Agenda and minutes

Venue: Marriage Room, Burnett Building, Campbeltown

Contact: Lynsey Innis, Senior Area Committee Assistant; Tel: 01546 604338 

Items
No. Item

In the absence of a Chair, the Area Committee Manager invited those Members present to elect a Chair for the meeting. 

 

Councillor Armour nominated Councillor Horn to Chair the meeting, this was seconded by Ewen MacDonald of Explore Campbeltown. 

 

With no one being otherwise minded this became the decision of the group. 

1.

Apologies

Minutes:

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting.

 

Apologies were intimated from:

 

Simon Richmond, Area Operations Manager, Calmac

Clive Hayward, Marines Operations Manager, Argyll and Bute Council

 

The Chair noted dissatisfaction that apologies had once again been received on behalf of Calmac. 

2.

Minute of Previous Meeting - 12 December 2014 pdf icon PDF 48 KB

Minutes:

The Minute of the Campbeltown Ferry Sub-group meeting held on 11 March 2015 was approved as a true record.

 

Matters Arising:-

 

Item 2 – Review of 2014 Season

 

The group expressed concern that the figures released in terms of discussions at the last meeting and also in the information provided to the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Committee at  their meeting on Wednesday 8 April 2015, were incorrect, and that the 2015 timetable may have been based on this information.  Ewen MacDonald advised that he had received figures from the Calmac Website which had shown a 15% increase and was now considered to be in the top 3 of Calmac sales.   The group requested that clarification be sought from Calmac in terms of the 2014 passenger usage numbers and circulated to the group. 

 

Item 4 – Economic Survey Update

 

Members of the group advised that they had not had sight of a draft letter outlining key concerns to Calmac as agreed at the last meeting.  The group expressed concern over the attendance at meetings and in particular that of Calmac and Transport Scotland. 

 

Members agreed to send a list of their key issues to the Project Officer who would in turn forward to the Area Committee Manager.  The Area Committee Manager agreed to draft a letter to Calmac, Transport Scotland and the Transport Minister, which is to incorporate the list of key issues.  

 

 

 

Item 5 – Preparation of the 2015 Service

 

Members of the group noted that there had been no feedback in terms of discussions between the Marine Operations Manager and the Council’s Head of Economic Development.  The Project Officer agreed to take this matter up with the Head of Economic Development and feed back to the group. 

 

 

3.

Appointment of Chair/Vice Chair

Minutes:

Members of the Group were asked to nominate and agree the Chair and Vice Chair for the Group. 

 

Councillor Armour nominated Councillor Horn as Chair, this was seconded by James Lafferty. 

 

Councillor Horn requested that the appointment of Vice Chair take place at the next meeting of the group, with a view to more Members being in attendance. 

 

With no one being otherwise minded this became the decision of the group. 

 

4.

2015 Timetable

Minutes:

Members noted that the 2015 timetable starts on 30 April 2015. 

 

General discussions were had in relation to discussions with the Transport Minister following the commencement of the first year of the pilot service.  Members noted that the then Transport Minister, Keith Brown, had been very positive about giving a fourth year to the pilot as the first year had been very rushed. 

 

Members noted disappointment at the lack of communication and consideration that the group had received during the timetable agreement for all years of the pilot with both Councillor Armour and Mr MacDonald advising of several letters written to Calmac and Scottish Ministers asking to be consulted on the timetable, however the timetable was published with no consultation. 

 

Further discussion took place in respect of the statistics from the local survey carried out at the end of the second year, with Members noting that 99% of people in the local area had been aware of the service.

 

Members discussed the possibility of inviting the current Transport Minister to the next meeting of the group to discuss key issues as identified by the group; and also the possibility of tying the service into other services within the area and being added to the “Island Hop Scotch” programme. 

 

 

   

5.

Work Plan

Discussion on way forward

Minutes:

The group agreed that going forward it was necessary to ensure that the group have some stability. They suggested that as a starting point, there was a need to look at the current membership list and ensure that the appropriate persons were being invited to attend meetings.  The Senior Area Committee Assistant agreed to ensure that the contacts list was up-to-date in terms of contact details for the group.    

 

Members requested that an invite be extended to the current Transport Minister, Derek Mackay to attend the next meeting of the group.  The Senior Area Committee Assistant agreed to draft this and forward to the Chair for approval.  

 

Ewen MacDonald agreed to take the matter of advertising for the Service forward with Ranald Watson.  

 

6.

Future Meeting Dates

Minutes:

The group agreed that the next meeting of the Campbeltown Ferry Sub-group would take place on Friday 26th June 2015 at 1.00pm within Room 2 of the Kintyre Community Education Centre, Stewart Road, Campbeltown.