Community Council

Last night's Community Council meeting was notable for the number of items of good news, not least on the ferry front. On the Kilchoan-Tobermory ferry, CalMac have listened to the submissions from our Community Council and are putting on, as from April, the Loch Tarbert, a ferry which carries six more cars than the present Loch Linnhe (above). She will have an extra crew member, which means up to 140 passengers can be accommodated, and the Sunday sailings will continue throughout the summer timetable.

Andrew Baxter, our Highland Councillor, was also able to brief the meeting on his recent success in ensuring that the fares at the Corran ferry will NOT go up this year - Highland Council was threatening a 10% increase. Well done Andrew!

Some parts of the village have 30mph speed limits, some have 40mph. Highland Council has agreed to standardise them all at 30mph, and will also include the Ormsaigbeg road. The one anomaly is shown in this picture: cars passing along Pier Road will be able to accelerate along the short section between the houses and the pier.

The Council had also received a very helpful letter from Tracy Ligema, Deputy Director of Operations at NHS Highland, explaining the evolving changes in out-of-hours provision. The papers she sent were detailed and complex, though those who had read them felt that the service NHS Highland plans looks promising. Better still, Ms Ligema has offered to come to talk to the community, an offer which will be taken up. A greater worry remains the Emergency Responders provision, run by the Scottish Ambulance Service, where we still have only two of the six responders originally promised and other provisions which are stretched perilously thin.

Congratulations to WACC's officers for their efforts but, as always, there has to be some rotten news and it came, of course, from BT. Andrew Baxter read out a response to the many complaints he had collected about BT's service, a letter which was little more than corporate whitewash. He will be writing again to Brendan Dick, Director at BT Scotland.