The condition of the hillside above the section of the A83 at Rest and Be Thankful continues to give concern on its stability, Public safety is clearly paramount.

Transport can and are doing all they can in monitoring the hill. They can detect movement but of course they cannot stop it.

The Draft Ferries Plan suggests, in relation to Kintyre, a ferry service connecting Campbeltown to the Scottish mainland at Troon in Ayrshire but only operating one or two days a week.

Councillor Donald Kelly says: ‘I would urge residents of Campbeltown and Kintyre to respond to the ferries consultation and argue strongly that we do want a ferry service between Campbeltown and the Ayrshire coast but that it must serve our community 5 days a week and not just the one or two days envisaged by the Scottish Government; this is clearly my position and the wish of large numbers of local residents and the business sector here. It is important that local people indicate to the Scottish Government that they want this service and it would be well utilised.

‘The Scottish Government should also consider, given that Kintyre’s isolated location means that it is considered by many to be a ‘mainland island’, applying RET to such a ferry route.

‘Any ferry service has to be fast, reliable and cost effective for it to be successful.’

Jamie McGrigor MSP, who has already, on behalf of Mid Kintyre constituents, urged the Transport Minister to retain the ferry link between Claonaig to Lochranza on Arran whose future is also under review in the Draft Ferries Plan, says:

‘Donald Kelly and I have consistently called for Campbeltown to have a ferry service linking it with the Ayrshire coast. This would offer travellers extra choice, could boost tourism in Kintyre and would offer hauliers an alternative way of transporting goods. And given all the problems caused by the closure of the A83 such a ferry service could be vitally important in future.’

Deadline: Responses to the Ferries Review (linked above)  should be with the Scottish Government by 30th March 2012.

The section on Kintyre in the plan

Paragraphs to note here vare as follows:

• 35. Kintyre currently has a service from Tarbert that links the peninsula with Portavadie. This is an important connection which is not only used as an alternative to the extended road journey for people travelling from Kintyre to the central belt, but is used by people living around Portavadie who want to travel to Kintyre and from there to Oban. It is also popular in the summer with visitors and forms part of a strategic set of routes that facilitate tourism in the summer months. To remove the route could have implications for not just the immediate area but further afield.
• 136. Given the inaccessibility of the Kintyre peninsula via road, we have looked at the potential for a new ferry route between Campbeltown and the Scottish mainland. This would be subject to two smaller vessels being introduced on the Arran route.  Specifically, a service operating between Kintyre, via Arran to Ardrossan (or Troon). The service would operate one or two days per week and allow for a meaningful day return trip to the Scottish mainland.
• 137. We very much welcome the introduction of West Coast Motors passenger only service between Campbeltown and Ballycastle.  We would hope that any new service introduced would complement what is already provided.
• 138. The proposal is at an early stage and would be dependent on proposals going forward from other parts of the network. In particular the potential to introduce a two-vessel service on Arran’s principal route. It is therefore a longer-term proposal.
• 139. This Draft Ferries Plan does not consider a Campbeltown to Ballycastle ferry service. Given continued financial pressures, ferries budget priorities must remain on the existing contracts and committed vessel and harbour projects.

140. The community is asked for their views on the following proposals:

• To retain the Kintyre to Portavadie service as is;
• Whether a vehicle service as described between Campbeltown and the Scottish mainland (for example Troon) would be well used.

Helensburgh-based childrens’ publisher, AnElephantCant, has been touched by our coverage of the work of Mary’s Meals, the Argyll-based international children’s food aid charity.

They have decided to make their own contribution by creating this image, by resident artist-director, Phil Burns – a playful version of Mary’s Meals current campaign with its ‘Big Blue Mug’.

The image is accompanied by a rhyme for children from writer-director Brian Cairnduff, who says: ‘If Mary’s Meals think they can use any of this for publicity – or to make a child smile – then they may have it. All they need to do is credit the artist.’
AnElephantCant contain his excitement
About the charity thatís called Maryís Meals
No jokes this time
But a cheery wee rhyme
To tell everyone just how he feels

Maryís Meals started feeding 200
Now it is 600,000 children each day
There is only one rule
They feed them in school
They never turn one child away

This Elephant does not usually do serious
He is aware that he sounds like a bore
But the laughs are adjourned
Where kids are concerned
He knows that he could and he should do much more

Please buy a mug which will help save these children
Itís quite big and itís a shiny bright blue
AnElephantCant
Eliminate want
But he is trying and asks you to do too

They are as follows:

• 13th March: Notice of election published
• 13th march onwards: Delivery of Nomination Papers: between 10.00am and 16.00pm on any day after the date of publication of the notice of election
• 29th March: 16.00 deadline for lodging Nomination Papers
• 29th March: 16.00 deadline for lodging appointment of Election Agent
• 29th March: 16.00 deadline for withdrawal of Nomination Papers
• 29th March: 17.00 – a`s soon as possible after this time: Publication of Statement as to Persons Nominated/Notice of Poll and list of polling stations,
• 29th March: First issue of Poll Cards
• 18th April: 17.00 deadline  for applications for a new postal vote; to change a postal vote to a proxy vote, or vice-versa, or to have a postal ballot paper sent to a different address, or to cancel a postal or proxy
• 18th April: Last date for receipt of new applications for the Register
• 20th April: Issue of Postal Votes
• 25th April: 17.00 deadline – for new applications to vote by proxy (not postal proxy)
• 25th April onwards: Opening of Postal Votes
• 26th April: Last day for the appointment of Polling and Counting Agents
• 3rd May: Polling Day
• 4th May: Verification and Count
• 8th June: Latest date for delivery of return of declarations as to election expenses

In the public interest, we will add here shortly the details governing election expenses.

It will be at 18.30 and at Lochgilphead Joint Campus.

The commission is chaired by Sheriff David Sutherland and is tasked with examining how education in rural areas is working for local people and how it is linked to rural community life.

It’s purpose is to make recommendations as to how the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 – which governs proposed school closures – might be amended in the interests of clarification of its intent.

It is important to remember that the core focus of the work of the Commission, as enshrined in its title, is on the delivery of rural education. This is not about what you get, it is about how you get it.

In essence, whatever the content of the meeting, to which contributions will be made by members of the commission and by members of the interested public, this is about:

• whether fewer and bigger schools are better for primary school children – as local authorities wish to see in their own financial interests;
• or whether more, smaller and community based schools are better – as rural communities, with concern for their sustainability without a school, wish to see.

The Argyll Rural Schools Network (ARSN), which fought two successful campaigns against proposed multiple rural primary school closures in Argyll and Bute, has a member on the commission – who, by convention, will not attend the local meeting.

The Commission would like to hear from all the people who have been or may be affected by these issues.

There will be the opportunity to hear from Commission Members and to ask questions.

• More information about the venue is available at the School office: phone 01546 602598.
• More information about the Commission’s work is on its website here.

It comes from John Semple, chair of the Argyll and the Islands Regional Board of the National Farmers Union of Scotland (NFUS).

‘I am writing on behalf of NFU Scotland Argyll & the Islands Regional Board in support of the petition calling for investment and improvements to the A83.

‘Road closures, substandard road surfaces and accident hotspots are all having a significant adverse affect on farmers, crofters and road hauliers who by necessity have to transport livestock, feed and other agricultural associated goods in and out of the area. The lengthy detour that many have to make when roads are closed is adding considerable cost and time to what are often essential journeys.

‘This week we have seen more torrential rain and the A83 at the ‘Rest and be Thankful’ has again been closed due to the ongoing risk of landslides. NFU Scotland supports the need for urgent action to invest significant funds to resolve this issue. NFU Scotland also believes that it is imperative that the A83 from Kennacraig to Campbeltown must be upgraded to a trunk road and significant investment made available to improve this substandard route.

‘The affected communities and businesses in Argyll can not afford to continue to have lengthy road closures and to incur the extra costs associated with a substandard road infrastructure. We need a pragmatic approach to securing a long-term solution and we fully support this petition to try and secure that. ‘

Weather. Roads.  Ferries. Information sources.

WEATHER

Patchy rain with the odd heavier burst. Very mild. Strengthening SW winds. Max tempe 12 C.

ROADS

• A83 CLOSED  – at Rest and Be Thankful:. (Our situation update is here). Review at 10.00am 23rd February.
• Northbound traffic is being diverted via A82 to Tyndrum onto A85 to Dalmally and join A819 to Inverarary vice versa for Southbound traffic.
• Duration: unknown

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.

Warning on driving conditions for 22nd February: Persistent heavy rain and strong winds forecast for tomorrow morning into afternoon will make for difficult driving condition.

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

FERRIES

CalMac warning to travellers on timely arrival for Oban ferry departures: There are roadworks on A828 between Oban Airport and Benderloch from 22 February to 29th February – which could slow journey times to Oban from the north.

• 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 23rd 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.
• Oban – Lochboisdale/Castlebay: Service may be disrupted with forecast SW winds of 30+ knots.
• Oban-Coll-Tiree-Oban: Service may be disrupted with forecast SW winds of 30+ knots. Ferry departed Oban 06.45 ETA Coll 09.40.

CalMac has issued advance warning of service changes for the Islay service from 19th-22nd February inclusive. Due to one of the ferries from the Islay Service being deployed to the Oban-Craignure route, an amended timetable will be operating on the Islay Service from Sunday 19 – Wednesday 22 February 2012 inclusive. From Monday 20th – Wednesday 22nd February (incl) services will be limited to:

• Departures Kennacraig: 07:00, 13:00 & 18:00hrs
• Departures Port Askaig: 09:45, 15:30 & 20:15hrs

• Thursday 16th & Friday 17th February: Depart Kennacraig @ 07:00hrs, 13:00hrs & 18:00hrs. Depart Port Askaig @ 09:45hrs, 15:30hrs & 20:15hrs.
• Saturday 18th February: Depart Kennacraig @ 07:00hrs, 13:00hrs & 18:00hrs. Depart Port Askaig @ 09:45hrs & 15:30hrs.

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)

MV Caledonian Isles was taken out of service while repairs were carried out to damage sustained when she was blown by severe winds onto the pier at Ardrossan on 14th February; and the MV Isle of Mull also sustained damage in similar circumstances at the pier in Oban on 18th February.

The MV Hebridean Isles, which has been covering the Oban-Craignure service, will now return to Islay and resume the two vessel service with MV Finlaggan from Monday 27th February.

A CalMac spokesman, catching his breath after a period where the company has not had its troubles to seek says: ‘We are grateful for the patience and understanding of all our customers while we worked round the temporary loss of two important vessels from our fleet.

‘The circumstances in which we had to deploy a vessel from another route as well as the designated spare, were exceptional and provided a number of challenges to be over overcome.

‘In particular we are grateful to the people of Islay, who had the inconvenience of having three rather than four return daily sailings with a single vessel. With their co-operation we were able to ensure that in all but a few cases, customers were moved when they desired.’

This ability to play ship placement like chess pieces – each able to occupy only certain squares and to perform a limited set of  moves – is one of CalMac’s great strengths. While some routes have a less frequent service than normal while ‘their’ ships are lent to keep other routes going, the network keeps a fundamental service running with impressive competence.

Argyll and Bute Council is an administration that has neglected to maintain Argyll’s roads for so long that they are amongst the worst in the country,  In the light of that straightforward fact, felt in the bones of all who are compelled to rattle around our roads today, it takes some brass to issue a blithely self-congratulatory press release. But this is La La land.

It announces that: ‘The £21million earmarked for roads improvements in Argyll and Bute over the next three years represents a ‘fantastic’ (Ed: their punctuation marks – why?) outcome to the council’s budget deliberations.’

In terns if what roads maintenance and improvement costs these days, £21 million over three years won’t look at the state Argyll’s roads are now in.

The answer to that, though is: ‘Argyll and Bute is prioritising routes which are likely to contribute greatest to economic growth and improved quality of life.’

That all embracing statement is not a prioritising, It is a blanket commitment they do not and could not intend to honour.

Any road that does not contribute to economic growth certainly adds to the quality of life. We notice that the roads to be ‘prioritised’ so generously are not identified.

But there is worse.

Given that £21million is an inadequate sum over the period, they are actually intending to divert some of the money away from the vitally needed frontline repairs.

The statement says: ‘The money will allow for significant method and operation change as well as enhanced long term planning, which will reduce reactive works and concentrate more on structural and planned maintenance.’

This is out of touch with reality.

The question this administration has to answer is why it has chosen – because this has been a choice – to let the roads in Argyll and Bute get into their current state of heavy disrepair.

Councilor George Freeman says: ‘Although the slight increase in funding is welcome, given the poor condition of our roads, it will be totally inadequate in addressing the problems that the public have to face on a daily basis.

‘I highlighted my concerns over the lack of funding for our roads at the Council’s recent budget meeting but unfortunately, my plea for additional funding, on top of what was being proposed by the administration, was ignored.

‘As we know, the Argyll & Bute public will face a bill of £50 million over the next 25 years to fund the disastrous CHORD Project.

‘Given the high level of public concern over this project, it should have been dropped long ago with the funding being invested in our roads’.

Of course CHORD should have gone long ago; and any economically literate council administration would know that if the infrastructure isn’t in place and isn’t kept fit for purpose, any attempt to introduce an economic development strategy will stall at the first rutted corner.

And Councillor Freeman has fingered the CHORD project which will go down in the annals of hugely wasteful public sector folly. The initial concept of a contest for waterfront regeneration funding between Argyll’s major towns was simply never one a pork barrell council was going even to want to deliver. Why they started out on that track, it is doubtful if they could explain themselves.

Anyway, they threw money at the problem, raided the reserves and declared that all five towns were winners and they would all get the prize. Then they continually threw money at the 21st century parasites of choice, ‘consultants’, to ‘manage’ the hares they had set running and could not control themselves.

And so far, after all this time and all this money, is there one single regenerative outcome of substance anyone can point to as a CHORD development?

In Campbeltown money has been taken from CHORD funding to help pay for an all weather sports pitch that the town should have had in the normal way years ago. Helensburgh is facing an architecturally illiterate vandalising of its graceful Colquhoun Square, courtesy of CHORD.

Meanwhile the roads will get the transport equivalent of a lick of paint over three years.

Councillor Freeman’s suggestion of the need for an administration to have the bottle just to stop CHORD now and redirect its funding to infrastructure is right thinking but unlikely to happen.

The road is closed between the A815 junction and the B828 junction..

The usual marathon diversion is in place – via A83 to Tarbet, A82 Crianlarich, A85 to Dalmally, to return to A82 via A819 at Inveraray.

The obvious fragility of this vital arterial road – with such frequent closures from landslides, leaves Argyll with normnal access unable to be guaranteed.

In our view, this latest incident must accelerate to the maximum a permanent solution to this recurring disablement.

Responses

Councillor Donald Kelly, speaking for the Argyll First group of councillors who have been running a major campaign – Sign for the A83 – to have this crucial road’s problems addressed as a  matter of urgency, says: ‘I feel it is important to stress that Labour, SNP,  Liberal Democrat ,Tory and Argyll First all support the campaign, Sign for the A83. There is widespread cross-party recognition that the issues with this road need to be resolved.’

Jamie McGrigor, Argyll-based Highlands and Islands MSP, ssay: ‘I know that people in Argyll & Bute will be dismayed that once again this lifeline route is closed. How long is it going to take for a permanent solution which will keep people safe while keeping traffic moving on this vital stretch of road?

‘The Scottish Government is talking about opening up the forest track on the other side of the glen as an emergency alternative route and have announced funding for this. Whilst this should not be viewed as a permanent solution, it would alleviate the present difficulties to some extent.  But Ministers need to tell us when is the Scottish Government going to come up with a permanent solution for the A83.’

Michael Russell, Argyll and Bute’s MSP, says: ‘Obviously the monitoring equipment on the rest is proving its worth but this will be very bad news for many local people and businesses.   I know that Transport Scotland will keep this very closely under review and I hope that re-opening can take place quickly.   In addition it proves the need for the short back up route to be operational as soon as possible and the money now available needs to be used immediately.’

Situation Updates

Update 14,25: Transport Scotland’s spokesman tells us that there is at present no debris on the road and that the closure is currently a precaution for public safety.

However, the hillside is on the move so the situation is a fluid and unstable.

With the continual wet weather over the past week, Transport Scotland staff have been monitoring this site continually. They noticed dirty water in the drains this morning. Then a Tilt Metre showed that the hill was moving – and that is a situation where the road has to be closed. The movement detected did cause a small landslide – but that did not reach the road.

We will have further updates as and when the situation develops.

Update  19.00: The A83 will remain closed overnight. The situation with the state of the hillside will be reviewed by Transport Scotland at first light. Transport Scotland has a conference call with Argyll and Bute Council at 10.00am to decide on whether or not the road can be reopened.

Realistically, this means that the road will not be open before around 10.15am so commuting and early morning freight traffic should make alternative arrangements either via the Dunoon ferries or by the diversion A819 / A85 / A82 diversion between Inveraray and Tarbet.

INVESTIGATION INTO THE RECENTLY REPORTED SOCIAL MEDIA ISSUES

Statement by the Chief Executive

You will be well aware of recent national and local press coverage of the allegation of inappropriate covert surveillance of social media by a Council employee and to my stated intention to have an independent investigation carried out into this allegation.

You will also be aware that the employee has been placed on precautionary suspension from work.  This is a temporary measure.  It is neither a punitive measure, nor does it constitute disciplinary action in any way, shape or form.  It is likely to be the case that the officer will be asked to assist the investigation as it is taken forward.

To be clear, the arrangements for the investigation that have been put in place will be undertaken within the terms of the Council’s Code of Disciplinary Procedures, dated September 2009. In terms of both the principles of natural justice therefore and to allow the Council to fulfil its obligations as an employer, the investigation now being conducted will absolutely be undertaken outwith the public gaze and at all times will respect both the privacy and confidentiality of all parties necessarily connected with the investigation.

It is important to point out at this stage that the allegation that has been made centres on a single Council employee and comments allegedly made by that employee.  Until these matters are investigated properly everything else which has been said or reported in the media is simply speculation.

As matters stand, I can confirm that as a result of preliminary enquiries, I have established that the Council’s Strategic Management Team, together with our extended chief officer support base, has no knowledge or information of any cultural problem within the Council that has resulted in any form of inappropriate covert surveillance of social media or that any such activity has ever been authorised or conducted.  It of course goes without saying that should the investigation highlight any such wider issues of concern then I will expect to receive recommendations for wider investigation. Any such recommendations will be acted upon.

The Council’s Executive Director of Development and Infrastructure Services, as Disciplinary Investigation Officer, has, after an assessment process, appointed Mr John Clayton, who will provide the necessary external resource needed to undertake a full and independent investigation. Mr Clayton is a recently retired local authority chief officer who has worked within the corporate development and communications discipline and who as a former Senior Audit Manager with Audit Scotland has a wealth of experience and track record in undertaking independent investigative assignments within the public sector. This, I believe, sets the correct balance of challenge, rigour and independent scrutiny for the investigation, commensurate with the evidence available to the Council at the present time.  Again, at the outset, and for the avoidance of any doubt, it is paramount that the work of the investigation remains private, both for the purposes of the Council’s business processes and also in line with the principles of natural justice for those connected with the investigation. The external independent appointment of Mr Clayton will ensure that this is the case.  The reasons for this are:-

• The investigation’s work and findings may ultimately require to be dealt with as part of the Council’s disciplinary procedures and processes.
• The investigation report may include references to employees of the Council, who may or may not be subject to disciplinary action.  Following any disciplinary or other action deemed necessary as part of the procedure now in place, then any employee, should they be the subject of any form of disciplinary action, will ultimately have the right of appeal to the Council’s Appeals Panel and so it is vital that we have elected members available to populate such a Panel, who have no prior detailed knowledge of the investigation or who could be said to be influenced by comment from any of their colleagues.

In due course I will produce for Members and the wider public interest, an appropriate executive summary report of the investigation findings which will be presented to the Council’s Executive and Audit Committee.  I will do this when, and only when I am in a proper position to do so.  As all fair minded people will appreciate I am sure, the timing of the production and issuing to you of such a report is important.  It will be necessary to first have the investigation conclude its work.  Secondly, and depending on the investigation’s findings, there may or may not require to be disciplinary hearings called to deal with any issues as considered appropriate.  Thirdly, there may be the need for the Council’s Appeals Panel to be activated to deal with any matters arising.  At all times, I will of course be guided by the advice given for such matters by the appropriate Council officers on how this would be properly done.

The structure of the planned report will provide an insight into the investigation’s terms of reference and scope of work done.  It will include:

• background information
• the nature of allegation(s) received on the matter
• the investigation process;
• the investigation findings;
• action taken;
• any remedial improvement actions put in place;
• any residual concerns flagged up for further / wider investigation.

Lastly, there will be no further detailed update to elected Members on the investigation process, which now must be given time and space to get on with its work.  Equally, there will be no detailed updates to the local or national press.

I trust that the details which I have set out above ensure an understanding of the position and provide to elected Members an appreciation of not only the limitations on the information which I can properly provide at present, but also assure you that immediate and appropriate action has been taken and will continue to be taken in response to this allegation.

I would advise that I will be passing a copy of this statement to local MPs and MSPs and to the press for their information.

Sally Loudon
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
21 February 2012

Initial misdirection

We note first that the CEO talks of ‘allegations of inappropriate covert surveillance of social media by a Council employee’.

It must not be forgotten that:

• the ‘council employee in question was a senior manager, Jo Smith, Communications Manager;
• that she outed herself in her presentation to a public sector public relations conference in Glasgow in August 2011;
• that the ‘allegations’ carried in The Herald;s breaking of this story were no more allegations than an transmission of Ms Smith’s own account of her activities;
• that it is the public that regard Ms Smith’s self-described use of social media for ‘spy accounts’ monitoring critics of the council and campaign groups. Ms Smith herself saw nothing in it but a smart move and advocated such activities to her peers at the event in August. The notion of ‘appropriateness’ had not occurred to her until she was challenged by some fellow professionals at the event.

‘Independent’ investigation?

Given the widespread lack of public trust in the probity of the local authority culture – at a height in Argyll and Bute with the documented conduct of this administration across a wide spectrum of issues, we do not feel comfortable with the ;independence’ of an external investigator of an insider to that culture, retired or not.

Mr Clayton cannot but be woven from the cloth whose tailoring he will have contributed to in his own career.

We have all seen the evidences, in the continuing  schools closure fandango across Scotland, of the far too cosy relationship between civil servants in all areas of government, local and national.

They regard themselves as members if an officer class who hand together; and they regard the rest of us as ‘civilians’.

Practice enshrined in tradition has made the relatinship between local authorities and their electorate who pay for them an oppositional one. Mr Clayton’s career DNA will instinctively lead him to see and to want to see the insiders;’ view.

In saying this, we are not questioning Mr Clayton’s personal integrity. We are saying that the choice of a local authority insider does not engender confidence in his assertion of the values and expectations of ‘civilians’.

Mr Clayton’s perspectives, world view and values are  not those of the folk alarmed by Ms Smith’s revelations of her activities. That remains a matter for concern and it will impact on whatever his eventual findings may be.

We are disappointed but hardly surprised that, even in extremis, this council does not know how to conduct itself.

Closed proceedings

Regardless of these concerns, we support the necessity for the investigation to be conducted in the fairness of absolute confidentiality and, whatever information we may well receive, we will make no mention of the proceedings until there is official news of and from it.

(Updated) The decision from the Education Secretary to close Hillhead Primary school in Wick, demonstrates – yet again – that what is wrong in the system supposedly governed by the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010 is not the law but its non observance.

Highland Council had proposed, consulted upon and decided to close four primary schools in this modest sized north-eastern town with a proud history and a unique presence.

The plan was to replace the four with two new schools – seeing the two schools on the north side of the town (Hillhead and North Wick) come together in a £10.5 million new build; and the two in the south (South Wick and Pulteneytown) in a £9.2 new build on the site of the new Wick High School.

The difficulty is that one of the two schools in the northern plan, Hillhead, is performing well – 81% full (1% over what Audit Scotland has said is the maximum realistic target – see footnote); rated a Condition B (satisfactory); with an enviable cohesive community of pupils, parents and a first class Head Teacher; in an deprived area where the school itself really is the glue in the works.

In a school said to feel like a family, the older kids look out for the younger ones in their wider life outside school, building a powerful and responsible support which stands to the enormous benefit of the community.

This social and protective cohesion will be lost. It cannot be replicated in a move to a bigger school outside the community of Hillhead.

The Hillhead pupils will be distributed amongst classes with pupils from North Wick, in a more dispersed but isolated community limited to the school alone. At the moment the Hillhead pupils have an absolute overlap between the school and the wider communities in which they live and learn.

The children in the school are happy there. The evidence is that they are learning and performing well. The parents want the children and their school to carry on together. The teaching staff are committed to and rightly proud of what they have built at Hillhead, for its children, for its families and for its community.

An unnecessary  approach

North Wick school is in a quite different position with the school in real need of replacement and the parents very positive about a move to a  new building for their children.

The council proposes to close two schools to justify building a new school for the one school that actually needs it.This makes Hillhead a sacrificial pawn in a game in which it does not belong.

It is also very blinkered thinking.

What is wrong with building a primary facility at Wick High School for the pupils of three rather than two current primary schools and leaving the perfectly viable and socially necessary Hillhead as it is?

This should also be a cost and resource saving solution, compared with the plan to build two new schools on two sites.

We understand that the seventh veil on this nakedly insubstantial decision is to be something to do with new traffic management at Hillhead.

It is improper if something effected after the closure process, after the closure decision, after the call-in decision -  and not mentioned in the proposal document – is given the status of an acceptable reason for allowing the closure of a school already decided on the documentation in which that reason does not appear.

The educational benefit conundrum

The Education Secretary’s consent to the closure of Hillhead is utterly indefensible in its oversetting of  the core qualification for closure laid down by the governing legislation.

Any plan to close a school is required by the Schools Act to show that there is clear educational benefit to the pupils at the school to be closed and to pupils who might later go there, in the proposed closure and transfer to another school.

This is known as the ‘educational benefit statement’ (EBS).

The educational benefit statement is so centrally important that it is statutorily prescribed to be the ultimate criterion on which a school may be closed or nor.

This part of the interpretation and implementation of the Schools Act has  – worryingly – been the most troubled.

In the realm of ‘education’ we are all entitled to hope and believe that those running it actually know what education is; and that therefore:

• they will have no problem in describing educational benefits;
• those who adjudicate in disputes will have no problem in evaluating anything put forward as an educational benefit in the context of a specific school and a specific transfer;
• there will be a cluster of common features recognised as educational benefits by a community of experienced and qualified education professionals dedicated to the value of learning – rather than to the’ best value’ (aka cheapest) way of providing it.

The reality has been – on the hard evidence of their documented actions – that none of those who rule the world of education in Scotland – the local authorities who provide it; HMIE who regulate it; Education Scotland who administer its policy and implementation; and the Education Secretary who presides over it – neither seem consistently to know what education is nor to be able to describe it.

Quite where do we go from here?

Educational benefit: what Argyll and Bute Council did

Argyll and Bute Council took the route of employing a hired gun, to advise them on ‘educational benefit.  This was Keir Bloomer, one of the s0-called ‘consultants’ who pollute good practice in almost all areas of decision taking these days.

Freedom of Information revealed that Mr Bloomer’s expensive wisdom boiled down to two main features:

• advising the council to bury the HMIE report of one school they wished to close because it was something like the third best in Scotland – which would have made proving ‘educational benefit’ in its closure a little tricky;
• and advocating the endless repetition of an embarrassingly simplistic mantra for which there is no secure research evidence: ‘bigger is better’.

These revelations, made by the Scottish Rural Schools Network and the then newly formed by quickly effective Argyll Rural Schools Network, saw the end of Mr Bloomer’s inglorious service to Argyll and Bute Council. There was no way he could be retained further with any credibility after the truth behind the veil had been shown to all and sundry.

Educational benefit: what Highland Council did

Hillhead school have had a doughty champion in one of its parents, Dr Ewen Pearson, who has been particularly meticulous and successful in testing the evidence his council had put forward to support closing his children’s school.

He discovered that, just as Argyll and Bute went for the simplistic bloomer of ‘bigger is better’ as their educational benefit stance, Highland too had gone for an easy option.

In the case of Hillhead, however, Highland had gone for the easiest option of the lot.

They did not trouble themselves to consider and describe the educational benefit of closing Hillhead and moving its pupils to a shared new-build  school.

They just took an educational benefit statement off the shelf – copying one verbatim from an Angus Council closure proposal ( a joint one for Muirfield and Timmergreens Primary Schools) – and with great irony, as it turned out, copying it from a closure proposal ultimately rejected by the Education Secretary after call-in.

In the world of education, one of the great crimes is that of plagiarism – wholesale and unaccredited copying of someone else’s work, published or unpublished – and presenting that work as your own. Being found guilty of plagiarism in the real world of education is enough to get a degree student bunked off a course in disgrace; and an academic left unemployable.

But here we are not actually in the world of education but in the world of those who provide, or not, the resources which enable it. Mind the gap.

In this world, as the Education Secretary’s allowing the closure of Hillhead confirms, it is legally acceptable to take a key statutory requirement supposed to be specific to a particular educational context – yet prepared by another local authority, for a very different school, in a very different sort of town, slap it on a school in a very different cultural and physical environment and see it knowingly accepted as a win. Let’s just hear a defence of that.

The Hillhead educational benefit statement is, literally, out of place.

Yet – by law – of all elements of a closure proposal, the educational benefit statement is the key to any decision to permit or reject the closure of a school.

The failure to disallow the closure of Hillhead on the sole ground of an unacceptable educational benefit statement is no less than counter to the law. But those abusing the Schools Act those who are charged with overseeing its implementation. Where do we go from here?

In the case of Hillhead, where a thriving school is proposed for closure, the demonstration of educational benefit is – should be – particularly hard to demonstrate. A new school is an unknown quantity with no track record, only hopeful estimates.

The translation of a set of pupils into a different physical and social context, as part of a wider and different school community – is an unknown quantity.

The transposition of a successful head teacher from a familiar and specific school to a green field new build with a new constituency – is an unknown quantity.

The amalgamation of staff (probably fewer of them, with salaries the area of greatest saving) – is an unknown quantity.

On one hand is the documented, known, successful educational performance at Hillhead, in a physically able school.

On the other is the unsubstantiated wish for better in a new build; in a larger and different school population; in amalgamated and relocated staffs unfamiliar with each other, unfamiliar with at least half of the pupils, some unfamiliar with a head teacher who is unfamiliar with half of them.

To prefer the latter to the former is to be comfortable in putting the lives of children and parents and the sustainability of a fragile community on the shirt of a mountain of blind hope.

Challenge to the Education Secretary, Michael Russell, Argyll and Bute’s MSP

This decision is quite shocking in its additional destabilisation of the meaning and authority of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.

Having brought this situation about, it is now incumbent upon the Education Secretary first to restore trust in the authority of the law and in his own credibility by explaining openly why he felt it proper to allow the closure of Hillhead in the circumstances outlined above.

It is then and crucially, incumbent upon Mr Russell – Argyll and Bute’s MSP – to give guidance, by example, on what he expects to see in an educational benefit statement. (Everyone knows that as soon as the Rural Education Commission reports, Argyll and Bute Council will force a collection of the area’s primary schools back to the sticking point to defend themselves against closure.)

Michael Russell’s decision on Hillhead has set a precedent that leaves such schools in his own constituency naked to predation.

So we are challenging the Education Secretary to put his ability where his decision taking equipment is, by doing two things in short order:

• to explain the precise grounds on which he took the decision to allow the closure of Hillhead School, including the publishing of any legal guidance he may have been given to assist him (which, in good practice, should be a sine qua non anyway);
• to write – for For Argyll to publish as a learning experience for all of us – what he would consider to be an exemplary educational benefit statement.

This should contain the sort of perspectives, values, reliable research base and judgments he would expect to see in what the law sets as the crucial element on which closure is to be allowed or rejected.

His Hillhead decision has left that law shredded as the instrument of legitimate protection it is supposed to be.

As a  matter of urgency, the Education Secretary now needs to show – not tell -  all of us, exactly how the educational benefit test, prescribed as central by the Schools Act, is supposed to work.

Saying, as well he might, that this is the Commission’s job, would have some weight if he were not merrily going on reprieving and closing schools while the commission is at work.

He must know why he is doing what he is doing and what is its foundation in the law by which his actions are, presumably, still guided.

He now must tell us just what this is. If he cannot, we will all know what that signifies and he will have to live with that.

As things stand – law? Forget it. A sheet in a blizzard would offer greater protection.

Update 22nd February 15.30:  Here is the letter sent by Jonathan Moore from the Education Secretary’s office to Hugh Fraser, Director of Education at Highland Council, announcing Michael Russell’s call-in decision: Jonathan Moore to Hugh Fraser

Supporting information on Hillhead School

• The Hillhead response to Highland Council’s closure proposal: HILLHEAD SCHOOL COUNCIL SUBMISSION
• Hillhead pupils’ images for its 81% capacity.
• Why it’s ‘Hillhead’ school.
• Being in Wick.

Footnote re paragraph 4: Audit Scotland say ‘little over 80% can realistically be achieved’. This figure is used not for an individual school but for a given area. For example in a town like Arbroath the population fluctuates because of different age profiles in different parts of the town. In one decade school X may be full and school Y on the other side of town may be running at 50%. 10 years later this situation could be reversed.  What Audit Scotland is saying is that it would be mad to downsize all the schools to have fewer but running those at 90 or 100% full. What happens when those fluctuations kick in? Nowhere for pupils to go.

The photograph at the top of this article is one of the images created by the young pupils of Hillhead school to underline their schools 81% capacity. A sequence of the inventive images they created is in the second supporting article linked immediately above.

Being in Wick is constantly being conscious of the elements, of the stern and uncompromising beauty of this part of the world.

The town is an old one, dating back to the time when Norway ruled Caithness, a situation brought to an end in the Treaty of Perth of 1266.

With a population of 7,350, around 1,000 fewer than Dunoon, Wick takes its name from its Norwegian history, with the word ‘vik’ meaning a bay. It straddles the Wick River (above, with Wick Parish Church on the far side) and wraps itself around the inner reaches of the unusual equilateral triangle of Wick Bay.

Its sturdy and magnificent stone harbour (above, under attack by natural forces) has seen a flourishing fishing industry and a history in support of naval operations as the port of transit of high ranking officers and politicians visiting the British Grand Fleet based at Scapa Flow in Orkney.

It used to be the county town, now ceded to Thurso, It is on the A9-A99 linking the rest of Scotland to the UK’s most northerly point at John of Groats.

Some of its road names are Norse – like Sandigoe road – the route Dr Ewen Pearson’s children take, now for the time being, to get to Hillhead School.

Near the town are some of the great Caithess ruined castles, most of them Sinclair fortresses, like the once impregnable medieval-to-renaissance stronghold of Girnigoe (with Sean and Tomas Pearson visiting, left). This is the most spectacular ruin in the North of Scotland, currently undergoing preservation by the Clan Sinclair Trust.

This part of the world is not the ragged, jagged, shredded coastline with the mysteries and the towering drama of the west coast.

This is border territory -  with a clean distinction between land and sea, the North Sea and the approaches to the stern North Atlantic. This is – and looks like, life on the edge. Shelter is imperative and there’s a lot to shelter from.

But in benign mode, there is a sweeping magnificence – a masculine magnificence and certainty -  about this place, as with the Wick River in its full grandeur, with Mackays Hotel across in Bridge Street.

The sunrises (above, in winter) and sunsets (below, with wind turbines) are unforgettable.

Wick is on the wonderful North Highland Line railway that just yesterday (21st February 2012) was declared to be ‘not fit for purpose’. That all depends on the purpose.

This is a route to be travelled while you still can. Running north from Inverness, this skates the north west coast, turning sharply inland at Helmsdale to run through the unique Flow Country – peat bog moorland, water and herds of red deer flying at the approach of the train.

It runs north through Kinbrace and Forsinard before swinging north west to Georgemas junction, south of Thurso. There it runs on to Wick, then back to Georgemas, turning north to Thurso before taking the southerly run back to Invernmess. Do it.

And when you get to Wick, you’ll find a Scottish town – or not a Scottish town -  like no other. (Wick Coastguard Station by moonlight, above.)

All of the photographs reproduced with permission here are © Dr Ewen Pearson, whose campaign to save his children’s school at Hillhead in Wick was baulked by whim in defiance of evidence and law – and who can tell an equally powerful story of his place with his camera.

This is not hard to guess.

But let’s make Hillhead school real by following the route many of its pupils walk to the school at the head of the hill, in the rain we’ve all seen too much of lately.

We start at the bottom of Scalesburn Road, below – and walk up. ‘Scalesburn’ simply has to be telling us about what went on in the burn at the time when Wick’s then burgeoning fishing industry will have provided a naming convention as well as fuelling new housebuilding.

The we get to the middle of Scalesburn Road, below – still climbing.

At the top of Scalesburn, below, we turn to look back down to Wick Harbour far below.

Then we turn along Willowbank, below, the road the school is on at Hillhead.

And there it is, below. Home. But not for long.

These photographs capture the sense of the community in which the pupils at Hillhead instinctively look out for each other.

They can be proud of that and of what they have achieved in a school that has looked after them well.

Note: we have parental permission to use the photographs we have been given by Hillhead school campaigners.

The pupils of Hillhead Primary School in Wick, a demonstrably successful school whose parents and children want it to continue, created these inventive images as part of the campaign save their school.

One of these images – above – has already been used to introduce our article on the Education Secretary’s indecipherable decision to permit the closure of this school.

The pupils took the fact that their school runs at a very healthy 81% capacity.

The images they have made and the material they have used to make them also say a lot about Wick and the lives they live there – above and below.

Some of the images show a developing sense of symbolism – like the one below,  drawn on the sand with the tide about to obliterate it. The author of this image can now put a name on that tide -  Michael Russell. Perhaps it’s an ebb tide?

Some images work hard to tell the whole mathematical story – as below …

… as well as saying, as does the one below, something about the dietary preference of children everywhere.

There are images fed by sharp observation, finding readymades they can turn to their advantage – as with the two below and the third from the top:

… a galvanic option above;

… and, above, proving the cost of living in a place like Wick.

This (above) and the one below use familiar toys to put the case.

And a final two, below, are having all kinds of fun using what comes to hand:

… from the idyllic when they still had hope of surviving;

… to a conundrum of multiple identical identities that their school, Hillhead, now shares with Muirfield and  Timmergreens schools in Arbroath – via the dark art of bureaucratic cloning of educational benefit statements.

Thank you Hillhead pupils, for your playful creativity. It reminds all of us just where the careless decisions taken in faraway places by those adrift from consequences, really make their presence felt.

‘Live Long and prosper’, as in the Vulcan salute from Spock in Startrek. You are about ‘to boldly go where no man has gone before’ – to a brand new school. Enjoy it.

The joint application – from Waitrose and Drum Development (Helensburgh) Ltd – is for a retail development out of town at Colgrain on Cardross Road, south east of the town centre and on the side of the continuous conurbation into Scotland’s largest city, Glasgow.

We do not propose to rehearse again the arguments against a decision which can do nothing but condemn to accelerated decline the centre of this planned and once elegant west of Scotland town. The arguments are to be found easily on these pages.

We would direct those who were not  – and who could not be – present at the meeting to the stream of commentary provided by Councillor George Freeman and others, below the article we posted last night: Waitrose has £325k on table for Tuesday planning hearing – and opposition rolls in.

No one wants to see Helensburgh die on its feet but Waitrose on an out of town location will finish what is already a  local economy of low vigour, confidence and morale.

Helensburgh will of course, vote on this in May, one way or the other.

Professor Lorne Crerar was today appointed to the post by Scottish Ministers.

Lorne is a founding partner and Chairman of Scottish commercial law firm, Harper Macleod LLP, which has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness.

He has held the part-time Chair of Banking Law at Glasgow University since 1997, was formerly Deputy Chairman of Scottish Enterprise Glasgow and was one of three Chairmen of the Housing Improvement Task Force which completed its work in 2002.

He was appointed as Convener of the Standards Commission in June 2003 and resigned from this office in September 2006 to take up the Chair of the ‘Independent Review of Regulation, Audit, Inspection and Complaints Handling of Public Services in Scotland’ – which reported in September 2007.

He was then Lorne a non-Executive Director of the Scottish Government Justice Programme Board until November 2010.

Cynical wits might say he was clearly there to be assigned to a new post.

Professor Crerar has been a member of the HIE Board since April 2008 and is also Chair of the HIE Risk and Assurance Committee.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise is the economic and community development agency for an area covering more than half of Scotland’s land mass, stretching from Shetland to the southern tip of Argyll and including almost 100 inhabited islands.

In collaboration with other partners in the public sector, its aim is to support the delivery of the Scottish Government’s stated purpose, ‘to create a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth.’

It has had and still has its critics, with its focus often seen to be aimed more at the soft side of its loose brief rather than demonstrating a hard edged business-savvy push for muscular economic development in a place that badly needs just that.

There is a real problem with public sector enterprise agencies in general in the lack of high level and deep rooted first hand experience of business management amongst staffing. To date, HIE has survived a couple of threats to its existence.

However, on the appointment of its new Chair, Cabinet Secretary for Finance Employment and Sustainable Growth John Swinney says: ‘Professor Crerar has a clear vision for the economic success of the Highlands and Islands. He has significant private sector experience, a proven track record in bringing about significant change and is keen to work closely with business and other parts of the public sector to boost the economy.

‘As an existing board member of HIE, Professor Crerar, can also provide continuity in taking forward the Government Economic Strategy. I wish Lorne every success in his new role.’

The appointment is for a three years period, running from 20th February 2012 to 28th February 2015. It is part-time  – one and a half days a week – and is paid at £38,721 pounds per annum for that time commitment.

Professor Crerar does not hold any other Ministerial public appointments and has not declared any political activity.

A Chair is not the engine of change in any case but Professor Crerar’s background, before he turned his attention to quangoing, clearly has much to offer.

The briefing proved to be of widespread interest at Holyrood, attracting MSPs and staff from across the political spectrum.

Commenting afterwards, Jamie McGrigor, who is the Scottish Conservative Spokesman on Europe & External Affairs, said:

‘I was delighted to be able to host today’s very useful and informative briefing meeting where we heard directly the views of the travel and airline sectors about their concerns on the impact of APD.

‘Flybe, Europe’s largest regional airline, presented evidence suggesting air passenger duty might be causing significant reductions in domestic passenger numbers. I share industry concerns that some tourists might be choosing not to come to Scotland and the UK because of levels of APD.

‘I will be seeking to take up a number of issues with colleagues within the UK government.’

The meeting was chaired and organised by Campbeltown Councillor, John Semple,

The Ferries Review has only one proposal for a new route in the whole of Scotland and that is a initial proposal for opening up a triangular route from Campbeltown to Arran and Ayrshire one or two days a week,

Speaking after the meeting Councillor Semple said:

‘This was a very productive meeting.The group shared a great deal of useful information and made suggestions on what local priorities should be for the route.

‘We appreciate that a route from Campbeltown has been include in the review. While it seems to be dependent on aspects of other routes – and in particular how the Arran to Ardrossan route is serviced in future, everyone present was convinced that a service from Campbeltown to the mainland would be well used – but not as currently proposed.

‘The consensus of the meeting was that for maximum benefit to be gained from the service, it would have to operate at least 5 days per week, all year round. It should not include a leg to Brodick as there wouldn’t seem to be an advantage to Arran or Kintyre and therefore a service from Clonaig to Lochranza should be retained.

‘I was personally glad to see the review recognise the remoteness of South Kintyre. We are virtually an island here, particularly when the A83 is so unreliable.

‘I will be putting together a case, promoting this consensus to the Scottish Government in the weeks ahead and would welcome input from organisations who might regularly use such a service.

‘I would also remind people that the present Government consultation on the Ferries Review is open until the 30th March 2012 – and that contributions can be made online through the Transport Scotland website here .’

(Ed: Scrolling down to the bottom of the Table of Contents on this screen will find the Questions being put during the consultation on this review – which ends on 30th March 2012.)

Gilroy is charged with murdering Suzanne Pilley on 4th May 2010 and of trying to conceal the murder.

The premises of the firm they both worked for – Infrastructure Management – are alleged by the prosecution to be the place of initial concealment of Ms Pilley’s body.

After this he is alleged to have transported her body to various location in Scotland in the boot of a car. This is where Argyll enters the picture.

Infrastructure Management have have a maintenance contract for Lochgilphead High Schools, a contract overseen by Gilroy.

He visited the school, without either appointment or operational need, on 5th May 2010, the day when he is alleged to have been seeking to dispose of Ms Pilley’s body. At the school he asked for bin bags, which he was given.

Several areas in Mid and North Argyll – around rest and Be Thankful, Glen Croe and Glen Orchy – were subject to police interest during the search for Ms PIlley’s body – which has never been fond.

Mr Gilroy and Ms Pilley had been and, the prosecution alleges, remained in a relationship.

Mr Gilroy denies the charges against him.

He is also charged with assaulting his wife, Andrea on several occasions between 1st January 2009 and 18th May 2010;  with threatening two unnamed children; and with assaulting a man named Scott Stewardson in Edinburgh on 9th November 2009.

The opening day of the trial yesterday heard from Ms Pilley’s mother, Sylvia. Proceedings are continuing today with Mrs Pilley back in the witness box, telling the court that her daughter had met another man through an online dating agency shortly before she disappeared in May 2010. She has also said that her daughter changed the locks on her flat just before Christmas 2009.