Tiree-Oban Air Services Under Threat

TIREE-OBAN AIR SERVICE    

Tiree may lose it .

Cast your memory back to the summer, and the August Consultation regarding Argyll Air Services from Oban to Coll, Tiree ,and Colonsay which are subsidised by Argyll and Bute Council (A&BC)

A&BC decided in Feb 2018 to reduce its subsidy to £512,207pa for the new tender period ie 2019-2022. This was a reduction from £720,756 pa from the previous tender period .

Argyll Air Services were put out to tender in Sept 2018. When the tender closed two months later (Nov), only one submission was received. It was rejected, being deemed non-compliant. This sole bid was from the current service provider, HebAIR. TCC /TTF has not been informed as to the reason(s) HebAIR bid was rejected ,but can only assume the reduced subsidy was a significant factor.

In the interim period A&BC has considered options to move forward. After intense lobbying, jointly from Coll,Colonsay and Tiree Community Councils, the Policy and Resources Committee(PAR), at its most recent meeting decided to re-tender the tender, but under EU tender rules, any resulting positive tender award can only re-commence services from 28 June 2019.

It is unclear, at this stage, what the re-tender will specify , but Tiree has to anticipate that air services to Oban may cease as of 15 May 2019.

TCC/TTF has submitted the letter below to all parties ,incl Mike Russell MSP ,and hopes for a positive outcome from this re-tender to ensure a prompt re-commencement of Oban air services.

To all parties :

Argyll Air Services.

We were obviously relieved to hear last week that the Policy and Resources Committee (PAR)decided to re-tender for the Argyll Air Service.

We do appreciate the considerable sums that Argyll and Bute Council have spent over the last decade, both on the PSO itself and the running of three airports.

We on Tiree place an extremely high value on this service for the reasons set out in our joint letter to the PAR Committee. Clearly, it would be a major step backwards if an island group such as the Inner Hebrides did not have an air service connecting it to its regional hub. We are committed to restoring the service as soon as possible after it lapses on 15 May 2019.

Our concern now, however, is that simply sending out exactly the same tender documents to the same airlines will result in the same answer: no compliant submissions to the tender.

Our feeling now is that Argyll and Bute Council should introduce additional flexibility into the second tender document to allow any potential operator to make a value for money bid, based upon their own operating and cost centre criteria. This would maximise the chances of retaining a renewed Argyll Air Service within the financial constraints agreed by the Council for the next three years.

As part of this flexibility, one proposal that you might want to consider is switching the Oban-Tiree service to a commercial basis route. On this basis, Oban-Tiree would come out of the PSO and operate in much the same way that Hebridean Air Services currently operates the Oban-Islay route. Our understanding is that passenger figures and profiles are broadly similar on the Tiree and Islay routes.

We have to say that we have been disappointed over the last two weeks by the lack of information and consultation that our community’s representatives have received from elected Council members and officials. We do understand the principles of commercial confidentiality, but we do not think we should be receiving almost all of our news from the media. We would certainly be interested to see a copy of the new tender document.

Please come back to us if you would like to discuss this further. Thank you for your work on this project,

Yours sincerely,

John MacCaskill, Chair, Tiree Transport Forum

Dr John Holliday, Convenor, Tiree Community Council

Marine Litter

Marine Litter

Stephanie Cope (TRS )  has submitted this  progress report to follow on from TCC’s  discussion  at its Dec meeting
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 Tiree Ranger Service [TRS] is currently engaged in the following actions with regard to marine litter:
1) Inviting community volunteers to become part of the project design and event planning process [see attached]:
I am seeking volunteers to create and adopt a long-term project plan for The Big Tiree Tidy; in addition to organising and running a follow-up 2019 beach cleaning event. My aim is to reduce the strain on TRS by delegating some tasks to willing and capable volunteers.
The first step will be a meeting between TRS, the new volunteers, and representatives from partner and stakeholder organisations. 
I would like to use this discussion to thrash-out some of the commonly suggested ideas, and their potential pitfalls (such as issues with the abuse of collection points at beaches; issues with beach litter being taken home and placed in holiday-let bins; the additional cost to A&BC of beach waste uplift; issues with Tiree’s capacity for sorting and recycle beach waste etc.) 
2) Producing a long-term project plan:
Once discussions have taken place, I would like to take the most feasible and island-appropriate ideas forward to draft up a long-term project strategy. TRS will then have a better sense of where financial support is required, and at what scale. 
3) Securing financial assistance:
Once these drafts are in place and we have a clearer plan, I intend to pursue grant funding to support delivery. 
In the short term, a one-off grant of ca. £500 would be sufficient to cover the cost of a single large event for 2019. In the longer term, partnership with other organisations may be required to sustain the effort into the future.
Working on the premise that TRS (and therefore TCDT) would be the organisation applying for funding, TRS would have to retain ultimate control over any activities financed by grants awarded to TRS/TCDT. 
That said, I believe that working closely with community volunteers would ensure delivery of a more considered and more appropriate project. I also believe that involving community members would aid succession once the current ranger leaves the post; increasing the longevity of this initiative. 
NGOs that TRS is currently in contact with:
– Surfers Against Sewage: I contacted SAS to register Tiree for an upcoming campaign. On doing so, I was told that the island had already been nominated. Manifestly, it would be good to ensure that effort and resources are not duplicated.
– Sea-Changers: This organisation looks like a potential source of short-term funding. TRS has two contacts in the organisation (Guy Grieve and Maya Plass). Maya will be visiting Tiree in August to lead an unrelated TRS session. 
– The GRAB Trust (Group for Recycling in Argyll and Bute): Terry Donovan plans to visit Tiree in mid-March, and has been extremely helpful and supportive so far. There appear to be some possibilities for long-term collaboration here. 
I hope this information is helpful.
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TCC thanks Steph for this report and will be actively encouraging  volunteers to contact Steph to take this initiative forward
TCC is also investigating what funding may be available from Scottish Government.
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Further to the above TCC Mike Russell MSP passed on this response he received from Scottish  Govt in reply to a direct approach to him by a Tiree visitor

Proposed ’18 Banked Flights’ Schedule – Glasgow to Tiree Air Service – 2019

Proposed ’18 Banked Flights’ Schedule – Glasgow to Tiree Air Service – 2019

TCC at its 6 Feb Meeting agreed to this  proposed schedule to be put put forward to the Tiree Transport Forum for consideration prior to formal submission to Loganair and Transport Scotland for their review. The remainder of Banked flights are the same as last year i.e. Additional Saturday flights over peak holiday seasons.

The proposed 18 Banked Additional Flights are as follows:-

1. Additional Easter Friday flight (any time) on Friday 05th April (standard 2x flights already full);
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 (Note:- Also request 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.

 

MV Clansman / MV LOTI switches

Calmac advise that the MV Lord of the Isles will commence on the Tiree service on Sunday 27th January – ie two days earlier than originally planned . This is due to the Clansman being switched earlier into the Arran service to cover an additional delay to the MV Caledonian Isles’ Dry Docking(DD )

Go to :https://www.calmac.co.uk/service-status?route=16

MV Clansman :As per CalMac’s previous advise, the MV Clansman will also be switched into the UIG triangle  for most of March whilst the MV Hebrides is in DD.

Calmac’s current advise is that this be will from ‘approximately Sat 2nd March to Tuesday 26th March ‘ and ‘expect MV Lord of the Isles to run to the published Clansman timetable.’

Tiree Linkspan/CMAL and CalMac Presentations

Tiree Linkspan/CMAL and CalMac Presentations

Click on the links below to copies of the  CMAL and CalMac presentations in An Talla on 4th Dec

 

The proposed ‘works’ period will be Feb-March 2020

If you have any queries /comments please forward them via the comment response  form on the CMAL website.

Re freight, and associated transport issues, TCC has already identified the following to be addressed.

It is not exhaustive. Any additional issues you feel need to be addressed please advise TCC.

  1. How many sailings/week are being considered

  1. Can the pallet carrier carry private cars (obviously it is possble )

  1. Transporting fuel ..is it an issue?

  1. Implications for public utilities eg BT,SSE and NHS

  1. Implication for crofters ie feed and fertiliser supply

  2. Any livestock movements possible ie in trailers?

  3. Palletisation of goods where /when and how

  1. Utilisation of mobile cranes to ‘palletise’ the Clansman

  9 Utilisation of mobile cranes to LO-LO vehicles on/off the Clansman

10 Funeral Arrangements

11 Freight groupage arrangements

Also CalMac to explore the possibility of offering a car hire package ex Oban ie ‘X days hire for price of car by ferry, with pick-up/drop off Oban pier.

 CMAL-presentation-Tiree-linkspan-refurbishment 5 Dec

CalMac-presentation-Tiree 5 Dec