For 2012, nothing in this has changed.

The new programme sees short films, sculpture and works on paper located within the historic interior and collections at Mount Stuart.

These focus on contemplation and exploration, working together to bring into play the natural refuge of ‘islandness’  and the cultural diversity of Mount Stuart House.

Until we have experienced the specific works for ourselves we can say nothing about them independently, but they include:

Peninsula – by Ian Bourn conjuring changing ‘coastlines’ visually and symbolically. Ian Bourn is also creating a unique video installation specially designed for Mount Stuart and specific to its island location.

A Dance of Ownership, a Song in Hand – is a newly edited version by Skaer for Mount Stuart of the quite wonderful film commissioned by Siobhan Davies Dance, and made in 2011 on St Kilda and in Mount Stuart in collaboration with the late dancer and choreographer Gill Clarke. The work is inspired by the Mount Stuart family’s close relationship with St Kilda, which Lord Dumfries, later 5th Marquess of Bute, bought in 193, after the 1930 evacuation – and subsequently left to the National Trust for Scotland.

Communion – a short film by Nina Danino – a portrait of a young girl in the style of  Billy Williams, BSC Oscar winning cinematographer in 35mm and reminiscent of the photography of Hollywood stars.

What is the work of love today? – by Kate Davis, inspired by documentation recording the brief transformation of Mount Stuart to a naval hospital, offering care and sanctuary to military patients during the First World War.

We will be reporting on these exciting works when the new programme is launched in the third week of June 2012.

The Argyll First group of councillors – invited to address today’s hearing by the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee of their Sign for the A83 petition,  are ‘extremely delighted’ at how things went.

Councillor Dougie Philand, who gave the main address, said that found ‘the strong  level of support by members of the committee’ very reassuring.

The petition will now move to the next stave where the committee will call upon Transport Secretary, Keith Brown, to answer the questions raised at the meeting.

Political support: Michael Russell MSP

Michael Russell, MSP for Argyll and Bute, attended the meeting in support and afterwards said: ‘This is a very important petition and I was very pleased to be able to attend the committee and speak in its support.

‘The three Argyll First councillors presented a strong  case on behalf of the entire Argyll community and they got  a sympathetic hearing.

‘There was clear cross party support for continued and increased  investment in the route and for learning the outcomes of the present study being undertaken by Transport Scotland.

‘I will continue to argue for the major work that is required , support the local campaign for that work and I hope today has marked a major step forward in that regard. ‘

Political support: Jamie McGrigor MSP

Jamie McGrigor, Highlands and Islands MSP, who was present at the hearing in support of Argyll First and spoke in defence of the petition, praised the Councillors who have co-ordinated the petition, noting that Public Petitions Committee members agreed to ask the Transport Minister to come before them and respond to the petition at a future meeting.

Speaking at the Committee in support of the petitioners, Jamie McGrigor MSP said in his address:

‘The A83 is as important to the people of Argyll & Bute as the M8 is to the people of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

‘Since the first major landslide closed the road at the Rest & Be Thankful in October 2007 I have been lobbying Ministers to recognise the damage that closures of this trunk road route could cause the economy  of Argyll & Bute due to Dunoon, Cowal and Campbeltown and Kintyre becoming cut off by road except via a lengthy and unacceptable detour. Everything possible must be done by government and its agencies to prevent landslides at the landslide-prone Rest & Be Thankful section of the road- this may well involve significant capital investment.

‘Further, the condition of the road, particularly on the de-trunked section of the A83 south of Kennacraig, is incredibly poor and this acts as a barrier to the investment the government and its agencies are trying to attract to Campbeltown and Kintyre.

‘I congratulate the petitioners today on bringing forward their petition and for securing so much popular and business support for it. I now look to the Committee members to take the petition forward and help maintain pressure on Ministers on this critically important subject.’

Back home…

When the group got back to Argyll, Councillor Donald Kelly said of the occasion:

‘We felt that our petition was very well received by the committee and that the cross party support displayed by Mike Russell, Jamie Mc Grigor  and Rhoda Grant helped to re-enforce our message.

‘The government are currently recognising three component parts of the petition namely:

• the Rest and Be Thankful
• the pinch points at Inverary and between Ardrishaig and Tarbert
• and the provision of safe crossing points at the villages of Ardrishaig and Tarbert.

‘The Fourth point we have raised as part of the petition is trunking of the road between  Kennacraig and Campbeltown.

‘At present no action has been taken regarding this issue.

‘This is  key to the future economic development of the Kintyre peninsula given that the First Minister has already stated that the Windtowers factory at Machrihanish will be a key player in the development of renewable energy.

‘It must also be considered that the current condition of the road is impacting on Tourism local business Hauliers and the emergency services.

‘It is our intention to continue with this campaign until there is a firm plan of action in place to address all four issues raised in the petition.’

The persistence of the Argyll First group on this matter has been both admirable and effective. The challenge now is to maintain attention and pressure to keep the addressing of this issue moving in to action.

With the incoming coalition administration proposing to appoint Councillor Donald Kelly of Argyll First, to the Roads brief, the situation of the A83 is unlikely to drop from view by default.

The photograph above shows Councillor Donald Kelly (left), with Councillor John McAlpine, outside the Scottish Parliament earlier today.

There is a statutory standstill period of ten days between the appointment of a preferred bidder and the letting of the contract, which will therefore take effect on 15th May.

The plan is for Serco Ltd to take over the ferry services for the Northern Isles this summer.

An immediate question is where this leaves NorthLink, the state-owned subsidiary of the state-owned David MacBrayne Ltd – because the state owned company has been the loser in the bidding process for a state-issued contract.

The NorthLink ships are owned and leased by the Royal Bank of Scotland. The lease will be taken up by Serco, seeing the ships and the NorthLink brand continue as the public and familiar presence of the service. NorthLink staff are to transfer to Serco under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) regulations.

The corporate entity that is NorthLink will either be brought to an end or be confined to limbo as an empty envelope.

Reading the reception of the announcement in a range of online news services for Orkney and Shetland, the change of provider seems of little real account locally. There is neither celebration nor complaint. This would seem to wrong foot suggestions that the making of the announcement of the change on the day after actual voting in the Scottish local authority elections was politically inspired.

The reasons for such suspicion, however, are real enough with the quite disgracefully prolonged withholding of the announcement of the change of the Dunoon-Gourock route to a passenger only service until after the Scottish parliamentary elections ion 2011. This was a shoddy little political dodge dating from the political stone age we seem reluctant to leave behind. It was painfully transparent. It fooled no one. But when matters progressed  – after the Scottish parliamentary election – as they were clearly destined to do, public distaste and anger at the attempt to deceive for advantage has not dispersed. What goes around…

It is this precedent that is setting the imperative for conspiracy theorists to be alert to imaginary as much as real moves of a similar kind. And who can blame them?

In this case, we feel that there is an agenda but not one tied to the short term political advantage of avoiding dissent at the local polls.

 The future of Scottish ferry services

On the Northern Isles services, Transport Minister, Keith Brown, in making the announcement, suggested that the new contractor will address problems arising in the service of the existing contractor, saying: ‘The needs of vital time sensitive freight exports like fish and seasonal livestock and vital imports like supermarket goods will be met, and the services available for passengers will be improved.

‘Passengers will see improvements to the journey experience with improved ticketing arrangements, premium reclining seats added on board overnight services, and improved catering, hospitality and customer care facilities.

‘Crucially, clear commitments that crossing times, including the 90 minute crossing between Scrabster and Stromness, will also be retained.’

This last can only indicate that the possibility of saving fuel costs by sailing more slowly had been on the cards. This seems a strange give-away in days when environmental cost is a real issue and bunker oil, a major pollutant which remains legal, is the cheapest and therefore the fuel of choice of shipping and ferry companies.

The issues to be improved, in addition to those Mr Brown mentioned, include time out for dry docking and what appears to have been the North link practice of using one of the two Shetland boats, Hrossey and Hjaltland, to cover the Orkney route when the Hamnavoe is in dry dock. Serco is to use a replacement ship on the Orkney route on such occasions, leaving the Shetland route unimpaired.

In practice, as detailed above, there appears to be little change. NorthLink pays for its use of the various piers and harbours to their respective owners and Serco will do the same. Aberdeen and Scrabster are owned by harbour trusts and Orkney and Shetland by their respective councils.

The general sense, smoothly transmitted, is that things will carry on as before – only better. Hence the calm local response to the news of the change of provider.

However, the promised savings to the taxpayer will have to come from somewhere and with crossing times now sacrosanct, there is going to be no reduction in fuel usage to set against rising fuel costs.

The use of a replacement ship to cover dry docking of the mainline ships will cost over and above the current running costs and the costs of the investment to be made in ship facilities and passenger comfort will be expected to be recoverable from somewhere.

Overall, there is something strange about this arrangement.

If the Serco proposal is to save the taxpayer money and return a profit for its shareholders, something has to give. Its business plan cannot but impact on staffing levels at some later stage after the TUPE transfer. And if crossing times are to remain ‘as is’, service frequencies may have to change. Oil is not going to get cheaper.

Serco may be a private sector company but it is one with first class linkages and access to governments. A 2006 Guardian article famously described Serco as ‘the biggest company you have never heard of’.

A sense of the company’s scale of operations and its hard wired links to government are evident in that article’s opening paragraphs: ‘Have you recently travelled on a train in northern England? Or on London’s Docklands Light Railway? Or perhaps been caught by a speed camera?

‘If the answer to any of these questions was yes – or you have spent any time in custody or the armed forces – chances are you have dealt with the support services company Serco. With almost 48,000 people helping to service 600 largely public-sector contracts around the world, Serco is probably the biggest company you’ve never heard of.’

Serco is not a natural choice as a ferry operator since the only ferry service it can point to in its portfolio is London’s Woolwich Ferry. This is a 10 minute 2-boat shuttle service straight across the Thames linking Woolwich and North Woolich 0 and the ends of the two inner London orbital road routes: the North and South Circulars.

Like NorthLink, the Woolwich Ferry is a public sector financed and licensed service and in our view, such operations are not what is generally understood by private sector enterprises. These are no more than arms-length and deniable public sector services. They lack exposure to the level of risk associated with the private sector.

Serco is already well known to the Scottish Government through its presence in Scotland, not least in its support services to Royal Navy ships. It also already runs Scatsta Airport on Shetland.

We feel that the reason for this contract award may indicate a government strategy to start moving the provision of ferry services out of what is effectively an in-house operation.

Serco is a ‘trusty’ – experienced in logistics and in military-level organisation, big and reliable. If you were a government on a mission to offload, this would be a good partner to trial a handover.

It is highly unlikely that a company like Serco would get involved in this if it were the total sum of the possibilities.

With the west coast ferry services, the Clyde and Hebridean routes, still facing possible ‘unbundling’ – ceasing to be a unitary service delivered by a single provider, it would be naive to imagine that Serco does not have its eye on that opportunity. It would be equally naive to assume that the Scottish Government is not aware of this and that the possibility of Serco involvement has not been discussed.

External evidence indicates that CalMac is aware of a very real threat to its operations and is set on doing all it can to resist.

It has recently appointed a new Managing Director whose background is in business management but not with a maritime focus.

CalMac is a very experienced company at knowing how to run the sharp end of its operation so this appointment looks very like a conscious attempt to get its business proposition in good competitive tune. The recent appointment for a replacement for the David MacBrayne group’s retiring Finance Director has been made at a level to suggest again a mustering of the right resources to compete with authority – and a determination to do so.

Looking at the overall picture sketched above, we see a battleground developing over the Clyde estuary and Hebridean ferry services in which Serco may play the part of a basking shark, swimming with its mouth open but leaving the odd side snack afloat for local players to grab.

Interesting times.

The newbies in the portfolio are the Berwickshire Coastal Path, the Rob Roy Way and the Great Glen Canoe Trail.

Stretching from the Borders to the Highlands, the trails provide opportunities to explore some of the best of the country’s landscapes and nature by foot, bike, horseback and canoe – on well marked, high quality routes.

The Great Glen Canoe Trail makes it possible for people to paddle from coast to coast between Fort William and Inverness and see the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness from a totally different perspective.

The Rob Roy Way, running between Drymen and Pitlochry, follows the tracks and paths used by the notorious outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The most southerly of the three, the Berwickshire Coastal Path,  follows one of the most spectacular coastlines in Britain. Linking Cockburnspath to Berwick-on-Tweed, it takes in dramatic cliff top scenery complete with arches, stacks and crumbling castles.

Pete Rawcliffe, People and Places Manager (why do organisations opt for such absurd titles?) at Scottish Natural Heritage, which oversees the Scottish Great Trails, says: ‘In Scotland we’re very lucky to have so many long distance trails running through some of our finest scenery, so it’s great to add another three routes to ‘Scotland’s best’. The trails offer people the chance to go out and enjoy the countryside close to where they live as well as exploring further afield. And the beauty of these trails is that you can just dip in for short trips as well as going the whole distance.’

Riddell Graham, Director of Partnerships at VisitScotland, says: ‘VisitScotland is delighted to be working closely with Scottish Natural Heritage and other interested countryside partners in the development and promotion of ‘Scotland’s Great Trails’. As we prepare to celebrate the Year of Natural Scotland in 2013, as part of our Winning Years programme, the addition of three new routes will add greatly to the visitor appeal of the extensive paths network already in place and provide great opportunities for tourism businesses to benefit from the natural experience on their doorstep.’

The trails

Here is a downloadable map showing the location of the trails, which are:

• Annandale Way
• Ayrshire Coastal Path
• Berwickshire Coastal Path
• Borders Abbeys Way
• Cateran Trail1500
• Clyde Walkway
• Dava Way
• Fife Coastal Path
• Formartine & Buchan Way
• Forth-Clyde/Union Canal Towpath
• Great Glen Canoe Trail
• Great Glen Way
• John Muir Way
• Kintyre Way
• Moray Coastal Trail
• River Ayr Way
• Rob Roy Way
• Speyside Way
• Southern Upland Way
• St Cuthbert’s Way (cross-border)
• Three Lochs Way
• West Highland Way
• West Island Way

Three of these and part of a fourth are in Argyll and the Isles – the Kintyre Way, the Three Lochs Way (approximately Helensburgh to Arrochar) and the West Island Way (Bute). The fourth is part of the West Highland Way. There is also the Cowal Way, which is a great trail, even if it is not one of the Great Trails.

What makes a ‘Scotland’s Great Trail’?

The 23 routes promoted as Scotland’s Great Trails meet the following criteria:

• a continuous, clearly identifiable and appropriately waymarked route betweendefined start and end points (or defined access points in the case of circular routes)
• largely off-road (generally no more than 20-30% should be on roads)
• at least 40 km/ 25 miles and have potential for multi-day journeys by foot, bikeand/or horse, or canoe
• offer at least a basic range of visitor services, with information on the route, facilities and services available for users in appropriate formats
• offer opportunities to appreciate the natural, cultural and historic interest of the area through which it passes
• designed, maintained and managed with user experience as a key consideration.

The list will be reviewed annually. Other routes are under development and may be added to the list in the future.

Further information

Information on each of Scotland’s Great Trails is available here from the dedicated website.

Further information about Scotland’s Great Trails, including information about events, can be found on this page at the Scottish Natural Heritage website.

Toda’s Buteman is evidently carrying – at the top left of its front page – an advertisement encouraging people to vote on 3rd May for candidate Peter Wallace.

This position is evidently where Mr Wallace normally pays for an advertisement for his business.

Those making enquiries are interested in the rules governing newspapers in the run up to an election and the absence from The Buteman of advertisements for any other candidate.

The short answer is that, having chosen to be an online news service, we have  no idea what the rules are for newspapers.

But a common sense interpretation has to be that newspapers may accept whatever advertisement they are paid to carry. Each candidate may spend up to a given limit in self-promotion during an election campaign and if they were able, in both budget and staying withing the spending limits, to commission  a prominent  advertisement of any size, there would no reason why any newspaper would not simply deliver that service.

The Buteman would obviously have no control whatsoever over how candidates allocated their campaign budgets – so the absence of any other candidate  from the advertisements in the paper can be due only to other candidates choosing to spend their promotional budgets differently.

The Buteman and its editor are experienced in this matter and would not get it wrong.

There’s a lot of fun at EXPO – but what everyone’s waiting to here is how Argyll and the Isles Tourism hit the ground on the first day of their first EXPO.

They were a class act.

The set was clever – using two banks of stalls, each opened up into one and opposite each other. This allowed them to colonise a substantial whack of space and make it their own. Then, because each side was completely open to visitors, it created a single shared space that included the aisle. There was no ‘them and us’ about the way the space worked, it was all-inclusive and, as soon as you came round the corner at the cross roads of the aisle, it felt like party time.

On one side were all of the mainland areas of Argyll. Facing it were all the island destinations – each with an upcurving skycloth overhead.. Visitors could journey by foot-ferry from one to the other at will.

People were handing out tasty niblets of Food From Argyll. We heard offers of a dram. Each of the mainland and island areas had a crescent wooden food bar at one end, curving in to the space not facing outwards. It invited you in.

At the far end of each of the two spaces were low white timber-slatted tables and chairs – shouting summer – for meetings which then didn’t look like meetings as much as a chill out.

The AIT purple T-shirts were everywhere, their backs emblazoning some of the big USPs of Argyll and the Isles.

Doing the business

Mike Story said proudly that at the early briefing this morning, an hour before the doors opened, every single member of the team was there. Boy did they work hard.

With 52 buyers booked in before the off, spread across the two days – by lunchtime today they had had sessions with around 150, all of whom wanted more information about Argyll and the Isles.

Everywhere you looked there were business conversations going on. All of the reps from the various local marketing groups were busy selling the umbrella brand of Argyll and the Isles.

One team is manning the bridge today and another tomorrow, sharing the experience, the learning, the thrills and the buzz. And there was quite a buzz.

The mass attack on the space gave Argyll and the Isles a real presence. You couldn’t miss it.

Paul Graham from Islay couldn’t keep the smile off his face as he flew between business meetings. Fergus Younger from Food From Argyll had the look of a man who had seen the dream. David Currie from Mull kept his head down and worked on.

Brigeen Mullen (below left, with Stuart Green from Argll and Bute Cuncil), new Marketing Manager for Portavadie Marina, made her first appearance at the event. As we talked, she described her first visit to Portavadie, on the day of her interview. It was typically grey and wet – yet she found it stunningly beautiful (it is). She rang her husband to say that if it was like this on a bad day, what would it be like with the sun. And then she saw the marina resort itself. Anyone who has been there will find it easy to know how she felt.

She described the whole journey as a rainbow with Portavadie at the end of it. Not hard to see why she’s in marketing – and this wasn’t even a conscious branding image. It was lurve.

This was a good day for her to start – as a member of a team now up, running and loving it. It is this teamsense that Argyll has needed and now has.

Councillor Neil Mackay (below right) was a very happy man. He knew he should really have been out knocking doors today, with the council election coming up on 3rd May – but he had to come and see and be part of the hard business launch of an initiative he has believed in for three years.

New Chair, Calum Ross (above left) and Vice Chair Mike Story were here, there and everywhere, in business meetings, talking to the individual stallholders from Argyll, networking – with more to come tonight.

They were delighted at the way the enterprise was going – and were celebrating Mike Story’s gambit in booking 12 stalls this morning for the 2013 event. It was 67% sold out a few days ago. By lunchtime today it was 93% sold so the gamble in advance booking was very well timed.

Part of the resources Argyll and the Isles had prepared was a ‘Locator Card’. This was an inspired idea and an inclusive one that promoted all of the Argyll businesses individually present at the event. On one side it listed them with their stall numbers – and on the reverse it flagged up these stall numbers on a floor plan.

Next year a lot of the individual stalls will join the phalanx of a presence centred on the Argyll and the Isles area. From what we saw in a scout around today, nowhere else in Scotland is doing anything like it.

We caught VisitScotland’s Chair, Mike Cantlay, avoiding a happily wandersome giant Famous Grouse and cheekily suggested that an early visit to Aisle K would lift the spirits.

Checking out the display talent

Then we had a look at other stalls to pick up some dos and don’ts.

Aberdeen City and Shire had an open spread of stalls similar to one of Argyll and the Isles’ two. But while the space was open they had placed efficient desks at the front of it. Mistake. This made it like a retail area at an airport – with a semblance of openness denied by the presence of sales staff behind tills.

This felt very different from the Argyll and the Isles set up – which was very communal and inclusive. This is the core point. A place as rich and as busy with opportunity, challenge and excitement as Argyll and the Isles can never be cool – because it’s warm. And it’s that warmth, that open playfulness and welcome that people responded to today. The door was literally open.

Ayrshire and Arran had a neat flat screen setup, with compelling and good quality footage – a note for the future. They didn’t use a stand as such but had uber-attractive curved double-vertical display sections forming a back ‘wall’. But then they did as Aberdeen had done and put – very slick – pedestal stands at the front – which somehow turned it into an airport check in.

The Lochcarron stall was gorgeoous. As a tartan fabric weaver with leverage in the fashion world, it was very tactile cosy and stylish – with tartan covered armchairs and full length fashion-sketchy wall illustrations. All very well judged with appropriate design savviness.

Hilton Worldwide had a couple of tall bar tables with stools – with backlit photo panels behind them. The backlighting – like a computer screen does – gave the images vitality and the whole ambience of this set was cool.

The Isles Hotel from Barra had a tall banner at its stand that gave it a carnivalesque attraction. Manning this stand was Maggie Miller who, back in 2006 was in Tarbert in Kintyre, working at the then  legendary Victoria Inn. Those were the days.

Maggie adores Barra. She got engaged in Kisimul Castle last year and is to marry there this year – in the castle that rises straight up out of the sea in the centre of Castlebay. Talking about some visitors to the island expecting to be able to go shopping – she mentioned that they tend to be assured that there’s always the TopShop. And there is. It’s the one at the top of the hill – but Philip Green doesn’t have a lot to do with it.

Someone from Tarbert or Kintyre will remember Maggie – whether she likes that or not. We sort of threatened to ask.

Argyll on the MOVE

For a lot of the time today, the Royal Highland Centre was like home from home. George and Sally Hall’s appearance in the aisles was the first clue to another Argyll signature at the event. Wild Biscuit’s MOVE – the music and dance fusion event, teasing tradition with contemporary translation and marrying pipes, drums, saxophone and guitar with the rap and breakdance of Random Aspekts, is the inspiration of John Saich and Mags Russell, whose own manifestation in the hall gave the game away.

Yes – a short version of MOVE is part of the entertainment for buyers tonight. That’s going to add another dimension to the growing awareness that Argyll and the Isles is a major surprise.

Now to the overall event venue

This – and the presentation of sales events like Expo – is is immediate need of serious revision.

Signage? There’s virtually none. Road signs more or less get you to the vicinity from the M8 but after that, you’re on your own.

The whole Ingliston area is one shapeless, formless, sprawl with no clues to guide those who have not been there before. It lacks logic and geometry – all very ad hoc. As a national exhibition and large scale event centre it is no way good enough.

We also expected to see celebratory banners or billboards flagging up EXPO as we got within a strategic radius. Not one. Was anything actually going on? Even in the approach to the Highland Hall within the complex, it wasn’t immediately obvious that this was where ‘it’ was. Selling a country is not about understatement. It’s about celebration.

The VisitScotland staff inside were first class – quick, friendly, helpful, efficient. Just what you want – and need.

But events like this really don’t need to be run today as they have been for years. Yet there was no sign of any reinvention – or even of a more evolved understanding of what is possible now and therefore should be done.

Take light. Each stall sorts out its  internal lighting but the aisles are not lit.

This makes the experience of being at EXPO an oddly nocturnal one, walking through rather dim alleys and looking into ‘rooms’ that are more or less lit. It’s too soporific, too leaching of energy, too unproductive.

An event like this needs to blaze with light – energising, motivating, enlivening.

It was depressing to see what is supposed to be THE major annual ‘home based’ sales event for Scottish tourism trundling on as it has done for a long time. Stalls at these events are not cheap. Stallholders should get more contextual support for their money.

While there was a real buzz around the Argyll and the Isles area, the event itself lacked the electricity to charge Scotland as an irresistable destination of choice. To be frank, we had expected far more stalls than there were – for the entire mainland and islands of Scotland? There was a lot of dark empty space with a few tables thrown into it trying to occupy the back end of the hall.

And yes, this is a challenge to VisitScotland to do better with these flagships. They should be in your face from miles away. No one should fail to know they’re on. Today, going looking for Expo required constant searching for clues.

Where is the value in selling Scotland in secret?

The official report on the incident – by Rear Admiral Ian Corder, Head of the Submarine Service, has just been published.

It was an incident which saw Astute’s commander, the popular Andy Coles, lose his command and relocate to desk duties.

It was also an incident which ended with the submarine sustaining more than £1million of damage. This was partly due to the grounding and partly – and expensively – due to a handshake with the Emergency Towing Vessel, Anglian Prince, which came down from Stornoway to the rescue.

Anglian Prince has a high profile which was not easily aligned to Astute’s low one and in manoeuvering to help get Astute floated as the tide rose, the sub’s starboard foreplane was damaged by contact with the tug.

Rear Admiral Corder’s report finds that the primary causes of the grounding were: ‘non-adherence to correct procedures for the planning and execution of the navigation combined with a significant lack of appreciation by the Officer of the Watch (OOW) of the proximity of danger.’

Unsurprisingly, it also finds a range of contributory causes, including some equipment failures.

The submarine, whose return to Faslane we covered by getting ourselves to the south east corner of the Isle of Bute to catch her coming through the narrows at the Cumbraes, surfaced, with a flotilla of escorting tugs, went on to experience a bizarre and brutal incident.

She grounded on Skye on 22nd October 2010. Six months later, on 8th April 2011, she was on a ceremonial ‘flying the flag’ visit to Southampton where, at her berth, a young rating went berserk. Ryan Donovan opened fire in the Control Room with an SA80 assault rifle, hitting two officers, killing one and injuring the second.

He was then overpowered by the visiting Leader of Southampton Council, Royston Smith, a former RAF flight engineer and by the council’ Chief Executive, Alistair Neill.

The officer who died was 36 year old Lieutenant Commander Ian Molyneux, who has just been honoured by the posthumous award of the George Medal.

The 2012 event – on Wednesday 25th and Thursday 26th April – is the first at which Argyll tourism will have had a presence.

This is a major landmark and the news is that  the Argyll and the Isles Strategic Tourism Partnership already has 48 buyers booking appointments with it at EXPO.

Even better, the first two buyers to book in, are coming to Argyll on a familiarisation trip arranged by Argyll and the Isles. They’ll be experiencing for themselves what this area has to offer on both mainland and islands.

They’ll also spend time on the water in between – another part of what we have to offer here. The Corryvreckan is on the agenda. They won’t find one of those in too many places.

The EXPO initiative is already proving its worth – which was always evident.

Mike Story, Vice Chair of Argyll and the Isles Strategic Tourism Partnership, says that the 48 buyers at EXPO 2012 represent 48 buyers the Argyll tourist industry has not had before; and, following the 2012 start with EXPO, the plans for 2013 are ramping up the ambition well in advance.

And EXPO 2013 itself is already 67% sold.

The well managed Tobermory Harbour marina development provides all of the evidence anyone could possibly need for how successful this provision for the important leisure sailing market can be, in sustainability and in developing a worthwhile visitor market.

Yet successive administrations at Argyll and Bute Council have proved more effective at resisting an initiative that,  for whatever reasons, they clearly do not want to see than they have been in making anything else happen.

This has been nothing more than a spoiling game at great cost to Oban. It has not been about promoting any alternative becasue nothing at all has happened.

But let’s forget the whys.

After inexplicable knockbacks contrived through means which do not bear even a cursory examination,  Oban Bay Marine has had to submit a new planning application for its proposed Oban transit marina.

A transit marina is exactly the right concept – it’s not a long stay facility, nor is it a major overwintering facility. It’s a short stay park for seasonal visiting yachts cruising Argyll and the Isles – and it offers them walk-ashore berths in the heart of the town.

These are yachts that arrive, refuel, rewater, restock, shop, eat, drink, visit, explore – and move on.

A town capable of giving them this sort of facility and the proactive welcome Oban can muster, will benefit in compound terms by word of mouth recommendations.

Oban, with the annual signature sailing events run by Oban Sailing Club (the Round Mull and the West Highland Yachting Week with the feeder races pulling in yachts from Ireland, Ayrshire and further away) is on the sailing map already – but more peripherally than it deserves to be.

The driver of growth

The provision of the sort of shoreside marina facility Oban Bay Marine propose is a win for all concerned. The town will look better, brighter, more active… and ‘walk ashore’ berths will bring substantial business to the town. They make sail cruising easy.

Waterfront cafes and restaurants will find window tables at an even greater premium. Watching boats is like watching planes – the way they have to be managed, the way they move, their capacity to be here now and gone – anywhere – in a minute, is close to mythical. They carry with them the sense of connectedness with worlds most of us cannot imagine. Even going out in a boat to the approaches to Oban Bay and looking back towards a town you think you know takes you to a new place.

Sailors are atrracted by good up-to-the-mark sailing kit and have an eye for neat shore-going gear. Only in extreme racing yachts, where an extra ounce slows performance, is there no room for some presents to take home.

When they’re at a waterfront marina, sailors will eat and drink ashore from choice. When they’re on passage, they have no choice – and however great the simplest food tastes on the water, variety is the spice of life.

A transit marina is the ideal addition to Oban’s visitor offer. It open up the town as the central base it should be for access to the quite stunning sailing grounds of Argyll and the Isles.

And a transit marina is unselfish. The host town benefits but so do the other marinas it links to as a stepping stone in a much needed chain.

This project is not just good for Oban – it is good for Argyll.

The changes to the Oban Bay Marine proposal make it a piled marina rather than one with anchored pontoons – a huge improvement. They also see the pedestrian access moved from the North Pier to the Esplanade.

Details are HERE on the Oban Bay Marine website.

You can help – and your help will be appreciated

It would help this worthwhile initiative a great deal if all of those who respond positively to its potential  and who  support it would register their comments HERE on the Council website -  before the end of Tuesday 24th April. You will see the ‘Make a Public Comment’ button at the top right of the screen.

Because this is a project that matters to Argyll and the Isles as well as to Oban – because having such a facility in the embrace of this town will bring leisure sailors to Oban via other marinas and via the Crinan Canal – comments arte appropriate from anyone with an interest in this transit marina actually happening. That includes the sailing fraternity who would use it. Imagine the convenience during West Highland Yachting Week alone.

Whatever you think -  and of course this includes objections – please go to the Council website and say it.

And for supporters, please remember that people are always driven to object but rarely to support – which produces inaccurate impressions. If you want to see this project and the benefits it will bring succeed, please tell the council what you feel and why. What’s wrong with now.

Guy Linley-Adams, an environmental solicitor in private practice and solicitor to the Salmon and Trout Association’s Aquaculture Campaign, has produced for the association a report, fuelled by information obtained under Freedom of Information legislation: Reported sea lice treatment chemical residues in Scottish sea lochs .

The headline findings of the report are that:

• Fish farming companies regularly fail to report to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), as they are obliged to do under the Controlled Activities Regulations, the data resulting from required  self-monitoring of the volumes of sea-lice prevention chemical residues in the sea beds of Scottish sea lochs.
• These residues of sea lice prevention chemicals exceed Environmental Quality Standards (EQS).
• SEPA, charged with responsibilities for regulating the environmental, has reduced its auditing of sea bed residues of these chemicals.

The background to this is a situation where farmed salmon have become resistant to the chemicals used to counter sea lice, with the result that fish farmers have had recourse to more frequent bathing or in-feed treatments with the chemicals.

This is taking place in a situation of licensed expansion of this industry by the Scottish Government which, with the increased dosing is creating a compound increase in the sea bed residues.

At the same time, the commercial shell fishing industry is increasingly highlighting the chronic effect of these chemical sea lice treatments on marine crustaceans – crab, lobster, prawn and shrimp.

The in-feed treatment Slice (emamectin benzoate) – widely used in the Scottish salmon farming industry for the control of sea lice parasites on farmed fish – is highly toxic to marine crustacea.

This underlines the fact that the chemical pollution of the sea beds below the lochs hosting these farms is not an issue limited to those concerned about the impact on wild fish.

The concern of marine  conservationists has been focused on the massive discharges of juvenile sea lice into waters through which juvenile wild salmon and wild trout are emigrating.

Chairman of the Salmon and Trout Association, Hughie Campbell Adamson, points out that: ‘While the control of sea lice on fish-farms is essential, it would not be environmentally responsible to threaten marine shellfish populations as a consequence.’

The imperative of closed containment farming

Mr Adamson and the Association point to the lack of interest – and lack of statutory requirement – for Scottish fish farming companies to deploy the  ‘closed system’ farming now espoused in Canada,

This has seen, only last month, AgriMarine report on the conclusion of its first harvest of farmed salmon from its floating closed containment farm at Vancouver’s Middle Island. AgriMarine report that only three sea lice were found in the entire harvest – and that no chemicals were required during the production cycle.

A telling comparison is that, according to the Salmon and Trout Association, ‘it is not unusual for Scottish open-cage fish-farms to have more than 3 sea lice per fish – in a farm of half a million fish; and for repeated bath-type or in-feed chemical treatments to be required over the 2 year production cycles.

The Association, unarguably, says: ‘The only sustainable solution is for closed containment production, which massively reduces the need for farmers to use these toxic sea-lice control chemicals, as well as minimising other impacts from salmon farming on wild fish, shellfish and the wider marine environment. The sooner Scotland follows Canada in piloting closed systems the better. Scotland can either grab the future of aquaculture with both hands or it can be left behind.’

A marine Yukon?

In its desire to demonstrate Scotland’s potential for economic growth, the Scottish Government is creating a sort of marine Yukon with fish farming on an exponential increase and with farmed salmon producers feeling free to argue robustly for less regulation of its  industry, saying that breaches of regulation by the industry are ‘uncommon’ and that it ‘has no history of non-compliance’. (SSPO Bill response, pages 16/17)

Following the deeply damaging impact on the financial industry of ‘regulation with a light touch’, it is unthinkable to contemplate inflicting the same level of damage upon the marine environment.

The detail of Mr Linley-Adams’ report provides evidence from the information obtained under FoI that absolutely refutes the easy and unevidenced assurances of the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation.

It reports that: ‘In response to a specific request for information made to SEPA to identify fish farms that have failed to provide benthic or sea lice treatment residue data, SEPA provided the S&TA with a list of 91 incidences covering the period of 2005 to 2010 where such data had not been submitted.  In those 91 incidences, 72 related to the failure to report emamectin benzoate residue data.’

It also reports that over the same 5 year period, in respect of self monitoring data that was submitted to SEPA: ’237 replicate samples taken at 61 different fish farms were above Environmental Quality Standards as set by SEPA to protect marine flora and fauna.’

Of the fish farmers who failed to provide due self monitoring data of chemical residues to SEPA, by far the most persistent offender was Scottish Sea Farms Ltd, with 27 separate incidences of non-compliance over the 5 year period from 2005 – 2010.

Is SEPA fit for the purpose of environmental protection?

By 2011, SEPA had not published the results of its annual sampling of marine sediment in a very small number of fish farm locations since its data for 2003-2006. When asked by the Association to provide updated information on this sampling, it did so only for 2008 and 2009.

SEPA’s screening samples for 2003-2006 showed the samples taken from 2003 to 2006 showed further breaches of Environmental Quality Standards.

More worrying is the fact that this 2003-2006 sampling ‘suggested some evidence of the possible illegal use of unlicensed sea lice treatments by fish-farmers, with between 10% of sites in 2003, up to 57% of sites in 2004 showing detections of chemicals unlicensed for sea lice treatment.’

And  more worrying again, in terms of raising question on the independence and integrity of Scotland’s environmental agency, the report notes that in contrast with SEPA’s screening survey reports for 2003 to 2006, its sediment survey reports for 2008 and 2009, published in 2011, ‘declined to highlight whether any chemicals unlicensed for use as sea lice treatments were detected and downplayed the link previously discussed in the earlier screening surveys between any residues found and nearby fish farming activity. ‘

The report highlights the (coincidental?) relationship between a demonstrable reduction in SEPA’s monitoring activities between 2003 and 2009 and what it describes as ‘a dramatic increase’ over the same period of the tonnages of emamectin benzoate by the fish farming industry.

A summary conclusion of the report states:

‘The current expansion of the Scottish salmon and farming industry and its reliance on using chemicals such as emamectin benzoate to control sea lice on farmed fish calls into question the long term sustainability of the system open-cage fish farming and provides further support for the early relocation of those existing fish-farms in sensitive locations and a move towards closed containment production of farmed salmon over the medium term. ‘

The substance of its findings calls into question – yet again – whether the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency is fit for the purpose of that protection or has any serious commitment to doing so.

Governmental responsibilities

The last word on this should go to Paul Knight, CEO of the Salmon and Trout Association, who sets the context of the report in the end of a facilitated discussion process held with the salmon farming industry.

During the process, organised by the Scottish Government, the Salmon and Trout Association made strenuous efforts to address the concerns raised by the industry but, sees that ‘regrettably, the Scottish Salmon Producers Organisation and the Association remain far apart on the central issue of the industry’s impact on wild fish protection’.

Of this process, now concluded, Mr Knight says:

‘We entered these discussions in good faith, but we made it clear from the very start that we needed to see substantive progress and commitment to change from the aquaculture industry and NOT just more talking. Instead the industry’s current position appears to be reflected in what can only be described as a rather intemperate response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the forthcoming Bill.

‘What this means is that the official mediation process is now over. We are grateful to the Scottish Government for promoting and supporting these discussions, but it must now be clear that this industry requires stricter regulation in the forthcoming Bill and increased scrutiny of the industry by SEPA inspectors.’

Here is the full report by Guy Linley-Adams for the Salmon and Trout Association: S&TA Report into sea-lice treatment seabed residues April 2012 FINAL

The photograph above, of salmon lice , is  © Thomas Bjørkan and reproduced here under the Creative Commons licence.

The session will be in Edinburgh and Argyll First has been invited to address the committee. Councillor Dougie Philand will have 5 minutes to present the case – not to repeat evidence already given but to elaborate and prioritise.

He will be accompanied by his colleagues, Councillor Donald Kelly and Councillor John McAlpine, who, while they will not be invited to make any opening comments, will sit at the table with him and may speak – on the record – in response to any questions from the Committee.

The session on the petition will last for around half an hour, will be held in public and will be broadcast and recorded in the Official Report – a largely verbatim transcript.

The group has said this evening:

‘Argyll First would like to thank all those who took the time to support the petition. We are delighted to be the first Councillors from Argyll and Bute to be able to make representation to the Public Petitions Committee on behalf of the residents of Argyll and Bute regarding the A83 issues. We  look forward to working closely with many interested parties to assist in our presentation.’

This has been an Argyll-wide effort to insist upon this crucial arterial road being made a reliable, safe and able access to this huge sprawling landmass.

Argyll First are to be congratulated for their initiative and for their dogged determination to see this through.

The Sunday Post has done an interiew on the issue with Argyll First, for publication this coming weekend.

Political responses

Highlands & Islands MSP, Jamie McGrigor, has welcomed the news that the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee has invited the Sign for the A83 campaign to appear before it to make a statement in support of the petition at its meeting on Tuesday 15th May.

The Committee’s decision to call the petitioners to make a statement follows the handover of the petition to Committee Convenor David Stewart MSP a few weeks ago.

Speaking today Jamie, who has consistently raised the strategic importance of the A83 at Holyrood, said:

‘I am delighted that the Public Petitions Committee has moved forward quickly with the petition and invited the Sign for the A83 petitioners to the Committee meeting. I know that they will put forward an incredibly strong case which will impress Committee members. I will also be seeking to attend the Committee meeting myself so that I can add my support to the petitioners’ case.

‘Donald Kelly, Dougie Philand and John McAlpine are to be congratulated for bringing the Sign for the A83 petition to Parliament and I pay tribute to their efforts to date.

‘Everything possible must be done by the Scottish Government and its agencies to prevent further closures of the A83 which have the potential to be so damaging to the local economy.’

The future matters more than the past. The important thing is that elected members in Argyll and Bute, come to agreement on a cross party basis on the issues of the nature and value of a rural primary education and of the contribution of rural schools to community sustainability and to local economies. They could valuably distil together an agreed policy for gauging when a rural school actually should be closed and when it should not.

For that reason, we will make no comment of any kind should candidates who, as elected councillors voted to close rural schools in the 2010-11 fracas – but commit to supporting the position advanced in this statement.

It is important that we all make room for people to choose better than they may have done in the past.

The ARSN statement

Dear Candidate,

Argyll Rural Schools Network requests that council candidates consider the statement below and indicate whether they are happy to support it.  We will be publicising the results among our members and in the media so they can take this information into account when they vote on 3rd May.  We have attached a copy of our mission statement so that new candidates can see our aims.

‘I support the call by ARSN for the opening of dialogue between Argyll and Bute Council, ARSN, councillors and other appropriate bodies with a view to drawing up a new vision of rural education in Argyll & Bute.  I believe there should be a presumption against rural school closure and that the Council should adopt such a presumption as a foundation policy for education in the area.’

ARSN Mission Statement

‘Argyll Rural Schools Network is committed to protecting and promoting all of Argyll’s rural and island schools, and to bringing Argyll and Bute Council to a clear understanding of their importance.

‘Schools are more than just venues for our children’s education; they are vital community assets. As such, they are fundamental to the Council’s responsibility to secure the social and economic sustainability of its diverse rural communities for the long-term benefit of Argyll & Bute’s whole population.  ARSN believes that Argyll & Bute could take a national lead in the delivery of rural education by forming strong links with communities to obtain mutual benefits.

‘Specifically, ARSN believes that our rural schools:-

‘Offer an excellent education, effectively delivering the Curriculum for Excellence.

‘Underpin the communities they lie in; without schools there is little prospect of our communities retaining or attracting families, potentially exacerbating demographic trends towards an ageing population, particularly in rural areas.

‘Are essential for the long term sustainability and growth of our communities, both as direct employers and as important local services that attract businesses to locate in Argyll and Bute.

The Chamber feels strongly that it is important that the problems with the A83 continue to be highlighted by the business sector. Jane  MacLeod, on behalf of the Chamber, says: ‘There is a very real risk that if we do not continue to keep the pressure on, any proposed work to the A83 will be forgotten or pushed to one side should Government and Local Authority budgets become even more pressurised’.

The delegates form the Chamber were advised by Transport Scotland at the meeting that all the Tilt Meters on the Rest and Be Thankful will be replaced by the end of this week and that increased netting on parts of the hill will be finished in early August at which point it is hoped to remove the traffic signals.

The officials agreed that when improvements to the Forestry Relief Road are being planned a representative of local hauliers will be consulted.

The design work for the relief road is due to be finished at the end of May with work being carried out during the summer months.

It was suggested at the Chamber of Commerce’s public meeting that, for little extra expense, the Relief Road could be widened sufficiently to allow two lanes with free-flowing traffic.  The officials explained that, in their opinion, two lanes would be too expensive. However, the feasibility of providing a passing place in the middle of the Relief Road to allow two convoy systems to work is being considered.

The group were also told that the Feasibility Study, which is to look into what requires to be done to the hillside itself, will start shortly, with a consultation exercise in place during April and May.  The Study is due to be complete by the end of September 2012.

Chamber members impressed on the Minister and his officials the importance of keeping the Rest and Be Thankful open at all times, that the Relief Road should be seen as a short-term solution and should not detract from work which is required for the A83.

It was also pointed out that it is essential that the A83 should remain open at all times during the closure of the A82 next year for improvements at Pulpit Rock.

The combined impact of the presentation of the Argyll First Sign for the A83 petition to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee and the Mid Argyll Chamber of Commerce meeting with the Minister and his officials, will have been powerful testimony.

This issue is not going to be forgotten – cannot be forgotten -  here and the delegation from the Chamber pressed home all of the key issues.

Argyll and Bute’s MSP, Michael Russell, is sick and tired of this treatment. He has been campaigning since the major and enduring outages in December 2011 on the contempt with which mobile phone service providers treat those in rural areas like Argyll and the Isles.

Focusing on the practical consequences for residents of such notional ‘services’, Mr Russell says:

‘This incident on Colonsay has been very difficult for Vodafone customers on the island.

‘Lack of service is not just an inconvenience.   I have spoken to several doctors who are aware of  injuries being made worse, and even deaths occurring , because of mobile phone signal failure or poor coverage, with victims of accidents being unable to contact the emergency services.

‘Certainly the inadequate response of the mobile providers led to complications in communication for those trying to restore power supplies in Argyll in January – and delays in their work.

‘Mobile phone subscribers in Argyll & Bute pay the same bills as every other customer, yet what they receive is very much poorer than is provided elsewhere.   I have been arguing that there should be no 4G licences awarded until all of Scotland has 3G coverage , not least because no part of Argyll & Bute has such coverage except for a small spill over signal on the Clyde shore.’

Mr Russell is hoping that the public in Argyll and the Isles will insist upon the arrangement he proposes – no 4G for anywhere in Scotland until we all have 3G.

This means some sharp thinking about quite what leverage we can collectively exert.

Vodafone’s co0verage is not universal. It is  not, on the evidence, prompt to act responsibly in restoring to operation the services for which it charges.

But in the Highlands of Scotland, Vodafone’s coverage has the best reach by far of any of the providers.

What leverage does the Scottish Government have? Might planning consents for masts have service conditions attached which would apply to all users of the mast?

What leverage do customers and potential customers have? Not a lot.

Non-Vodafone customers could beneficially transfer to Vodafone – but what about Vodafone clients?  All we could do wold be be to go to an even less able provider.

Is there a commercial opening for a specialist highland provider to which we could all transfer our accounts?

It is unacceptable for citizens to be prey to any irresponsible provider of anything.

The arrival of the new bird breeding season sees the launch of Operation Easter for 2012 – an annual, national response to deter egg-thieves from targeting wild birds’ nests.

Chair of PAW Scotland, Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson, says: ‘While our member organisations are making significant headway tackling egg thieves, they can’t do it alone and we depend on everyone who’s out and about in the countryside to be vigilant and report suspicious activity to the police.’

Operation Easter began in Scotland and is now a UK success story.

It was started by Tayside Police in 1997. The police, National Wildlife Crime Unit and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds have been working together to share intelligence and ensure effective enforcement action against the egg thieves. This has resulted in several seizures of egg collections over recent years across the UK. The concerted effort has seen the number of active egg thieves reduced to an all-time low.

Charles Everitt, Scottish Investigative Support Officer at the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), warns one of the biggest dangers now is complacency. He says: ‘We can’t afford to relax at this stage. Over Easter and in the coming weeks Scotland’s Wildlife Crime officers will be out in force, targeting anyone stealing from Scotland’s wild bird nests.’

The gradual tightening of legislation has provided a real deterrent to potential egg thieves while other crime prevention measures, such as CCTV installations, are proving effective. The best known example is the round the clock surveillance of white-tailed sea eagles on Mull, the success of which is regularly underlined by RSPB Scotland’s dedicated  Mull Officer, Dave Sexton.

And there have been innovative uses of modern legislation – such as the ASBO served on an egg-collector from London this year. The man had targeted species in Scotland including golden eagle and osprey. He is now banned from entering the country during the nesting season for 10 years.

Ian Thomson, Head of Investigations at RSPB Scotland, says: ‘Operation Easter has had tremendous success, over several years, in both detecting and deterring the activities of egg collectors in Scotland and further afield. However, we cannot afford to be complacent, and this out-dated pastime continues to pose a threat to some of our rarest species such as Slavonian grebe and golden eagle. RSPB Scotland is very happy to support this operation.’

Anyone who witnesses or suspects that people are involved egg theft or any other rural crime should contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or the local police.

Background information

The Protection of Birds Act 1954 made the first inroads to safeguarding birds’ eggs. This was strengthened by the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 at which point a number of egg-thieves decided to give their hobby up.  In 2003, the legislation was amended further to provide courts with the option of imprisonment for anyone caught taking wild bird eggs. This caused some egg thieves to try their luck abroad.

PAW Scotland defines wildlife crime as any unlawful act or omission, which affects any wild creature, plant or habitat, in Scotland.

• Dunoon-Gourock Service was suspended, due to NE winds. Attempted a 15:50 sailing from Gourock to Dunoon thereafter suspending service with a review at 20:00. Sailings now cancelled for the rest of today.
• SPT-Clydelink: Kilcreggan-Gourock (passenger only): Service suspended for the rest of today due to sea conditions.
• Oban – Lochboisdale Service may be disrupted due to forecast NE winds gusting to 26 knots. Ferry left Lochboisdale at 19.15. ETA Castlebay 20:55.

The letter – virtually an executive summary of the response (attached below), from company Chair, Peter Timms, has several independent and focused remarks to make, many supportive, many interrogating unevidenced or inadequately evidenced positions in the Draft Plan.

DML is rightly querying the need to reduce or remove some of the smaller services identified for such revision and is asking for information on the socio-economic assessments carried out by Transport Scotland in coming to these proposals.

In our own analysis, we questioned the damage such service reductions would bring to long standing cultural connections between, for examples:

• Arran and Kintyre, with the proposed removal of the Claonaig -Lochranza service;
• Ardnamurchan with Mull and indeed with Argyll as a whole, with the proposed removal of the Lochaline – Fishnish service and the reduction of the Kilchoan  Tobermory service. (These proposals produced a flood of well informed comments form readers testifying to the specific utility of these particular services.)
• Lismore with Oban and again with Argyll as a whole, with the proposed removal of the Lismore – Oban service and a sole focus on a Port Appin to Point service.

In a concern that comes right home to Argyll and the Isles, DML suggest the value of an infrastructure management review. This would be focused on ensuring consistent approach to funding of ports and harbours by their various owners, across the DML network of routes.

The group expresses concerns that ports and harbours should be fit for purpose noting astringently that they need: ‘… to be assured that the considerable sums that we pay in berthing dues and landing fees to different authorities are being used towards the cost of maintaining and improving the ones (Ed: ports and harbours) we depend on’.

Criagnure on Mull, owned by Argyll and Bute Council – and yet another major item in the shame of its failure adequately to manage its transport portfolio – draws fees from Calmac of around £1 million a year, with nothing spent on its maintenance in very many years.

DML have continuing well known worries that unbundling some of the route packages would leave communities with services lacking the ability to respond to breakdowns or severe weather disruption.

The group welcome:

• the recognised need for urgent investment in ships and port infrastructure
• the prioritising of services by the needs of local communities
• the willingness to move beyond simple needs assessment and into consideration of socioeconomic factors

They have constructive suggestions to make:

• the establishing of a running feedback system enabling ongoing service revisions to meet changing needs of island and remote communities – where a 20 year major review period would be late and less achieveably responsive
• seeing the role of the proposed Regulator – which they support – as an enabler rather than an inhibitor of service development.

DML are querying:

• how government plans to add additional ships and to increase sailing frequencies on some routes square with its declared ambitions to reduce carbon emissions. The group  notes that the Draft Plan carries only rough estimates of CO2 production and lacks both an emissions reduction target and an indication of how this plan will contribute to Scotland’s overall emissions reduction target;
• the costs and affordability of some of the proposals in the Draft Plan. Nothing that while some proposals require very little if any additional funding, others require new ships.

On this last and other matters, DML make it clear that: ‘We look forward to playing our part in identifying innovative ways in which the aspirations of the plan can be achieved within the considerable constraints currently being felt by the public purse’.

Here is the full DML response: David MacBrayne Ltd response to Scottish Ferry Services Draft Plan

For Argyll will update this article when we have digested the full import of the full DML response to the draft plan.

The cross-party petition – Sign for the A83 – initiated by Argyll First, is being taken to Holyrood tomorrow, 29th March 2012, so today is everyone’s last chance to add voices to the clamour insisting that this crucial arterial connection to Argyll is put right on a permanent basis. Please sign here.

The three members of the non party political group, Argyll First  – Councillors Donald Kelly, John McAlpine and Dougie Philand – will travel to the Scottish Parliament to present the petition to the Convener of the Public Petitions Committee.

The petition has cross party support from 8 MSPs, 33 Argyll and Bute Councillors, many businesses from within and out with Argyll and over 10,000 members of the public.

Argyll First’s main objective is to obtain a firm commitment from the Scottish government to  address the issues raised in the petition.  As they say, ‘…the A83 is a lifeline route to Argyll and Bute and cannot be allowed to deteriorate any further. The strength of feeling generated by this petition cannot be ignored and now is the time for the government to take positive action’.

The Yorkhill Hospital donation

On the way to the parliament in Edinburgh, Argyll First we will be presenting a cheque for a £1,000 to Ronald Mac Donald house at Yorkhill Hospital.

This is one of three cheques for £1,000 the group is presenting as a direct result of their having taken a voluntary 10% cut in their council salaries in 2010.  They did this as a gesture of solidarity with Argyll folk at a time when everyone was clearly going to be hit hard by the recession following the 2008 collapse of the financial institutions.

The other two donations of £1,000 each are going to:

• Tarbert Music Centre as from August 2012
• Calum’s Cabin in Bute – a residential holiday home for Children who have cancer.

On Friday the full Kintyre Express fleet of three 11 metre Redbay Stormforce fast passenger ferries made their familiar crossing of the North Channel to come in to the pier below Cushendall Sailing and Boating Club.

They were there to attend the christening of the newest, KE III. by Mrs Cathy McLaughlin, of RedBay Boats, her builder.

The business case – what next?

As speakers as the reception, including local and Norther Ireland politicians, noted, the Kintyre Express service is proving the business case for the route. The question is – what next?

Kintyre Express owner and MD, Colin Craig of West Coast Motors, above, says that 2011 was about getting the service up, running and known. Job done – on both sides of the channel. So far audiences have been fairly equal.

This year. 2012, is about market growth.

Next year depends on this year – but he has a strategic and achievable development plan.

RedBay Boats is building a prototype 16.5 metre workboat, configurable for a wide range of uses, one of which is a fast passenger ferry, delivering the same speed as the 11 metre, enhanced sea-keeping characteristics in her greater size and weight and carrying 30 comfortably seated passengers.

This boat is going down to the 2012 Seawork boat show at Southampton from 22nd to 24th  May and will be making a courtesy visit to Campbeltown shortly after that.

She is a well conceived commercial proposition and is predicted to be a head-turner. In the passenger configuration she could carry 50 on bench seats for certain uses but her 30-seater comfort mode is a very attractive commercial offer for a wide variety of routes.

She can also be serviced afloat, without coming out of the water – there is standing room around her below decks engines. She has a long service interval and RedBay reckon she would only need to come out of the water once a year. All of this is operationally – and therefore commercially, appealing.

Colin Craig says: ‘I’ve not made it a secret that our ultimate aim is to develop Campbeltown-Ballycastle into a bigger (passenger) boat providing, of course, we can achieve this season the passenger growth we feel is there to be built.

‘We have considered basing one boat in Ballycastle and working one from either end but the service is not quite at that stage yet – perhaps next year, if we continue to operate 11metres.’

This is the ‘if’ question.

Colin Craig goes on to say:

‘Providing current journey times can be maintained, I believe the 16.5m could be the ideal boat for this service. Its sea keeping capabilities will enhance reliability of service and may allow the service to run all year round.

‘The additional capacity enhances the commercial viability of the service and I feel will appeal to a more mainstream customer base who at present are put off by the small size of the 11m.

At 30+ seats the economic benefits for both sides start to get pretty chunky and it can, most importantly, be achieved without massive amounts of public money.’

West coast ferry services – the future beckons

A man whose thinking ranges over the spectrum of what is affordable and effective in the development of transport services for Scotland and for the west coast, Colin Craig sees that the Scottish Government could use the very real opportunity of the development of this particular boat: ‘… to redefine how ferry services can be delivered at a fraction of the cost of those currently being provided around the West Coast.’

He sees this being done: ‘… either by way of enhancing the existing network by providing additional fast links to our islands or by integrating them in such a way as to achieve very serious cost savings without compromising the level of service being provided under the existing subsidised model.’

Research shows that many of CalMac’s ferries are sailing in the winter with the most minimal number of passengers and vehicles. These services are highly inefficient in cost and in over-supplying thin demand.

While there is a clear need for the lifeline services these ferries provide, such a service does not have always to be delivered by a boat manifestly over capacity for the job. Flexible, inventive and integrated service thinking, with the extended repertoire the RedBay 16.5 metre will bring, could see the islands with as good or better a service and the public purse facing much more modest demands for ferry subsidies.

This is the sort of thinking that genuinely moves service provision  to new dimensions.

And for the private sector, operators of trips to St Kilda from Argyll and the Isles are going to be having a serious look at the RedBay Stormforce 16.5 metre. Both her commercial and sea-keeping capabilities look tailor made for runs like this. (Oddly enough, Tom McLaughlin was wearing his Puffin tie on Friday – from the Puffin pub on St Kilda.)

Another perspective on boutique ferry services

Kintyre Express I and II made the trip from home base at Campbeltown in Kintyre. The youngster to be christened at Cushendall – the reason for the convoy – came from Troon. She had the company owner and MD. Colin Craig of West Coast Motors, in the pilot seat and, amongst others, Strathclyde Police DCI Gerry McLean riding shotgun. (Don’t worry – they don’t yet have Marine Gatsos.)

Waiting at Cushendall was another security specialist, Gareth Jenkins of the Norther Ireland police force who is in charge of all of the small ports from Warrenpoint – on Carlingford Lough in the south east of the province, to Derry in the north west. With a name like his Gareth should be Welsh but no – he says his parents have a sense of humour.

The presence of Gerry and Gareth is yet another strand of what the business of running these nippy little ferries involves – maritime security.

Obviously, with coastlines as complex as the west of Scotland and the north east  of Ireland no security force can monitor all of it constantly, although they’re pretty mobile. They both ask members of the public to keep their eyes open and if we see any boat in an unexpected place or doing something that seems a bit unusual, to phone them at the time and let them know.

Strathclyde Police have two public awareness projects on the go at the moment – Kraken (for marine movements) and a Suspicious Airport Behaviour (for air movements). Small boats and small planes can serve a variety of purposes of legitimate interest to counter terrorism units – and in these difficult Blair-legacy times, we all need to keep our wits about us.

Both Gerry McLean and Gareth Jenkins have a lot of respect for the friendly efficiency of the Kintyre Express team and relations between them are clearly built on mutual trust.

Kintyre Express today

The Kintyre Express service is working to do two things:

• support the economic development in tourism of the areas at either end of its scheduled service between Campbeltown and Ballycastle;
• prove the case that there is a real and growing market for a well judged type of ferry service between the two destinations.

The current service has made a lot of people, ourselves included, unable to contemplate the tiring tedium of plodding off way south to Cairnryan and catching a big ferry out of Loch Ryan and over to Larne or Belfast – and vice versa.

An hour and a half to Ballycastle or Campbeltown, with a hire car or a local taxi at the other end if necessary, is compelling – and the drives to and from both places are therapeutically lovely.

There’s something youthful, fun and relaxed about Kintyre Express, whatever age you are. If you like more calm, sit at the back. If you like to engage, sit up front. The boats also carry literature on what’s available at each end of the route so if you’ve taken an impromptu trip, you can make some plans in transit. The new boat has a purpose built literature shelf in the cabin ceiling so feel free to explore what’s there.

The pilots and cabin staff are unfailingly helpful and interested – setting a service ethos that comes from the top and stands Kintyre Express in very good stead. They actually like people.

All three boats carry golf bags and bikes as well as personal luggage – both proving a hugely popular service. The two destinations each have easy access to world class golf courses like Royal Portrush, Machrihanish and Machrihanish Dunes; and both provide fabulous cycling territory.

The new boat has been customised to support the needs of both of these types of user even better. She can take more golf bags and can carry 12 bikes. The renowned Argll business, Owen Sails, has been commissioned to make a special spray cover for them on the stern deck – Kintyre Express respects the level of investment in good bikes these days.

And Kintyre Express is doing what has become an annual special – taking motor bike road racing fans over for the legendary North West 200, run out of Portrush  – they now call it ‘The Relentless North West 200′ and so it is.

Race Week is from 13th to 19th May and the 200 – Ireland’s largest outdoor sporting event – is on 19th May. Kintyre Express leaves Campbeltown at 7.30am and leaves Ballycastle on the return trip at 6.00pm. Coach transfers between Ballycastle and Portush are included in the £70 return fare. last year they had to take two boats. Anyone interested can book online or phone 01586 555 895.

Arriving at Cushendall

As the boats came in to berth at Cushendall pier on Friday, they were met by Connor McLaughlin of the family behind boatbuilder, RedBay Boats – in the marine machine known as The Beast. What teenage boy could resist it? And Connor’s seamanship was impressively skilled and deft. (Above, Connor has handed the wheel to Haydn Chambers of Kintyre Express who is now considering mortgaging his house.)

This boat was built for a river police fast patrol in the south east but their budget was slashed and they were unable to complete the purchase -  so The Beast prowls the North Channel tempting other buyers with a professional need or leisure thrill for speed.

At full tilt she burns 50 gallons of petrol an hour and could do Cushendall to Sanda Island in 12 minutes, or into Campbeltown in 30.  She is one serious boy’s toy as well as the perfect pro boat she was designed to be, for professional security chasing. She looks awesomely intimidating with her high rearing black bow. A definite ‘Don’t mess with me.’

Connor nips her around the Kintyre Express boats, carrying a pilot from one to another which is making a quick trolley ride up to RedBay Boats Yard for a fast tweak while she’s here. He shoots off to welcome in the new boat, the last to arrive as the run from Troon is much longer.

This is the first time all three boats have been together in the same place at the same time, the first time they have presented a complete fleet presence. They do look good – very spick, jolly, sporty, seaworthy and ready for anything, all of which they are.

The team for the naming ceremony

Last year’s new boat, KE II, has, in her first 12 months, done no fewer than 15,000 sea miles under her skipper Haydn Chambers – who has such an affinity with her that he keeps looking over his shoulder while he pilots the new kid.

In Cushendall for the naming is fleet plant manager, Dougie Martin whose usual lens-radar lets him down and we actually get  three shots of him before he ducks away. In this one (above) , Purser Peter Stogdale is teasing him about his pink Machrihanish Dunes golf jumper and the ever humorous Dougie is colouring up to match.

Ann Martin, Dougie’s wife, is at the event as well. She works in advertising for the Campbeltown Courier, part of the Oban Times group and has brought copies of the new one-page foldable visitor maps produced for Ballycastle and Cushendall – one front, one back.

Aboard KE II are four young pipers, above, from Campbeltown Pipe Band – Susan, Stephanie, Scott and Frank. They collect their kit and go charging up to the yacht club to change, ready for the christening.

The reception at Cushendall

Up at the clubhouse, the welcome could not be warmer. A blazing fire flares in the grate below major yachting moments caught on camera – and below a slender and alarmingly low freeboard rowing skiff hanging from the ceiling at the bar. Tom McLaughlin (below), who started RedBay Boats 35 years ago, was on the team that once rowed this across the North Channel.

The buffet at the club was done by the enviably wonderful Harry’s bistro cafe-bar in Cushendall – owned by Paddy McLaughlin, brother of Tom of RedBay Boats. This is a family very like the Craigs (brothers William and Robert below),  with inventive entrepreneurship allied to a care for quality and a sense of community responsibility.

It is impossible not to mention the Scotch Egg in the buffet. Never has a Scotch egg delivered like this one – so soft it changed shape in your fingers, with pliant and delicious sausage meat under the crumb and a tiny soft boiled egg – quail or bantam? – in the middle. Unforgettable.

When the speeches started – introduced by Andrew McAlister who noted that his name is serviceable on both sides of the channel, we heard from local and Northern Ireland politicians, clearly supportive of the Kintyre Express initiative and, one hopes, looking to the future. Oliver McMullan MLA, (below) was particularly vigorous in seeing the potential for development.

We then heard from Colin Craig of West Coast Motors and Kintyre Express, noting that the service was proving the business case  for the route, that it had room to grow and that politicians on both sides should now be paying attention and looking newly at extended possibilities. He talked about the business connections made by the service between both destinations and between businesses operating at either end.

Tom McLaughlin of RedBay Boats, in his own address, launched - out of left field, a surprise piece of information of Argyll interest.

He said that when they began production of the Redbay Stormforce series, they went for a 9 metre boat. Then an Oban businessman who tried it out said to him that it was a great boat but they needed to add two metres to its length.

McLaughlin pooh poohed the idea, saying it would never sell.

The response was that if RedBay produced an 11 metre Stormforce RIB, the businessman would buy the first two. That was walking the talk and was not a challenge to be turned down,

They did. He did. And Oban’s Puffin Dive is still running Stormforce 11 metre numbers I and II in their striking bumble-bee yellow and black livery around the richly resourced diving grounds of the north western waters of Argyll and the Isles. They’re still going as well as the day they were delivered and KE III is the 75th Stormforce 11 metre out of production – bearing a special plaque to mark her place.

The naming

The four Campbeltown pipers piped up a storm – here with Paddy Mclaughlin (of Harry’s Bistro Bar) on the wall behind them – and played generously to an appreciative audience long beyond what they had been asked to do. There is no sound on this earth like the pipes and over water they are the pied pipers of the instrument world.

Tom McLaughlin prepped the champagne bottle for his wife Cathy who did the launch honours – impeccably and accurately.

She was given a bouquet of flowers especially brought from Kintyre, by Mrs Jennifer Craig; and a very special dram was paraded on the active foredeck of the now formally named KE III, by Colin Craig and Tom McLaughlin. Tom McLaughlin may have briefly looked unsteady but he hadn’t touched a drop. Honest.

At the entrance to the pier behind them, ‘Gilbert’ flashed a white blend of welcome and warning.

The pioneer Kintyre Express skipper, the able and likeable Wilson Smith from Troon, made a rather familiar acquaintance of ‘Gilbert’ at the photocall this time last year when the new KE II was being collected from RedBay Boats. ‘Nuff said. He’s probably still blushing. ‘Gilbert’ is in this story to give Mariri Johnston from Kintyre Express  a
smile from times past, since illness ruled her out of being there on Friday to see the result of all her organisation.

After the ‘launch; of KE III, she and her fleet sister, KE II took guests out for an eagerly anticipated whirl around Red Bay. After all, the day was all about boats.

And the homecoming

Haydn Chambers and his wife Tracy (below) were escorting the Troon visitors home on KE III so Colin Craig took over KE I for the return to Campbeltown.

All three boats got a bit competitive for a while as they left Cushendall in the haze, above, together. They put the boats through their able paces and it was exhilarating stuff. The wake-shot, below, shows just how far Colin Craig was taking no hostages.

On the final approach to the entrance to Campbeltown Loch, KE II could be seen alongside through KE I’s cabin window, as both boats aligned under Davaar Island to make a team return to their berths at the pontoons under the soon to be reopened Royal Hotel.

A new boat for the Kintyre to Antrim service had been named and embraced by the fleet.

A focused cluster of soundly commercial options had been floated for the development not only of this important business and cultural link, but of maritime transport services for the west coast of Scotland.

This was an action packed and an optimistic day.

In the list, published this morning (21st March 2012) it says: ‘Inveraray’s gardens are a vault of horticultural history’ – not perhaps the most apt metaphor one might wish for but the meaning is clear, as the specific expectations this recognition arouses.

More than 4th on the list, Inveraray Castle Gardens is the only Scottish garden in this top ten. He nearest to this serious pleasure of Argyll and the Isles is Alnwick Gardens in Northumberland, which starred as Hogwarts in the Harry Potter films.

Jane Young, member of the Inveraray marketing group, IMaGe, has worked tirelessly along with the gardening staff at the Castle and the Duke and Duchess of Argyll to open the formal garden as part of the Inveraray Castle experience. This listing by The Independent as one to see underlines just what they have achieved.

Argyll and the Isles are richly resourced in celebrated gardens open to visitors – including:

• Ardkinglas Woodland Garden and Benmore Botanic Gardens in Cowal;
• Arduaine, Crarae, Inveraray Castle and Kilmory Woodland Park gardens in Mid Argyll;
• Ardencraig, Ascog Hall and Mount Stuart Gardens on the Isle of Bute
• Achamore Gardens on the inshore Isle of Gigha in Kintyre;
• An Cala and Ardmaddy Gardens on and near the Isle of Seil
• Angus Garden in Taynuilt in Lorn
• Ardchattan Priory Garden on Loch Etive and Kinlochlaich House Gardens, both  in North Lorn
• Colonsay House Gardens on the Isle of Colonsay
• Geilston Garden in Cardross and Glenarm Garden in Helensburgh, in the southeasternmost part of the mainland territory
• Torosay Castle Gardens and Lip na Cloiche Gardens on Mull. (A reader has told us  – below – that Lip na Cloiche has featured in many magazines, including that of the Royal Horticultural Society; and was included on the Guardian’s Reader’s Tips page here on the Isle of Mull.)
• Ardtornish Garden in Morvern, a short ferry ride from Fishnish on the Isle of Mull over to Lochaline in Morvern.

With daffodils and primroses already brightening the landscape and the glorious rhododendron season on the near horizon, this is the best time of the year to get out into Argyll and the Isles’ outdoor treasures.

We have been given to understand that, contrary to assurances given by the new owner, Jura House Gardens iare not to reopen to visitors. If true – and we are inquiring on the validity of this story, it would have a serious negative impact on this beautiful island’s fragile visitor economy.

Landowners from elsewhere, as is the case here, sometimes take time to realise that their rights carry wider responsibilities in places like Scotland’s islands and remote communities.

The next big event at Inveraray Castle gardens is the Easter Eggstravaganza – a treasure hunt for tiny Pirates and Princesses on Sunday 8th April at 2.00pm.  The event features the innovative Walking Theatre Company – there are prizes for the most swashbucklingly dressed Pirate and the most beautiful tiara worn by a Princess.