residents get equal access to ferry space. The Samso ferry company reserves car deck space on every sailing that can only be pre-sold to island residents (or other essential regular users from the mainland like GPs and delivery drivers). They adjust the amount of space reserved for islanders on each sailing, using past carrying data as a guide. This increases the likelihood that islanders will be able to buy a vehicle ticket on the sailing of their choice, and helps to make ticket availability more equal, regardless of whether you have booked your ticket months in advance for a holiday, or days in advance for a shopping trip.

More than 700 respondents from Mull and Iona completed an online survey about this, with an overwhelming 95% in support. Coll have also canvassed islanders on the proposal and found a similar level of support.

Mull and Iona Ferry Committee have now met Jenny Gilruth, the Minister of Transport in the Scottish Government. She and Transport Scotland have committed to implementing some kind of prioritisation system on a trial basis next summer. The trial will be on at least one route – Craignure-Oban – but they are open to running on others. Tiree and Coll need to decide whether to apply to be part of this pilot.

We will discuss this at our September public meeting. Let us know what you think.