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MINUTE of ISLAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING 3Rd September 2013 – Service Point, Bowmore

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MINUTE of ISLAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING 3Rd September 2013 – Service Point, Bowmore MINUTE OF ISLAY COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING 3rd September 2013 – Service Point, Bowmore ICC Members Present: Glen Roberts - Chair GR Islay McEachern IM Geunda Young GY David Boyd DB Ina Glover IG Alastair Redman AR Argyll & Bute Council: Cllr Robin Currie RC David Ferrier – Area Roads Engineer DF Islay Energy Trust Philip Maxwell PM Flora McLean FM Transport Scotland Judith Ainsley – Head of Ferries Policy and Contracts JA Cheryl Murrie – Ferries Policy Officer CM Calmac Brian Fulton – Operations Director BF Simon Richmond – Area Operations Manager SR Karen Sumner – Interim Head of Customer Contact KS Police Sergeant Cammy Rae CR Apologies: Hamish Campbell, John McGillivray, Roberta McNeill, Cllr Anne Horn and Gary Parker of Scottish Power Renewables Action 1. Welcome – Glen Roberts opened the meeting and noted apologies from Hamish Campbell, John McGillivray, Roberta McNeill, Cllr Anne Horn and Gary Parker of SPR. He also welcomed members of the general public who numbered 7. 2. Minutes of the ICC Meeting of 3rd June 2013 - The minutes of this meeting were agreed as a true record and were adopted, being proposed by David Boyd and seconded by Geunda Young. 3. Matters Arising – there were none. 4. Treasurer’s Report – As John McGillivray was not present at the meeting, the report could not be submitted. 5. Renewables Sub-Group – Philip Maxwell was present to provide information on the upcoming planning application (end September) by SPR for the Sound of Islay Tidal Project sub-station. He took the opportunity to introduce Flora McLean who took up her post on 2nd September 2013, as IET’s replacement Tidal Project Officer. 1 It was noted that RC did not wish to participate in discussion of this Agenda item as it concerned Planning issues. The following is a summary of the proposed works: As part of the Sound of Islay Tidal Project, the electricity generated by the turbines located in the Sound of Islay will be transmitted by cables to a landing point on the Dunlossit Estate about 3 kilometres east of Ballygrant. ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) propose to build and operate an electricity substation at this location. The substation will be sited immediately adjacent to the existing overhead electricity line which connects Islay and Jura via the sub-sea cable. The electricity will be cabled from the substation to this existing electricity line. There is an existing private access track from the public highway down to the substation site. This will be upgraded and a new section built in order to transport the building materials and electricity transformers to site. The substation site will be leased from the Dunlossit Estate. The substation’s location was chosen so that it would be adjacent to the existing Islay / Jura electricity line and could easily connect into that line. Environmental surveys were carried out to ensure the site is suitable, and SNH was consulted. The substation compound will accommodate a control building and transformers. Given that the site sits close to the shoreline, SPR engaged landscape architects to advise on how the facility could sit in the landscape with minimal visual impact including views from the ferry route and Jura. They advised on the colour for the buildings, screen mounding on the seaward side and tree planting. SPR has accepted this advice and will incorporate it into the planning application for the substation which it intends to submit to Argyll & Bute Council later this month. SPR will issue a copy of the landscape architect’s report to the community council when the planning application is submitted. A comprehensive visualisation will be made available to ICC and the general FM public. Meetings are scheduled with SNH and RSPB to finalise the application. Upon receipt of consent, the first turf is likely to be cut later in 2014. It was pointed out that although it was apparent from the visualisations shown to the meeting that care has been taken to ensure that the sub-station will impact minimally on the landscape, further care should be taken with choosing the correct trees (suitable for the ground available) for screening purposes and a maintenance programme for these be accounted for. AR requested reassurance that local benefits would accrue from the SOI Tidal Project and PM responded by confirming that an estimated £0.5million of development monies had been spent on Islay over the previous 4-years on salaries for local people and other associated local expenditure. PM also confirmed that within the Environmental Statement forming part of the Section 36 application (Scottish Government consent for marine projects) SPR had committed to paying local benefits, although details had yet to be 2 negotiated. 6. Transport Scotland / Calmac – JA thanked ICC for the opportunity to attend the meeting and explained that subsequent to the publication of the Ferries Plan, Transport Scotland was keen to seek further views from the community. To this end, a further meeting was planned with the South Islay Development Trust for 4th September 2013. Meetings had also been held earlier in the day with Jura Community Council and other representatives. GR noted that Alice Stewart, who heads up the ICC Ferries Sub-Group was absent from the meeting. GR requested questions from Community Councillors and members of the public present. Questions regarding the inadequacies of the current Calmac booking system, freight services, Winter timetable, MV Finlaggan and the stand-by arrangements which have all previously been addressed, were brought up again. BF gave the following update: o Calmac acknowledges the constraints of the existing reservation system and the difficulties it causes the Islay residents and potential tourists. The replacement reservation system is now at the procurement stage o Implementing an incentive scheme and/or a separate freight service is being investigated o The Winter timetable currently schedules 16 sailings from/to Port Ellen and 9 from/to Port Askaig. ICC requested that a better balance be sought (50/50) which would also benefit Jura residents o BF confirmed that due to a change of ferries and routes in the Outer Hebrides, MV Finlaggan will be serving Islay for Winter 13/14 o There was a groundswell of opinion that the stand-by system should revert to a ‘first booked, first on’ scenario, as opposed to ‘first car in the queue, first on’. The former was felt to be eminently fairer. The following points were raised by ICC and public attendees: . Calmac should aim for better communication with the community and it was suggested that it publicise its plans, using the Ileach to do so. It was regrettable that Transport Scotland/Calmac had not publicised their visit and RC flagged up his disappointment that rather than having one comprehensive meeting, TS and Calmac had chosen to have separate meeting with Port Askaig, ICC and SIDT. JA responded by pointing out that in her view, small meetings encouraged people to speak freely who might otherwise feel constrained at a large gathering. The ‘one meeting’ approach had been tried previously and proved unsuccessful. The situation of a ferry being berthed at Port Ellen from midday to 3 6pm still obtains and this is viewed by the public as a waste. Why cannot multiple tickets now be bought? . Why cannot OAPs complete their booking for car and passenger tickets on-line? . The question was asked as to why the Saturday sailing to Colonsay could not continue on to Oban. BF advised that this was not possible due to ‘hours of rest’ issues within the current timetabling. The organisation and marshalling process at Port Ellen requires attention. BF noted that Wi-Fi will soon be available on vessels RC requested that the ICC Ferry Sub-Group convene at the earliest opportunity and JA noted that Transport Scotland would be happy to attend Ferry User Group meetings if invited. GR concluded by stating that although the general feeling of the community seems to be one of relative contentment with the service offered by Calmac, there is always room for improvement. He thanked TS and Calmac for attending this meeting. 7. Planning – Met mast on Orsay – see below in AOB 8. Roads a. Capital Works – The programme for 2014 is currently being finalised with network and other roads being weighted and prioritised. This can be over-ridden when required if a case is put by ICC and/or the community. The draft programme will be publicised in due course. The A847, Bridgend to Portnahaven works are almost complete. Phase 2 from the Finlaggan turn to Ballygrant and work on the Low road are up-coming. Loch Gorm and Sanaig will be surface-dressed when money is released from the more major road repairs b. Repairs - DB reported the dreadful state of the edge of the road on the corner by the Smiddy between Bridgend and Bowmore. DF advised that trial patching has been carried out using the new tar machine and a decision will be taken as to whether this system could provide a suitable alternative to the previous cold-patching method. AR reported that Portnahaven residents are pleased with the tarring which has been carried out by the new machine, and also the handrail DF which has been installed c. Signage – ICC acknowledged the fitting of the Bridgend 30MPH signs. DF was asked to provide signs for Saligo and Kilchoman, warning of the dangers of swimming in those waters. DF agreed to deal with this IG and RC offered to help with the budget needed to carry out this work d. Recycled Aggregate – IG reported that Re-JIG are carrying out a study on the use of recycled glass as an aggregate and she will inform DF of the result 4 9.
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