South Cowal Community Council, the very model of how community participation in local government is now designed to work, is holding its second public meeting on 19th March at 7.30pm in Toward Memorial Hall.
This one, petitioned by residents and friends of the Loch Striven Community, is focused on the actions of Clydeport, in introducing a raft of six laid-up Maersk container ships to the loch without any consultation with the little community on whose toes the ships lie.
At tomorrow night’s meeting Councillor Dick Walsh, Leader of Argyll and Bute Council will be present, with appropriate senior officers. Mr Walsh had offered to facilitate a round table discussion between Clydeport and the community to resolve the issue of fitting corporate social responsibility and to build a more productive relationship between the controversial company and the local residents.
Along with Scottish Government Ministers, local and Highlands and Islands MSPs and the area’s MP, Councillor Walsh’s obviously constructive offer was ignored. Some fared worse, receiving dismissive communications from the company’s MD, Margaret Mackay which were quite shockingly rude.
The heart of this matter is the utter unaccountability of Clydeport, given statutory authority with no supervisory mechanism in a manner which raises more questions than it answers.
This is, on the evidence, a company happily running roughshod over anyone, at any level, whose good offices they do not actually require.
It is to be hoped that the matter of tomorrow night’s meeting will examine the need for legislative revision of the specific conditions of Clydeport’s statutory authority. This is particularly urgent since the company’s parent, Peel Ports, is now leading a consortium making a hostile bid for Forth Ports on the east coast of Scotland’s Central Belt.
Alongside Councillor Walsh and his colleagues tomorrow night will be two representative from the shipping line, Maersk, the pwber of the ships laid up in Loch Striven and the world’s largest freight carrier,. We understand that one of these will be a representative from the technical side of the company’s operations (noise pollution has been a major local issue with the presence of the ships). Another Maersk representative will be the skipper of the entire raft of six ships, Captain David Johnstone, now well known and much liked in the area and across the Kyles in Rothesay on the Isle of Bute.
Alan Reid, Argyll’s MP, will be there and, given his strong and quite forensic contribution to the last Public Meeting hosted by South Cowal Community Council (on Argyl and Bute Council’s proposed sale of the Castle Toward estate), more of the same will be welcome.
Clydeport, true to its modus operandi, has not replied. Transport Minister, Stewart Stevenson, has declined the invitation to attend. So too has Argyll’s MSP, Jim Mather – a matter of some surprise locally and which, from a comment posted to our original announcement of the meeting, would seem to have engendered a sense of disappointment and let down.
Everyone with an interest in this matter should be at tomorrow’s meeting, as we will be. South Cowal Community Council is taking its responsibilities serious – as it should. It is leaving no democratic deficit in everything within its control – but to complete that process, it needs to see present a strong representation from those who petitioned for this meeting.
What happened to my response to this which I posted earlier?
I have checked and the Crown Estates is the body which is in charge of Scottish waters, not the Scottish Parliament which has no powers over this issue.
Would it not have been more sensible to have held the meeting when our MSP and Transport Minister were able to come?
They will both be at the SNP Conference in Aviemore as they both have heavy government portfolios and actually can’t be two places at the one time.
However Alan Reid has no such complications and I’m sure he will be free. He’ll be able to write one of his letters.
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For David McEwan Hill: We can assure you that no earlier post came through from you on this story.
FYI: The Crown Estate has assured us that it earns no fees from the ships in Loch Striven and that it has no authority for the Port of Glasgow and the Firth of Clyde, within Clydeport’s area of statutory jurisdiction.
In British waters, any boat has the legal right of free navigation and anchorage – and the Loch Striven ships are anchored, not moored, hence the Crown Estate’s inability to charge them for use of the sea bed.
As a statutory authority in the way it was established, Clydeport is – literally – not answerable to anyone – provided it does not break the law. No Government nor Government Minister can require them to do anything they do not want to do.
It is our contention that any statutory authority in possession of such total unaccountability requires a legislative revision of status.
Clydeport is a private company driven by the profit motive – yet it has unchallenged authority over a major commercial waterway and delivers public sector responsibilities in the management of that asset. There is a worryingly significant democratic deficit in this situation which is unacceptable and must be addressed.
To the best of our knowledge, there is a precedent for the action we recommend in the case of Clydeport (and any other company with similarly unfettered statutory authority) – and that is the case of Network Rail whose position was amended after management failures were evident in a sequence of very serious rail incidents.
We also understand that this matter is, post-devolution, not a Westminster issue. The documents – which we have obtained under Freedom of Information legislation – relating to the establishment of Clydeport as a statutory authority by the Westminster government of the day, were transferred to Holyrood at the point of devolution.
So, as we understand it, this is a matter for the Scottish Government, which has the constitutional authority to deal with it; and is not a responsibility which Alan Reid would be required to pursue in the House of Commons.
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This sort of thing happened up in mid Argyll on a Forestry issue when the SNP minister and MSP were given very late notice to a meeting when they already were otherwise engaged.
Is there a pattern emerging here?
However this is a Westminster issue and I look forward to Alan Reid sorting it out.
It will be a change from him publicising problems all over the place and offering no solutions other than writing letters.
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“In British waters, any boat has the legal right of free navigation and anchorage – and the Loch Striven ships are anchored, not moored, hence the Crown Estate’s inability to charge them for use of the sea bed.”
Time for these waters to become Scottish waters AGAIN.
sorry I am not a citizen of your fine country so I should not be so political. But if I had a vote I surely would vote for a change.
watching from afar in Seattle WA
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The earlier comment appeared on your “Recent Comments” column immediately I posted it.
I think George Young (previous post) puts the point well.
I have just contacted Jim Mather and he was NOT invited to the South Cowal Community Council meeting and, as a member of the Scottish Cabinet, he is in Aviemore and would not have been able to be at it anyway.
Is this why the meeting was called for tonight?
In the sure knowledge that the MSP would not be able to attend but other politicians with a lot less to do would?
If this is a devolved matter ( and it is not as simple as that) he should have been invited and the meeting should have been timed to fit into his extremely full timetable.
That it was not is quite disgraceful and smacks of mischief.
This is not the first time this trick has been pulled.
Why was he not asked for a suitable date? He makes a point of honouring all such requests.
I suggest For Argyll asks for some evidence about this “invitation ” to Jim Mather.
This is quite important.
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For David McEwan Hill:
We have directed South Cowal Community Council (SCCC) to your comment and have asked whetehr and when Mr Mather was indeed invited to this meeting.
As our report said, it was ‘surprising’ that he should decline such as invitation as he is known to be interested and assiduous in attending such meetings.
Assuming, because he was in the platform party, that the SCCC had invited him to its last Public Meeting (on the proposed sale of Castle Toward estate by Argyll and Bute Council) it must be unlikely that it would deliberately not have invited him to this one – but we’ll publish the response from the SCCC when we get it.
On the complexity of the devolvedness of the situation with Clydeport, it will of course be just that – but we and others interested in this matter would be grateful for any specific insights and information you have on the detail of this.
And apologies that your earlier comment has hit a black hole. Please repost it. All we can suggest is that it may have been one of the knock-on glitches we’re dealing with having just managed to move the entire site to a new host without any major catastrophe.
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For David McEwan Hill 2: Re South Cowal Community Council’s invitation to Jim Mather, Argyll’s MSP, to attend.
We have now had chapter and verse and permission to publish it, from South Cowal Community Council – see below. It says that it is simply trying to do its best to do the job it was elected to do and makes a plea: ‘No politics please’.
Mr Mather was invited by the Chair, by email and in good time, on 22nd February. He let the Chair know that he was unable to be present. He offered no alternative dates, asking only to be able to monitor developments and the Community Council says that had he done so, they would have striven to accommodate his availability.
From our own knowledge of the matter, we are aware that the Community Council has had its work cut out to settle on a date, having had progressively to move away from earlier dates.
The email exchanges are as follows:
‘Good afternoon Jim,
‘May I first thank you for attending the Public Meeting on Castle Toward, last month in Innellan.
‘It’s fallen on South Cowal Community Council to organise another public meeting to discuss the situation relating to the Maersk Cold Lay-Up Raft in Loch Striven.
‘You will probably have received representations from some of the locals in South Cowal about this. I would like to call the Public Meeting for either the evening of 19th March, or the afternoon of 20th March. I wonder how you would be fixed to attend?
‘It was also my intention to extend an invitation to Stewart Stevenson as I think this would be within his Ministerial portfolio.
‘Please can you let me know if these dates would suit.
‘Many thanks, Tony Miles, Chair, South Cowal Community Council’
‘Tony,
‘I regret that I have to be in Oban on the 19th & 20th – but would be content to get the feedback from any meeting – and do what I can to help progress matters thereafter,
‘Regards, Jim’
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Apologies to SCCC and For Argyll.
As Jim is obviously not at Oban but in Aviemore 19th/20th/21st he obviously has got some dates mixed but he cant be at Innellan at the same time.
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Jim Mather attended an Argyll College event arranged some time ago at SMBA Dunstaffnage this morning and is at present meeting in Oban with constituents and representatives of organisations about renewables and heating applications- particular interest in the application of biomass for community heating – in the course of this afternoon. These were both longstanding arrangements. He is due to attend the Spring Conference of the SNP in Aviemore on Saturday/Sunday 20th/21st March where he has speaking engagements.
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it should be possible for the local msp to be in oban in the afternoon and toward at 7.30 in the evening of the same day .
the problem appears to be the snp pre-election love in at aviemore.
as usual nationalist politicians are more interested in promoting the break up of the united kingdom than dealing with constituents concerns .
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Isnt Tony Miles the Secretary of the Argyll Liberal Democrats? So much for no politics please, smells fishy – again!
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For mablear: To be fair to Tony Miles – and everyone is allowed a personal and private political stance – read the email exchange between him and Jim Mather.
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