Monthly Archives: March 2009

Now National Trust for Scotland has to shed staff

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The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has just announced that the economic downturn leaves it facing a reduction in staffing level to save costs. With falling revenues in visitors, donors and memberships, it has to reduce its costs to ensure that the charity will be able to deliver on its plans for the future.

Staff were informed yesterday (5th March) that cost saving measures, including likely job losses, are required across the whole organisation.

As many reductions as possible are to be sought through natural wastage and a voluntary redundancy programme. However it is anticipated there may be in the region of 91 full time posts lost in 2009/10, with recruitment of new seasonal staff at the Trust’s properties put on hold whilst a reduction of overall seasonal hours is achieved.

A staff consultation period will begin next week and will include regular meetings with the relevant trade union, Prospect. The union has been kept fully informed about developments over the past weeks and months.

All parts of the charity will be streamlined, including changes to some loss-making properties. Summing up the Trust’s current challenges and the announcement of job losses, Chief Executive Kate Mavor said: ‘Like most organisations the Trust has been considerably affected by the recession and we accept we have to respond to the economic conditions by making these cost savings.

‘Inevitably this includes reducing our staffing levels and doing everything we can to ensure the charity is more efficient if we are to have a sustainable future.

‘Today’s proposed job losses are very regrettable but as staffing accounts for 50% of our operating expenditure, we must inevitably face the prospect of redundancies.

‘Whilst we have taken some very difficult decisions, we are convinced that this is the right thing to do to secure the long term viability of the Trust’.

For Argyll should have news later today on how some of the Trust’s properties will be affected.

Argyll leads groundbreaking SNH and SEPA research into interaction of tidal turbines and marine life

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Sea Gen tidal turbine StrangfordThe Scottish Association of Marine Sciences (SAMS) at Dunstaffnage – whose annual Open Day is this Saturday (7th March) – is to lead groundbreaking research commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA).

This three year project will investigate the interaction between tidal turbines and marine life. Its purpose is to assist the Scottish Government to realise the economic and environmental potential of marine renewable energy resources without coming into conflict with protected species.

SNH’s role is to help developers and planners to develop the sector in a way that avoids conflict with protected wildlife and habitats.

The research will specifically focus on the background noise levels in areas being considered for tidal energy development, as well as the noise made by tidal turbines.  It will also explore the extent to which marine animals, particularly protected species, can detect and, potentially, avoid colliding with these devices.

SAMS, in collaboration with the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) in Orkney, has developed a novel method of measuring sound in areas of strong tidal flow. This expertise is clearly crucial to the project.

In theory it is possible for marine energy developments to impact on some species during construction, installation and operation.  However, little is known about what these impacts might be, as there are few devices installed anywhere in the world and little in the way of existing scientific research to refer to.  This is the driver of the research initiative announced.

The project underlines the serious engagement of Scotland with renewable energy development in which it intends to be a world leader. The early initiation of such a research will mean that decisions taken by the Governemnt and the planners will be better informed from the outset.

The expertise resulting from the research itself will help to estbalish the authority of Scotland’s position in the field.

SAMS’ Marine ecologist, Dr Ben Wilson, who will be supervising the project, says: ‘This is an exciting opportunity to contribute to both sustainable marine energy extraction and conservation.

‘Scotland is rapidly becoming a magnet for the companies developing devices to capture energy from tidal currents. These
machines however will have to share the sea with vulnerable and protected species like whales, seals and fish. Understanding how these animals will perceive and behave around underwater turbines is a mystery but sound will undoubtedly be the most important sense for them, particularly at night and in murky water.

‘Knowing what the natural sound-scape is like in prospective tidal energy sites and the noise output of different devices will help us identify those devices that marine animals will most easily move around without harm.

‘With this understanding we will be better able to promote those machines that have the most gentle ecological footprints’.

This project is a reminder of the high level expertise existing at SAMS in Argyll. Together with the significant resources here for tidal energy harnessing, this indicates a strong area of future economic development for Argyll.

The photograph above shows Sea Gen, the world’s first tidal stream generator now operating in Northern Ireland;s Srangford Lough. The wake demonstrates the power of the tidal current. The photograph is reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.

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UK Government may start printing money today

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They call it quantitative easing and they say they won’t actually be running the prsses at De La Rue where the notes are printed, but this is effectively what is about to be done.

The Bank of England is expected to cut interest rates to 0.5% today and to start ‘increasing the money supply’, ‘quantitative easing’ or ‘printing money’ – it’s all the same thing. The amount concerned is £150 BILLION. We’re using capitals to emphasise this because the sheer scale of Government borrowing since Autumn 2008 has been so vast that we now hardly notice that these days the figures are always in BILLIONS. This itself is – subtly and profoudly – inflationary.

Japan is the most recent country to have tried printing money – around the turn of this century when its economy was facing a deep recession. The impact of this has not yet been fully assesssed but the most that can be said is that it had no more than a limited success. This underscores the sense that the Westminster Government is simply trying anything and that this is Brown’s fiscal version of Custer’s last stand

A serious problem is that the two actions expected today – lowering the interest rate even further and starting to print money – will see the value of people’s savings markedly affected. This tends to hit hardest those who have retired and have no opportunity to make up the shortfall in their slender personal cushions against hardship.

And this matters a lot in Argyll with its population skewed towards the upper age range.

HIE Creative Industries offers 10 places at 2009 Celtic Media Festival’s Green Light New Entrant strand

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Do you work in the Creative Industries in Argll? Would you like to go to the Green Light New Entrant strand of the 2009 Celtic Media Festival at Caernarfon in North Wales from 25th – 27th March?

HIE’s Creative Team has 10 free places to offer. There is likely to be a lot of interest and the race is to the swift. Phone Amanda Millen, Development Producer at HIE, on her mobile: 07887 605 062

The event provides an serious opportunity to meet and leave your mark on commissioners, programme makers and broadcast industry professionals.

The places offered include:

  • registration as a delegate for Green Light, with access to all the sessions, key notes and workshops at Green Light and the main festival programme
  • lunch on all three days of the festival
  • entrance to the Gala Dinner on Friday 27th March
  • accommodation (room only) on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings of the festival – and depending on when you’re travelling,  this could include Tuesday.

NOTE: Talk to Amanda MIllen about travel. Some travel will be booked in advance depending on most effective mode of carriage. No travel independently organised or booked is refundable.

You will meet all all other costs yourself.

Helensburgh and Lomond Real Ale Festival

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Helensburgh and Lomond Real Ale Festival will run for the third time on 22nd May (7.00pm – 11.00pm) and 23rd May (2.00pm – 10.00pm) in Helensburgh’s Victoria Hall.

In the best traditions of the renowned real ale festival it is fast becoming, its programme adds food and music to the ale. You need the food to counter the impact of the ale and the ale makes the musc seem twice as good. The formula’s a winner.

Tickets are £5.00 but you can get a discount by pre-registering via the festival website (linked above). Helensburgh and District Round Table organise the event, donating profits to local good causes.

LIghthouse Caledonia EGM clears the way for survival

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The Lighthouse Caledonia Extraordinary General Meeting on 3rd March agreed and approved all of the actions put to it and described in our last report. This means that the positio of the company has been stabilised, which is good news for its operations in Argyll.

Slate, Sea and Sky – Norman Bissell in Helensburgh

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Norman Bissel is giving a reading and slide show (photographs by Oscar Marzaroli) – at 7.30pm on 5th March at Helensburgh Library.

The readings will take you on a poetic journey with Norman,from his native Glasgow into other places of the external and internal worlds until he arrives finally at Argyll’s Atlantic island of Luing.

On the way he finds humour and beauty in city life and fresh inspiration in lichen circles, playful wildlife and a slate quarry village by the sea (no prizes for guessing where that might be – but you’re allowed s sneaky skim).

After the reading and a question and answer session, Norman will sign copies of his book.

To reserve a place at Helensburgh Library contact: 01436 674626

This event is supported by Live Literature Scotland

Slate, Sea and Sky, Norman Bissell in Rothesay

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Norman Bissel is giving a reading and slide show (photographs by Oscar Marzaroli) – at 7.30pm on 4t March at Rothesay Library.

The readings will take you on a poetic journey with Norman,from his native Glasgow into other places of the external and internal worlds until he arrives finally at Argyll’s Atlantic island of Luing.

On the way he finds humour and beauty in city life and fresh inspiration in lichen circles, playful wildlife and a slate quarry village by the sea (no prizes for guessing where that might be – but you’re allowed s sneaky skim).

After the reading and a question and answer session, Norman will sign copies of his book.

To reserve a place at Rothesay Library contact: 01700 503266.

This event is supported by Live Literature Scotland.

ForArgyll month-on-month traffic growth continues

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We’ve just had our monthly traffic stats – always an occasion for excitement. The news is that ForArgyll’s growth performance continues with a 16.17% rise in daily unique visitors between January and February 2009 – February’s daily average was recorded at 1013.

Hits can be an unreliable measure of performance – because hits are the number of file calls and some pages have more than a hundred per page impression. But people do use hits as some sort of benchmark – which is why we published our hits for the month of January – which were 1,043,011.