(Updated 02.20) Weather. Roads.  Ferries. Information sources.

WEATHER

Tonight: Cloudy with patchy rain. Misty on high ground with some fog on highest routes. Light winds. Min temp night: 2 C.

Tomorrow – 12th February: Cloudy with patchy light rain. Very light winds. Max temp 7 C.

ROADS

Deer Warning: A83 between Dundaramh and Strone Point – deer have being seen on this section of road, in numbers, nightly, for the past fortnight.

A85 30th January – 10th February 2012: Transport Scotland are notifying roadworks for the A85 between Taynuilt and Connel. This is a carriageway resurfacing job with temporary traffic signals and single lane traffic convoyed through in each direction.

• A83 at Rest and Be Thankful: Open.  Latest information on A83 from Transport Scotland here. Warnings of increased risk of landslide remain in force.

Transport Scotland  – on 11th January 2012 –   opened this webpage specifically for the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful. It is reviewed weekly and will be updated in the event of any new landslip.

FERRIES

• Western Ferries, Hunter’s Quay (Dunoon)-McInroy’s Point (Gourock): Sailing as schedule.
• Argyll Ferries, Dunoon-Gourock (passenger only): Sailing as schedule.
• Seabus, Helensburgh-Kilcreggan-Gourock (passenger only): Sailing as schedule.
• CalMac, (West coast ferry operator): Sailing as schedule, except for notifications below.

CalMac service notifications for 11th February

• Colintraive-Rhubodach: a With smaller vessel on this route for the moment delays may be possible. Extra sailings will be carried out when required.

CalMac has issued advance warning of service changes for the Islay service from 12th-15th February inclusive. In order to complete the company’s overhaul programme in time for the summer season, it has been necessary to deploy one of the vessels from the Islay service to another route. An amended timetable for these four days will be operating as below on the Islay Service. Normal service is hoped to resume on 16th February.

• Sunday 12th February:  Depart Kennacraig 13:00 & 18:00. Depart Port Askaig 09:45, 15:30 & 20:15.
• 13th, 14th and 15th February: Depart Kennacraig 07:00, 13:00 & 18:00. Depart Port Askaig 09:45, 15:30 & 20:15.

CalMac has issued advance warning of timetable changes for the Tayinloan-Gigha route – for a prolonged period, 6th February to 29th March inclusive – except for 14th, 15th and 16th March,  applying during slipway works at Tayinloan. The timetable for this period will  be as follows:

ALL Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays

• Depart Tayinloan – 08.00; 09.00; 10.00; 11.00; 12.00; 16.35; 17.35.
• Depart Gigha – 07.35; 08.30; 09.30; 10.30; 11.30hrs; 15.30; 17.05.

Tuesday and Sunday(s) normal scheduled timetable service will be operating.

TRAVEL INFORMATION SOURCES

Online Information

• BBC Travel News (best up to date)
• Traffic Scotland – Current incidents  (not reliably up to date)
• Argyll Ferries – Service status
• CalMac Ferries – Service Status
• Western Ferries (note on service status at foot of home page)
• West Coast Motors – Service Updates
• Scottish Citylink Coaches
• ScotRail
• Glasgow Airport – Flight Information

Phone information only

• Hebridean Air Services: 0845 805 7465 (Flights between Oban and Tiree, Coll and Colonsay)
• Seabus: (Helensburgh-Kilcreggan-Gourock passenger ferry) 01475 721281 (Clyde Marine)
• Isle of Kerrera-Gallanach ferry: 01631 563665
• Isle of Easdale-Ellenabeich ferry: 01852 300559 (ferry shed) or 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Isle of Lismore-Port Appin ferry: (passenger ferry) 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Isle of Luing (Cuan)-Seil ferry: 01631 569160 or 01631 562125 (Argyll and Bute Council)
• Port Askaig (Islay)-Feolin (Jura) ferry: 01496 840681 (ASP Ship Management)
• Corran Ferry: (Ardgour and the Ardnamurchan Peninsula) 01855 841243 (Highland Council)

Speaking on the matter of the Council conducting covert surveillance, Ms Baillie says:

‘I am absolutely appalled that Argyll and Bute Council appear to have been engaging in spying on outspoken critics.

‘This raises extremely serious ethical questions that must be addressed.

‘Whilst we might expect behaviour such as this from some of the former Eastern European block countries during the Cold War, we certainly wouldn’t expect it to take place in Argyll and Bute Council in 21st century Scotland.

‘To suggest that if you criticise the Council, you will be subjected to covert surveillance, is particularly worrying for democracy.

‘It is important that we establish if this was simply one member of staff, or if this activity was condoned by more senior officers in the Council.

‘I will be writing to Derek Mackay the Minister for Local Government to request that a full investigation is carried out, either by Audit Scotland or some other independent organisation, as I do not believe that the Council should be left to investigate this matter on their own.’

We can only hope that the council is aware of the gravity of the situation and makes no attempt to hold an internal investigation.

In the circumstances which have culminated in this situation, an internal investigation could have no public credibility.

‘This matter was brought to my attention late yesterday afternoon.

‘Arrangements are being put in place for a full investigation.

‘The Council does not, nor would ever, advocate the use of covert accounts.’

‘The chief executive of the Council must make an immediate statement regarding the article published in today’s Herald.

‘We are in the process  of seeking clarity and asking for a full explanation regarding this issue.

‘If it is true that Council officers and administration Councillors  are Spying on Constituents and opposition Councillors heads must roll.

‘Argyll First fully support the calls for an independent inquiry.’

The group has also already written to the CEO, Mrs Sally Loudon, copying in the position statement above and requiring her to ‘respond to our request as detailed’.

Dear Sally

I am on the boat to Mull and have just read the Herald.  I cannot remember being as angry .  The thought that my constituents have been “spied on” by a senior member of your staff is truely outrageous. And when I consider the likelihood that I was one of these people, then words almost fail me.

If the article is not true I am sure you will tell me that immediately.  If it is true then not only must disciplinary action be immediate but I will also be calling for a full independent external inquiry.

There are  significant issues under the data protection and standards legislation that will require consideration.  In addition I also understand that the activities undertaken by staff may  have included posting comments about opposition political figures on websites so there will need to be a full and open account given of all these “spying” activities and information produced as to where the “product” of this spying ended up.  Who saw it or was told of it?  Did senior officials and administration councillors have access to it?  All these matters demand rigorous investigation with no delay.

Finally all this must be undertaken with total transparency and to that end I am releasing this to the media.

Yours sincerely
Michael

This covert surveillance includes the private Facebook activities of campaign groups.

These will certainly have included school campaigners and their umbrella organisation, the Argyll Rural Schools Network – and indeed the school closures campaign was mentioned by Ms Smith at the conference in question. The Castle Toward Sale Facebook campaigners are another possible target as are the current Dunoon school closure campaigners, whose Facebook area is seductively password protected and who are in the troubled Council Leader’s constituency.

The Herald article shows that Council Communications Manager, Jo Smith, revealed the practice – introduced under her regime -  in her presentation at a PR conference.

The event was ‘Epic social media for public services Scotland’ and was held in Glasgow’s Thistle Hotel on 28th September 2011. Ms Smith was one of the presenters in the morning, using a powerpoint backup which we located at the online conference report and downloaded – in the nick of time as the page was (coincidentally?)  suspended – and remains so, shortly after Ms Smith learned that The Herald was running this story.

In her presentation,we understand that Ms Smith not only revealed the council practice of using ‘Spy Accounts’ but advocated its use by her fellow public service professionals.

To the credit of that profession, whose reputation is substantially damaged by the use of such practices, the Herald article records that many in the audience were shocked and recoiled instinctively from the unethical nature of such practices.

Ms Smith was also taking an afternoon workshop at the event, on managing negatives, during which she was, according to Mr Naysmith’s piece, questioned on the ethics of what she was doing. Ethical practice, on this evidence, has hardly been a prime value of Ms Smith’s but the question will have alerted her to the alarms of others – and the necessary backtracking appears to have followed.

In this Ms Smith talked of dummy accounts in Facebook groups. But the deliberate use of the chosen term ‘Spy Accounts’ implies very much more – the invisible presence on the forums of such groups being entry level activity.

The critical fact is that the use of ‘Spy Accounts’ – and we emphasise that this is the council’s own terminology as promulgated by Ms Smith – is and has been in practice for some time. It has been enthusiastically adopted. It is being touted as the way forward. Signally, it has established both the appetite for and the practice of covert surveillance in Argyll and Bute Council, even to the level of spying on local critics and campaigners.

In the light of this genuinely horrifying revelation, it is unlikely that this is by any means the only area in which this council administration will have been employing covert surveillance. It has long been paranoid about opposition councillors – and internal trust of administration members themselves is not universal.

There is further cause for alarm in the recent plan to expand the council’s press department extensively and expensively. We now know what work these new staffers will be doing – information harvested by covert surveillance takes a lot of time to review.

The big question is the use to which such information has been put and by whom?

Unlawful as well as unethical

The use of surveillance of all kinds by local authorities is recognised not to be well governed but it is statutorily governed by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act 2000. This is the transfer to Scottish law of the Westminster enacted Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000.

In the terms of the conduct covered by the Act, Ms Smith’s gung-ho activities undertaken by her own account at the conference,  in the council’s name, is ‘directed surveillance’.

Ms Smith was speaking at the Glasgow event as Communications Manager at Argyll and Bute Council. Her entire presentation was about council communications and the ‘Spy Accounts’ activity was presented by her as current council practice. Rightly or wrongly the council is now hard wired into complicity in this ongoing practice.

Local authorities are required to have authorisation for surveillance activity. This can be given by magistrates and local authorities can also have internal staff permitted to issue such authorisations.

Permitted surveillance by local authorities centres on issues like counter-terrorism, benefit fraud and fly-tipping. There has, however, been increasing concern about local authority abuse of covert surveillance activity – and its application to internet activity is recognised as the hardest to defend.

Questions to be asked

• Does Argyll and Bute Council have specific authorisation for these covert activities?
• How many internal officers are able to authorise such activity?
• How many internal requests for authorisation have been received over the past two years?
• What percentage of authorisations was granted in relation to requests received?

We are asking the Chief executive to confirm whether the ‘Spy Account’ activities trumpeted by Ms Smith at this formal public event were authorised and if so, by whom and under what terms of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers (Scotland) Act?

We are asking for precise information on what was done with the information gathered by such means – and by whom.

We are asking, if these covert surveillance activities were not authorised, what is the council’s attitude to an employee who conducts such activities personally, in the council’s name and gives a public audience of professionals to understand that this is now council policy?

A sacking issue

If these activities were not authorised, there is a straightforward sacking imperative since this practice has destroyed the council’s reputation for ethical conduct in its communications operation.

It has left the leader of the council’s communications team in a position beyond public trust and therefore leaves all public communications from the council suffering a profound credibility deficit. This position cannot be recovered under Ms Smith.

We are calling on all Argyll media to make their own position on this matter, whatever it is, unequivocal at the earliest opportunity. Their readers and listeners have a right to know their values on such issues, not least since many of them, particularly through the widespread activities on school closure campaigns, will have been unknowingly subject to such covert surveillance.

For Argyll unhesitatingly finds such practices, in any form and at any level, completely unacceptable in ethical practice. This is a road no honest person or organisation should even contemplate starting to travel.

If Ms Smith’s activities were authorised, the council will find it difficult to account for the endorsement of such conduct.

The Herald article notes a council response it received last night:

‘Argyll and Bute Council does not use and does not condone the use of covert social media accounts’.

Did this statement come from the Council’s official spokesperson, its Communications Manager, Ms Smith?

This impossibility makes clear the fact that her position is untenable. She has, as is now known to be the removal trigger, become the story.

Her inevitable departure will not, however, be an end to the matter. There are now other issues to be investigated, such as the possible covert surveillance of elected members.

If Ms Smith’s covert surveillance adventures were not authorised, it paints a picture of a council out of control, where no one knows or cares what anyone else is doing. It is inconceivable that in a well managed council administration, an officer at senior level would go solo and so spectacularly off piste in so sensitive a matter.

Ms Smith may have been an enthusiastically unprincipled participant in covert surveillance practices but there is an underlying corporate culture at Argyll and Bute Council which breeds such activities and values and which is overdue root and branch revision.

Note: Here is Ms Smith’s back up powerpoint presentation for her appearance at the ‘Epic Social Media for Public Services Scotland’ conference in Glasgow on 28th September 2011, (josmith). Readers will note, as we did with some amusement, that Slide 6 is devoted solely to uncredited material from For Argyll under the heading ‘It shouldn’t happen to a Council’. No examples of negative media coverage from any other source are given. We take it as confirmation of our good judgment that we are of such singular concern to an administration and an officer whose reputations for probity of practice are now beyond recall.

Update Note 16.47 10th February: : The Herald story is now available online here.

This fall back route would be the back up for traffic  in the event of any further landslips closing this stretch of the A83.

This is a solution that Argyll and Bute’s MSP has been been campaigning for over the last few months.

He says: ‘I am delighted that Alex Neil and John Swinney have  responded so positively to my request, as the constituency MSP,  for funding to allow the haul road to be used as an emergency alternative route for the A83 at the Rest and be Thankful in the event of any future land slips.

‘I am also very pleased that the Forestry Commission has been able to source some additional and immediate money which will mean that the project can be brought forward quickly.

‘I have been working on this with Forestry and other interests  for some time and whilst there is still work to be done on the surveying and detailed examination of the forestry road in Glen Croe, the tremendous support that has come from the Timber Transport Group, Forestry Contractors, the Commission, the local Police, Argyll & Bute Council, Transport Scotland, Scotland Transerv and now the Government has meant that we have  achieved funding and a commitment to go ahead in a very short period of time.

‘This will be a huge boon to all those who have been badly affected by the issue.

‘The £100,000 study announced by Keith Brown (Ed: Transport Minister) two weeks ago will also help take forward the long term, permanent solution to the problems at the Rest but a short term, fall back road for all traffic, in convoy, will save time and money and increase safety if there are any more incidents.’

With forestry haul roads built to take large and heavily loaded vehicles, this is the ideal temporary back up to this section of the A83, capable of carrying all of the traffic that uses this vital arterial road into and out of Argyll.

Responses

From Jamie McGrigor, MSP

Commenting on this announcement, Highlands & Islands Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor, who has consistently lobbied the Scottish Government  on this issue, working closely with South Kintyre Councillor Donald Kelly of Argyll First, says:

‘I am delighted that the Scottish Government has taken up the idea promoted by myself and Donald Kelly to upgrade the forestry track in Glen Croe as an alternative route should the A83 be blocked.

‘It is good to see common sense come into play as the A83 is such an important lifeline to Argyll, especially Campbeltown and Kintyre. This will be money well spent if it can keep open this vital route which has been plagued by so many blockages of late. The economy of Argyll is greatly dependent on the route and I hope that work goes ahead on this upgrading project as soon as possible.’

‘Careful monitoring continues and the recent spell of dry weather has helped to stabilise the hillside.   As a result of this development the Wig Wag signs have been returned to normal operation.  Other safety measures such as the traffic management, the tilt meters and instigating patrols of the hillside in the event of a deterioration of the forecast weather conditions, remains in place.

‘Additionally, Graham Edmond, Head of Road Maintenance at Transport Scotland says:

‘ “Transport Scotland fully understands the impact landslides can have on communities and we continue to plan for and manage the risk associated with them across Scotland.

‘ “Around the Rest and be thankful in particular, we are looking at protective netting, shelters and the potential for planting on the hillside. The improvement and strengthening of the nearby forestry road, as an emergency alternative, is also being investigated as discussed at previous meetings.” ‘

Further information is available on the Transport Scotland’s Rest and be Thankful website page.

The detail of the briefing made it very clear just how influential Argyll First’s Sign for the A83 campaign has been. every point they have made has been accepted and is being investigated already.

The Argyll First councillors – Donald Kelly, John McAlpine and Dougie Philand say that they: ‘…are delighted that the Scottish Government have recognised all the issues raised in our ongoing petition, Sign for the A83.

‘This news should encourage any member of the public who has not yet signed the petition to do so now. (Sign for the A83)

‘We expect to present the petition to the Scottish Government in March. In the meantime we would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to sign the petition.’

Transport Scotland’s Network Manager North’s email to Councillor Philand

Sent: 03 February 2012 14:02
To: Philand, Dougie

Subject: A83 Rest and Be Thankful -

Dougie

The full brief has not been finalised as yet. I will provide a copy when it has. We are looking at a procurement lead in time of 2-3 months followed by 3 -4 months for the consultants to undertake the study, so we would be looking towards the end of the summer to have the report available to us.

As I say the brief is in the process of being finalised but it is likely that it will require the consulting engineer to examine the following issues:-

• Feasibility of providing an engineering solution at Rest and Be Thankful eg shelter (roof) protection that would allow landslide to flow over road or raise level of road on box culvert that would allow flow under the road/
• Feasibility of a new parallel alignment at RaBT
• Feasibility of a new alignment exploring possibility of an alternative route eg following a different valley altogether
• Review of safety of the A83 including pedestrian crossing facilities at Ardrishaig and Tarbert
• Feasibility of removing various pinch points eg Inveraray Bridge, Erines and Barmore Road, Tarbert
• Mention was made at Wednesday’s meeting regarding the diversion route should the road be closed south of Inverneil. The report will also examine the suitability of existing diversion routes including the feasibility of introducing new diversion routes similar to the RaBT forestry track diversion route that we’re currently investigating

Other issues will be considered separately and may if appropriate feed into the final report.

• The issue regarding trunking the A83 from Kennacraig to Campbelltown is a strategic issue and will be considered internally by Transport Scotland
• Upgrading of the Forestry Commission Track at RaBT to provide an Emergency Diversion Route will be progressed by Transport Scotland and our Operating Companty, Scotland TranServ.
• Long term plans to introduce vegetation to stabilise slope will be progressed with our Geotechnical expert, Mike Winter and other experts including the Forestry Commission. The conclusions of this will feed into the above report
• Installation of additional  geotechnical instrumentation at the site of the most recent landslide and Debris Flow Netting will be progressed by Scotland TranServ

As part of the above exercise it is envisaged that the consulting Engineer will also carry out a consultation exercise with local communities.

Regards
Andy

Andy Anderson
Network Manager North
Trunk Road and Bus Operations

Current position

‘A conference call was held yesterday afternoon (26th January) between Transport Scotland including our specialist geotechnical consultant, Mike Winter and Scotland TranServ’s (STS) geotechnical engineers to discuss the way ahead at the Rest and Be Thankful.

‘The current position is that the road immediately below the location of the landslide and the areas that were identified as potential areas for further movement is restricted to one lane controlled by traffic signals with a concrete barrier to provide a level of protection should further slippage occur.

‘Movement of the soil on the hillside has reduced considerably which has given us the comfort to scale down 24/7 monitoring, reverting to observation when landslip patrols have been triggered by a severe weather warning.

‘Landslip patrols will also be extended during the hours of darkness to observe the tilt meters.

‘Scotland’s Transerv’s geotechnical Engineer visits the site on a weekly basis and makes detailed observations including viewing the hillside from the opposite side of the valley, taking photographs which are compared with previous ones taken to identify trends and whether further movement is occurring.

‘Delays at the traffic signals remain negligible.

‘The issue of when would be the most appropriate time to fully reopen the road to 2 way traffic and remove the signals and barrier was also discussed.

‘Concerns remain that a further landslip could occur at this location. The space created by closing off the lane closest to the bottom of the slip and the protection provided by the barrier is still considered to be worthwhile protection. The presence of traffic signals also slows vehicles and has the benefit of making drivers more vigilant as they pass through, particularly at night when flood lights are used to illuminate the road.

‘For these reasons, and given that the delays at present are minimal, 1 to 2 minutes at the most, it was agreed to keep the barrier in place until more robust protection such as debris flow netting and more sophisticated remote monitoring geotechnical instrumentation can be installed. Scotland Transerv met with the debris flow netting contractor last week and the contractor will be submitting proposals and detailed costs shortly.’

Use of the forestry haul route

‘Regarding the use of the Forestry Haul Route: Scotland TranServ met with the Forestry Commission on site last week and are currently preparing a report identifying what works will be required to upgrade the forestry track to a suitable standard, including estimated costs plus giving consideration to operational practicalities of convoy working along the diversion route.

‘I expect to receive this report shortly and in advance of the follow up meeting with Michael Russell MSP, The Forestry Commission Scotland and the Argyll and Bute Timber Transport Association which is taking place Monday 30 Jan.

‘We are also in discussions with our legal colleagues to clarify use of such a road.’

Community engagement

‘We have started the process of engaging with local community about Rest and Be Thankful and other issues on the A83 and the following meetings have already taken place:

• 18 Jan Tarbert – Meet with Bob Chicken of Tarbert & Skipness Community Council
• 24 Jan Arrochar – Meet Jim Smith Head of Roads Argyll & Bute Council

‘Going forward, the following meetings have also been arranged:

• 30 Jan – Ardgarten – meeting with Michael Russell and the Forestry Commission and Argyll and Bute Timber Transport Association
• 1 Feb – Lochgilphead – Meet Mid Argyll, Kintyre and Islands Area Committee followed by MAKI Community Planning
• 9 Feb – Tarbert – Meet with Tarbert & Skipness Community Council
• 21 Feb – Lochgoilhead – engage with local community at Lochgoilhead Village Hall
• 24 Feb – Campbeltown – Meet with Kintyre Initiative Working Group’

‘A number of mitigation measures have been implemented following the slippage, including Traffic Management remaining onsite, erecting Floodlights in the landslip area, installing tilt meters to observe the hillside above the roadside and instigating patrols of the hillside in the event of a deterioration in the forecast weather conditions whilst ensuring a heightened level of monitoring remains.

‘Further to these actions work continues to identify further measures to mitigate against the impact of landslides wherever they occur on our network. The landslide at the Rest and be Thankful has come under particular scrutiny and information is available on the Transport Scotland’s Rest and be Thankful website page.

Graham Edmond, Head of Road Maintenance at Transport Scotland says: ‘Transport Scotland fully understands the impact landslides can have on communities and we continue to plan for and manage the risk associated with them across Scotland.

‘Around the Rest and be thankful in particular, we are looking at protective netting, shelters and the potential for planting on the hillside. The improvement and strengthening of the nearby forestry road, as an emergency alternative, is also being investigated as discussed at previous meetings.’

As a major bus company operating across a wide area of the west of Scotland, it has good reason to be concerned about the state of this cruciual road.

The company is pleased that The Sign for the A83 campaign is being supported strongly by businesses and the community within Argyll and fully supports the campaign and its aim of achieving significant improvements to the A83.

Colin Craig, Managing Director of West Coast Motors, says: ‘The Sign for the A83 campaign is proving to be successful in gaining support – but what we really want now is agreement from those responsible for making decisions at senior government level to take the actions that are urgently required.

‘For local people the major benefits of the recommended improvements would be less disruption of our services due to adverse weather conditions or road closures caused by landslides as well as the potential for a reduction in journey times.

‘For visitors, the possible benefits would be reduced journey times and improved accessibility.  These factors along with the £8 million Southworth development in Kintyre and our efforts, via the  Kintyre Express, to open up Kintyre as a destination from Ireland would result in a significant boost to our local economy through increased numbers of visitors.

‘As a long established local business which uses the A83 frequently, the increased costs caused by service disruption and road closures every winter can be extensive and poor road quality obviously has an impact on our vehicles, in which we invest a huge amount every year.  The poor road quality issue can, in large part, be addressed by the A83 between Kennacraig and Campbeltown being designated a trunk road and Transport Scotland taking ownership of its maintenance whilst the road closure issue may prove more difficult to resolve but every effort should be made to do so urgently.’

West Coast Motors has already provided written support to the campaign and pledges to do everything it can to help the campaign achieve its aims.

Crippling our best businesses

This is not just one of Argyll’s major businesses, it is one of the most enterprising and innovative, with a commitment to aligning what it does with economic development for Argyll.

It has made a major investment, along with Scottish Citylink, in seven supercoaches to run an increased frequency service between Glasgow and Campbeltown and to serve the Glasgow to Oban route.

It has also invested in Kintyre Express,  a new fast passenger ferry service from Campbeltown to Ballycastle on the  north coast of Ireland, with two RedBay Stormforce boats about to be joined by the third in the fleet, a eyar after the second was launched and entered service.  Passengers fro the Ballycastle end are coming familiarity with good roads. Then they land in Campbeltown and meet – the hard way – the consequences of sustained neglect of infrastructural responsibilties.

How can Scotland hope to stimulate economic development when an example of the very business energies it badly needs is finding its operation and ambition undermined on a daily basis by a wholly inadequate roads infrastructure?

This must feel like what Geofrey Howe, in his famous ministerial resignation speech in the Thatcher days, described as: ‘like going in to bat only to find that the captain has broken the bats’.

Scotland needs to give its best business bats decent equipment and a good crease.

Sign for the A83

Non-progress note:  Argyll First have, as yet, had no response of any kind to their request to meet with the Transport Minister, Keith Brown to discuss the A83. This news is an ironic accompaniment to Colin Craig’s call, above, for government action on the A83.

A CalMac spokesman said: ‘Gale force winds are forecast to return to many parts of our network at various times over this weekend, particularly on Saturday, so ferry travellers are advised to check here on the CalMac website for the latest service information when making travel plans.’

The passenger service between Gourock and Dunoon operated by CalMac’s sister company, Argyll Ferries, may also be affected. The latest information on that service is available here on its website.

For Argyll’s Today’s Travel Updates will work to keep the detailed developing picture available in one spot.

Adam Belshaw will be 19 when the next round of Scottish local council elections take place, and he will be running for office on the Isle of Bute. The island’s three current councillors – Len Scoullar, Isobel Strong and Robert Macintyre – have had a strong following for years. None of them are under 50 and all of them make Bute’s older population – a strong feature across Argyll Bute – feel represented.

They probably don’t give a great deal of hope to Bute’s younger generations. The island’s brightest and best young minds are usually fleeing to the city by the time they reach Adam’s age. The prevailing attitude is that Bute is the place to raise your children and, rather morbidly, to die.

For anybody in between, they face an increasing struggle to find work and opportunity. The island needs some new ideas, and Adam Bellshaw is screaming from the roof tops.

Adam was born and raised in Cambuslang until the age of seven when his parents, William and Lorna, relocated the family to Bute.

“The area we lived in was a bit too dangerous, my mum didn’t want us to grow up around that. She thought it would be a nice quiet life for us. It was a lot better than Cambuslang and everyone was a lot friendlier than Glasgow,” Adam said.

“That is why I took such an interest in what’s happening on the island. I love the quietness and the community spirit.”

Student life

A tall but well-built young man, it’s a struggle to believe Adam is just 18. His commanding presence is softened by his polite and well-mannered attitude and his passion for local politics is rarely associated with someone not long out of secondary

To read the rest of this article click here. Originally published by Bute Bites.

Significantly, Argyll and Bute Council have been supportive, with discussion on the A83 at the December meeting of the Executive followed by an emergency amendment proposed by Councillor Alison Hay and seconded by Transport Spokesperson, Councillor Duncan MacIntyre.

The minute reads:

‘The Chair advised that the following Notice of Motion under Standing Order 14 had been received for consideration as a matter of urgency at this meeting:

‘This Committee requests that the Leader of the Council seeks a meeting with the Minister for Transport and the Minister for Infrastructure to discuss the persistent closures over the last 3 years of the A83.

‘The road is the main access into Argyll for the people of Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands and therefore is vital to the people and businesses who use this route.”

Moved by Councillor Alison Hay, seconded by Councillor Duncan MacIntyre.

The Chair ruled and the Committee agreed that the above Motion along with the business dealt with at item 15 of this minute be taken as a matter of urgency by reason of the need for better and more integrated strategic transportation infrastructure planning due to problems that had arisen from the recent landslip on the A83 Rest and Be Thankful and associated road closure; and the ongoing operational issues with the new Dunoon-Gourock passenger ferry service.’ (The formal draft minute on these matters is here: $ExecutivePaperStrategicTransportInfrastructure15Dec2011)

Since the A83 enables the only two points of road access to the Cowal peninsula and, via the short Colintraive to Rhubodach ferry to the Isle of Bute , it is odd not to see Cowal and Bute mentioned in the motion; but their interests will be served by the sum of the collective effort Argyll First are working to bring to this campaign.

Councillors George Freeman (Lomond) and Gordon Chalmers (Mull), of the Argyll and Bute Independent Councillors Group, have also added their personal support in signing the petition.

While much business support has been coming in by hard copy letters – some of which we have noted in previous news items, a lot is arriving by email. A sample of these includes:

• Argyll Estates and Inveraray Castle
• Campbeltown Community Business Ltd. and The Picture House Campbeltown
• Collins Clayton and Co, Campbeltown
• For Argyll
• Furnace Community Council
• Inverclyde and North Ayrshire Care Services Ltd,
• Loch Fyne Gallery, Harbour Street Tarbert
• Loch Melfort Hotel & Restaurant
• Machrihanish Dunes Golf Club
• John & Elaine Mackirdy Bute, Black of Dunoon
• Oatfield House Bed and Breakfast Campbeltown
• West Coast Motors
• Wild and Magic Islay travel company, Islay
• Wild Biscuit Ltd.

The geographical span of these concerned  businesses underlines the importance of the A83 across Argyll.

ADD YOUR OWN SUPPORT NOW – Sign for the A83. This road matters.

The SNP pledged in their 2011 manifesto to roll out RET after a pilot of the scheme in the Western Isles and gave the plans the go ahead on November 29 last year.

However, when Bute wasn’t named specifically in the Scottish government’s plans, Argyll Bute MP Alan Reid claimed the SNP had no intention of rolling the scheme out to Bute, saying: “There is no commitment to bring RET to Bute.

“All RET schemes have started at the beginning of the winter timetable in October. Arran starts October 2014. There is only one more October before the end of the parliament. Why did the Scottish government not say that RET would come to Bute in October 2015?

“If a Government gives a date for the implementation of a specific commitment, you can generally believe them. This is not the case here. We still have to fight for this.”

ButeBites contacted the Scottish government for clarification on whether RET would come to the island. Transport Scotland’s Colin Grieve said: “You may be aware that the SNP’s 2011 manifesto contained a commitment to “continue the
Road Equivalent Tariff on the current routes, and look to roll out to the Argyll and Clyde islands in light of the Western Isles pilot”.

“I can confirm that these plans include the introduction of RET on ferry services to Bute (Wemyss Bay-Rothesay and Colintraive-Rhubodach) within the lifetime of this parliament.

“In addition you may be interested to know that contained within the Scottish Ferry Service Draft Plan recently published for consultation is a proposal to enhance the Colintraive-Rhubodach service, running the service through to midnight, thereby extending the operating day.

“The

To read the rest of this article click here. Originally published by Bute Bites.

Mr Brown has told Highlands & Islands Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor that the Scottish Government will look again at a hauliers’ ferry discount scheme ‘to ensure we can offer discounts to small hauliers too.’

Jamie McGrigor’s representations to the Minister came after he was approached by numerous small hauliers on the West Coast of Scotland who were extremely alarmed that, following this Spring’s planned ending of the Road Equivalent Tariff scheme (RET) for commercial vehicles, the Scottish Government’s replacement scheme would only offer a 25% discount to the operators of large commercial vehicles, not to small operators.

In a letter to Jamie McGrigor the Minister states that, in response to feedback from hauliers, the Government plans to ‘fine-tune’ its new discount scheme and ‘will look again at how the discount applies to ensure that we can offer discounts to small hauliers too.’

The new scheme will be introduced in Spring this year on routes on which RET currently applies. The Minister also confirms that the government will seek to extend the current definition of a commercial vehicle from 5 metres to 6 metres in time for the next Clyde & Hebrides ferry tender.

Speaking today Jamie McGrigor says: ‘ I am prepared to give a cautious welcome to the Transport Minister’s concession on this issue of very real concern to small hauliers in my region of the Highlands & Islands.

‘I have received numerous representations from small hauliers operating on routes in the inner and outer Hebrides and they were rightly furious that the new discount scheme was only due to apply to larger operators. This was patently unfair and would have placed them at a severe and unacceptable competitive disadvantage and could have squeezed many of them out of business and led to less competition for island communities and the consumers, farmers and crofters dependent on these smaller companies.

‘I urge the Minister and his officials to engage with small hauliers and ensure that they are included in what needs to be a comprehensive discount scheme. I will continue to press him in Parliament to ensure this happens.’

In apologising for the ;disruption and inconvenience’ following the  latest landslip in December 2011, Mr Brown also states that Transport Scotland will be considering the feasibility of a range of options ‘including the establishment of an emergency diversion route via an existing forestry haul road.’

Jamie McGrigor, who made urgent representations to the Minister on this subject on the 1st of December and who raised the closure with the First Minister at First Minister’s Question Time in the Scottish Parliament that week, says:  ‘I am prepared to give a cautious welcome to the news that Transport Scotland will be looking at how the existing forestry haul route might be used as a diversion in the event of further closures; this is something I and my colleague Councillor Donald Kelly have, for some time now, been calling for.

‘The A83 is a key trunk road route which is absolutely critical to the economy of the whole of Argyll & Bute and especially Campbeltown and Kintyre and residents and businesses alike remain very worried that they will be affected by further closures caused by future landslips. Ministers and Transport Scotland need to do all in their power both to prevent further landslips and to ensure smooth contingency measures can be put in place if we face further problems.

‘I will be questioning the Transport Minister in more detail on this subject in Parliament at Question Time on January 19th. In the meantime I continue to urge constituents and businesses to give their backing to the Sign for the A83  petition being co-ordinated by Cllr Donald Kelly and others. It is vital that pressure is maintained on the Scottish Government to recognise the strategic importance of the A83.’

NOTE: Here is the letter from Transport Minister,Keith Brown in response to Jamie McGrigor MSP: Trasnport Minister to Jamie McGrigor MSP on A83

(Updated below) The For Argyll Newsroom and Techroom departments were both hit – along with tens of thousands of others in Argyll, with a loss of power from 6.30am on Tuesday 3rd January 2012.

At 6.00pm tonight – after an outage of 60 hours and three lost working days, the newsroom came back onstream. Techroom is still without power but installed a generator during the day and is also back up and running – with a generator also on order for the newsroom.

With dect landline phones and wifi, a power wipe out takes you back to the dark ages and leaves you there. Many areas, including those affecting the various departments of For Argyll, have also had no mobile phone signals as masts too were left without power.

A worry for everyone is that not all of the power now restored may hold. A significant number of the households restored today in Argyll by Scottish Hydro are the result ,not of repairs but of  generators being brought in to sub-stations. These generators have to be kept fuelled and winds are forecast for the next couple of days which may bring further losses of power and delay the repairs still not completed.

With no overall picture provided of where the outages were, communities have been disabled from helping each other as  many would instinctively have done and have wanted to do.

Bute is seeing food queues outside the shops still able, somehow, to operate. Hotels in Rothesay are running soup kitchens. BBC Scotland  – whose reporting of the situation overall has been exceptionally poor and discriminatory – tonight reported soup kitchens also in Lochgilphead – although why that should  be so remains a puzzle as Lochgilphead only lost power for the first 30 minutes at the start of the outage and has remained consistently onstream since.

This morning Scottish Hydro told us that 19,000 households in Argyll and Bute remained without power as of 9.30am. Pressed hard for details they instanced Easdale Island, Oban (which we understand was not even correct), Taynuilt, Dalmally, Loch Aweside, Furnace, Minard, Crinan, Tarbert, Skipness, Clachan,  Campbeltown, Southend, Strachur, Dunoon (although we understand that was for a short time only),  Glendaruel, Tighnabruaich, Colintraive, Toward, Rothesay, Port Askaig, Port Ellen – before giving up in despair, saying: ‘Oh, there are hundreds of these places…’

Scottish Hydro’s performance

Scottish Hydro has some very serious and precise questions to answer, on two specific issues  -  in public and with simple facts.

These relate first and very seriously to information handling; and then to the need to demonstrate the precise factual reality of some of the actions they claimed to be taking.

We are asking Michael Russell, Argyll and Bute’s MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Education, to pursue the issues below at the highest level and to insist upon Scottish Hydro making public the specific facts  their disappointed and angry customers demand.

The customers’ view

People are intelligent and realistic.

They know an act of God when they feel one under the eaves of their homes .

They do not expect utility companies to be able to resist such forces without a degree of service failure and without,  sometimes, a substantial degree of service failure.

People also know that there are priorities in repair scheduling and that these priorities marry common sense with the delivery targets against which corporations’ performance is measured.

Everyone knows that it makes sense to apply the first efforts to actions which connect at a stroke the greatest number of people. No one would argue against that logic.

The fact that this also fits the utility companies’ need to publish as quickly as possible large numbers of households to whom service has been restores, is a by-produce convenient for the companies. Customers largely do not object to this because it is a by product of a practical commons sense strategy.

However, what people do object to  – and rightly so – is not being given the information they unequivocally require in order to manage, in their own best interests, what is no less than a domestic trauma or  business crisis – replicated tens of thousand of times across the country.

The majority of people have no source of heating for food, water and space other than powered in some way by electricity.

Many have young children or elderly parents and relatives, a significant proportion of whom are ill and have limited mobility. Very many family carers are only able to manage the care they offer through assistance from electrically powered devices – like ripple mattresses, adjustable beds and reclining chairs, hoists and motorised wheel chairs- both of whose batteries need recharging.

Businesses cannot today function without computers, wifi broadband, mobile phones and other electrical equipment and without adequate heat to maintain their responsibilities to staff.

It is an unarguable imperative that households and businesses in any affected area are given accurate and honest information and assessments to help them to make decisions on managing the situation in which they find themselves.

Outright failure of information handling

The first set of facts required from Scottish Hydro relate to its quite shocking failure in information handling.

Never, at any point in this long and continuing saga  – which apparently  will not be complete until Sunday 8th January 2012 – has Scottish Hydro’ s information messaging offered any remotely area-specific pictures.

All it made available – even to those who pursued their queries through the emergency call lines – were repetitive bland assurances that the situation was difficult, that everything possible was being done and that the next update would be in a given number of hours.

So people who might have had an ill person in their household transferred to hospital for the duration hung on in the hope that they would not have to cause this distress and disorientation. Most managed as best they could at considerable physical risk to all concerned.

Businesses that might have made appropriate home-working arrangements – were given no reason to do so.  Businesses that might have sent a couple of operatives with laptops and mobiles to somewhere with power to carry on urgent contract or delivery work – were left with no known imperative to do so. Businesses that might have revised their scheduling were subject to the limbo imposed by the single most incompetent and irresponsible management of information we have seen in a major public emergency.

People who might have gone to a hotel for heat and food hung on in there hoping for an early result, always waiting for yet another three to five hours before the next non-update – for, to date, three days and nights – and counting.

This information strategy has no acceptable defence and is a matter on which heads should roll. It has multiplied the costs and the damage  to affected households and  businesses alike.

The threshold for the payment of compensation is anything over 48 hours without power – with representatives of the power companies being careful to say that this involves ‘some’ compensation – even though  businesses have lost days of work and, wiht this being the Christmas and Hogmanay period, many households have had full freezers and fridges – all binned.

We noted that Scottish Hydro’s messaging only mentioned being willing to pay for hotel and food accommodation (if it was ‘reasonable’ ) in a message put out after 7,00pm last night and which had been removed by 8.00am this morning – as indeed had all information of any kind been removed.

800 households (Scottish Hydro’s figures) across Argyll tonight are facing the completion of  their third successive 24 hour period without power and in many cases without heat, hot water and hot food. Given this situation, there is no reason to have virtually hidden and then swiftly removed the hotel accommodation offer – although hotels in affected areas would have had little better to provide.

This morning, with the later admission to us that 19,000 Argyll households remained without power, not only had the bland ‘situation update’ itself been removed but the offer to connect one with an ‘expert adviser’  led only to an endlessly ringing and never answered phone. Using the emergency line (Press 2) also brought a  very lengthy spell of  unanswered ringing out.

What they should have done

One assumes that there will have been a management plan with project management for the repair marathon -

• where the faults were and how they were prioritised;
• numbers of engineers available and coming onstrean at what times;
• shift systems to be employed;
• engineering support systems to be deployed – availability and estimated time to site;
• numbers of engineers to be deployed to which faults and in what order;
• estimated nature and time for repair of each fault – before site inspection;
• estimated nature and time for repair of each fault – after site inspection.

What is certain is that someone, somewhere in Scottish Hydro, absolutely knew the detail of the repair priority scheduling; knew when engineers were estimated to be deployed to specifc faults in specific areas; knew the estimated time for repair of each fault; and knew the updated repair times from the engineers when they arrived at and inspected the fault sites.

If any single one of these things was  not known to someone in authority at Scottish Hydro, such incomprehensible incompetence is the clearest possible prompt to switch supplier at once.

If such information – as it should and must have been, was indeed known by someone at Scottish Hydro, that information should have been made fully and immediately public and regularly and precisely updated.

This is the 21st century. ‘Customer care’ has to start meaning something closer to what the honest and innnocent imagine it means – and Scottish Hydro’s performance in no way met acceptable standards.

Questions on the credibility of what they did say

On Wednesday morning’s (4th January 2012) early automatic messaging, Scottish Hyrdro said they had 400 engineers working over Argyll, West Highlands, Tayside and Central – on a total of 90 faults.

Seven hours later the number of engineers was still trumpeted as 400 and the number of faultrs had come down to – 83. It us legitimate to ask quite how 400 engineers had been deployed to achieve a fault reduction of 7 in 7 hours.

An update 5 or 6 hours later again cited the 400 engineers and gave the number of outstanding faults then as 78.  It is also legitimate to ask how 400 engineeers were deployed to  have repaired another 5 faults in 5 or 6 hours.

With no infomation even given on what or where the faults were;  or on which faults how many engineers had been deployed in repair in what order, there is no basis for credibility in any of Scottish Hydro’s statements.

In the light of the utter inability of the company to manage information in the public interest, we have no confidence  at all in the capability of the company and have therefore no reason to trust what it claimed to be doing in repairs.

We had our own questions as to how, in any properly maintained system, even a storm of these dimensions should create quite such a scale of widespread system failure. We have learned from our own researches that there is knowledgeable dissatisfaction within the service of the calibre of maintenance carried out over the past 20 years.

It is now incumbent upon Scottish Hydro to make public its detailed maintenance schedule over this period – as compared with that of, say, five years previously.

It is also imperative for the company, in the interests of its credibility,  to make public detailed information about the engineers employed, and their specifc deployments in this emergency.

This charade of professionalism – by a foreign owned, profit-taking, private sector corporation, has led us, as a team, to see the value of a particular model of delivery of utilities and other services which would distinctively mark out and energise an independent and ambitious Scotland. This will be published tomorrow (6th January 2012).

Update Friday 6th January 2012: Scottish Hydro has informed us that the Isle of Bute is now back onstream.