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