Someone has been hard at it getting the communications from the time that the campaign to save the Hebrides Range was on. It makes for interesting reading.
Hebrides Range correspondence released
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Category Archives: Outer Hebrides
Why has the wording of the SNP’s Barra air link petition been secretly changed?
Just days ago, some headline-grabbing local SNP figures were vowing to save the Barra air link with a powerful petition which was to be set up at the heart of our nation’s government. Now, this blog can reveal that the furiously-worded plea to the Scottish Parliament slagging off Comhairle nan Eilean Siar for its plan to axe the link which hardly anyone uses except for officials on mammoth expenses has been watered down into a wishy-washy mess.
After no less wise a head than their former party colleague Andrew Walker pointed out first on this blog that the Scottish Government was powerless to tell the comhairle what to do on an issue like this, some heads finally seem to have been banged together and told to take proper advice and stop the grandstanding. Ouch.
Now the previous blood-red prose demanding Holyrood kicks Sandwick Road’s ass has been replaced with a lukewarm call for some kind of an unexplained dull-as-dishwater and unspecified “review” with no mention of the previous “serious implications”, risk to the “future of all internal flights”, or descriptions of the “appalling move”. See for yourself:
Here’s petitioners Councillors Gordon Murray and Rae Mackenzie’s promised wording which they announced last week:
“To petition the Scottish Parliament that Comhairle nan Eilean Siar maintains its support for the lifeline air services between Stornoway, Benbecula and Barra; the petitioners believing that the Comhairle’s current proposals risk the future of all internal flights within the Outer Hebrides and would severely undermine the transport connections which have been built up between the islands over the last forty years, with serious implications for the local economy and community; asks the petitions committee of the Scottish Parliament to ensure the Comhairle fulfils its air transport Public Service obligations in the Hebrides and to examine the implications for people in all Scotland’s island communities of this appalling move”.
Now here’s the actual comparatively-dreary wording they posted on the petitions website:
“Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to review its national policies on the provision of lifeline air services between Scotland’s islands, consider the impact on local communities by the withdrawal of subsidies which enable such air services and to develop air transport public service obligations in the Hebrides and throughout Scotland”.
Good grief. Not one mention now of the evil comhairle or any “appalling” moves. Why? There was no announcement of a change of stance. Were they not going to tell us? If not, we have all been misled. Who was responsible for the change from the text they published last week? Will we ever be told why?
I wonder what poor Andrew Walker – now languishing in Coventry where he has been banished by the entire local SNP for telling uncomfortable truths – thinks of the incredible change to the petition wording in response to the damning strategic errors he so helpfully pointed out to Messrs Mackenzie and Murray?
Mr Walker says: “What a climbdown! As I have also said, this will go nowhere fast, and an urgent decision is required to ensure some continuation of the Barra to Benbecula route from April (six weeks). Urgent funding and intervention is required from the Scottish Government.”
‘We broke into applause as pilot landed lightning-blasted Barra plane on Traigh Mhor’ – passenger
The plane flying from Glasgow to Barra was struck by lightning during high winds on Monday, it has emerged.
Ten passengers and two crew escaped without injury in the incident involving the Twin Otter aircraft which later landed safely on the beach landing site, the Traigh Mhor at Northbay.
Passenger Andy Jarozh, a travel writer, paid tribute to the skill of the two Loganair pilots
Operator Loganair has confirmed that an inspection after it landed found a wing tip had been damaged, undoubtedly by a bolt of lightning.
Travel writer Andy Jarozh, from St Albans in Hertfordshire, was one of the 10 passengers on the flight and he was sitting in the front seats, just behind the cockpit.
He told this blog: “We were at about 8,000 feet when it happened. Looking through the cockpit, there was a flash and a very loud bang. The plane didn’t shudder at all but carried straight on. However, when I looked into the cockpit I could see the Global Positioning System (GPS) had been knocked out and was showing the message ‘no signal’.”
Andy said there was no great panic although a woman behind him did scream. The calm actions of the two pilots helped the passengers to keep their emotions under control.
“They got the instruments going again. I was anxious to get down but we were reassured by the crew. The co-pilot turned round and gave us the thumbs-up with a quizzical look to make sure we were all right.”
He described it as “a very rough day” and said the plane was shaking more on the ground when it came to a stop at the terminal building than when it was in the air.
In the last four years since Andy gave up his job as an optometrist to become a travel writer, he has visited many countries and flown countless times. He said: “This was the only time in my life when I joined in the applause for a pilot who had got us down safely.”
Phil Preston, Loganair’s chief operating officer, said an inspection was later completed by engineers in their hangar at Glasgow Airport, as was standard procedure.
He added: “There was evidence that a wing tip had been struck, but the Twin Otter was cleared to continue operations.
“Such incidents are not uncommon when flying in adverse weather and our pilots and aircraft are perfectly capable of dealing with these situations when they arise.”
Announcement confirms plans for fantastic new service by introducing seven-day Post Office in Stornoway
26 November 2012
PROPOSED NEW LOCATION FOR BAYHEAD POST OFFICE, STORNOWAY
Opening hours extended by 39 hours a week
- Post Office services available seven days a week
- Modern open-plan retail environment
- Full range of Post Office® services available
The Post Office is proposing to move Bayhead Post Office from its current location to create a modern open-plan branch with extended opening hours for customers.
The proposed new location for the branch is Engebret Ltd Filling Station, Sandwick Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2SL. This is 1,200 metres from its current site at Matheson Road, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, HS1 2LB.
The Post Office is inviting customers and interested parties to give their comments on the move in a six-week public consultation.
The move is part of major modernisation programme across the Post Office network designed to make it easier for customers to do business, through longer opening hours and modern open plan environments.
Post Office Regional Network Manager for Scotland Sue Richardson said: “We understand how important having a Post Office is to residents in Stornoway and we are confident that this new modern branch will meet the needs of the local community and secure services for the future.
She added: “The proposed changes to the branch are part of a three-year investment programme, the largest in the history of the Post Office, that will see around 6000 branches (about half the Post Office network) converting to new-style branches. The investment marks a commitment to no more branch closure programmes.”
The new Bayhead Post Office would have a mixture of four open plan and traditional screened counter positions – a new concept for delivering Post Office services with Post Office products and services available alongside retail transactions during shop opening hours.
Opening hours at the proposed new location would be 07:00 – 22:00 Monday to Saturday and 11:00 – 15:00 on Sunday, offering customers an extra 39 hours a week to access Post Office products and services.
The Post Office, now independent of Royal Mail, is the largest retail network in the UK, with over 11,500 branches. It is also one of the fastest growing financial services companies and is developing its online and telephony services.
During the public consultation Post Office Ltd welcomes feedback on any issues customers would like considered before a final decision is taken on this proposal. The consultation will close on 11 January 2013. Submissions can be made during the consultation by Freepost YOUR COMMENTS to Post Office Ltd, via email to [email protected], via the Customer Helpline: 08457 22 33 44 or Textphone 08457 22 33 55.
Lodge boss says he is recuperating after he and Good Samaritan had naked hosedown in chilly Achmore
THE owner of a fishing lodge on Lewis was rushed to hospital after a freak accident in which his vacuum cleaner accidentally sucked up a bag of cyanide powder which then burst.
The deadly pesticide, thought to have been used decades ago against troublesome rabbits, shot through the cleaner and came out the other end in a cloud of dust which showered businessman Dickon Green.
As he was being rushed to hospital by a neighbour, the emergency services on the Isle of Lewis were called out to stop them getting to hospital and coming into contact with patients and staff.
Uig Lodge from the main road
It was at Uig Lodge, a fishing lodge in Timsgarry on the west of Lewis, that Mr Green was vacuum-packing a tin of the deadly powder ready for it to be transported for safe disposal at a mainland poisons depository.
He’d found it in the lodge where it was thought to have been for many years since previous owners used it for exterminating rats and had failed to get a local agency to take responsibility for its safe disposal.
A local man explained: “Dickon was using a vacuum cleaner to suck the air out of the plastic bag into which he had put the tin of cyanide. The lid of the tin suddenly collapsed and the cyanide was immediately sucked into the vacuum cleaner.
“The powder then blew out the other end of the cleaner and the air was full of cyanide dust. Dickon realised he had breathed it in and went to get help.”
Firstly, trying to get help at the local GP surgery in Miavaig, he found it shut after 5pm. However, a 24-year-old man in Miavaig was a Good Samaritan who offered to take Mr Green to hospital after learning it would take some time for an ambulance to get to reach them.
The pair headed off in Uig Lodge’s Volkswagen Golf and were met by the ambulance at the Great Bernera road-end.
- The car stopped by the ambulance
The source said: “They continued in the ambulance but it was then stopped by police near Achmore, eight miles from Stornoway. The cops had been ordered to stop it getting to the hospital to avoid possible contamination of the staff and patients.”
A roadside decontamination unit was set up. That involved the men taking all their clothes off and being hosed down with cold water by firefighters. Part of the main route from Stornoway to the west side of the island, between Cameron Terrace and Achmore, was closed for a time.
Mr Green and his companion then taken to Western Isles Hospital where a tent was also set up outside the accident and emergency department. Two female paramedics tending them were then also washed down in the makeshift warm shower which was run from a fire engine. They were not detained.
Uig Lodge was closed down by the emergency services for a while but was opened after a few hours. The island council’s environmental health officers were at the outhouse and it was still sealed off.
Police in Stornoway confirmed the incident had been reported to the Health and Safety Executive. They also said they also were probing the circumstances surrounding what had happened and the substance involved.
Mr Green and the Good Samaritan were discharged after their assessment.
Last night (THU) Dickon Green said it was actually two old tins of rabbit poison containing Cymag and that he had asked various authorities how to dispose of them before getting agreement from a mainland firm to dispose of them.
“The tins were not in good condition and could be dangerous if exposed to water,” he said.
Speaking of the decontamination effort, he said: “All the emergency services were fantastic. I can’t praise them enough for all that they did.
“I hope that my experience serves to warn anybody else about the dangers of this chemical and to contact the local authorities to seek their expert advice if they come across it.”
Mr Green said he was now “recuperating” and was going away for two weeks.
Are more serious allegations over tendering in store?
I now have reason to believe the note below, which I received from an anonymous source, is genuine.
To whom it may concern.
Thank you very much for your detailed breakdown for the various maintenance work. After dialogue with the other contractors, we are all in agreement that the winning tender has been unrealistically successful, particularly when in most sections the score of 100% has been achieved.
Having perused just a few sections of the works, further difficulties present themselves, for example, some of the jobs that will be undertaken have NIC EIC Select or Gas safe approval as a minimum standard. After careful enquiry, the winning contractor is not a member of any of the mentioned bodies. how this contractor could score higher than companies who have the relevant bodies acclaim, and who do this work year on year, is a mystery.
Therefore we would be grateful if details were returned of how exactly the scoring was analysed and allocated, and who was on the panel for the task.
At this time we hope that a third party will not have to get involved.
Finally we respectfully request that the contract was adjourned until satisfactory answers emerge.
.
John MacDonald, on behalf of :
.
AB Electronics
ACES Electrical
Point 1
Cal Max Construction
O Mac Construction
John Murray & co Builders
Neil MacKay & Co Ltd
Floor to Floor Ltd
Angus MacKay & Sons
Count leaves Little Bernera to National Trust for Scotland
Aside
Aristocrat whose bed-hopping ways inspired James Bond author donates Little Bernera to National Trust
- Count Robin de la Lanne-Mirrlees romanced a string of socialites
- Character in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was based on laird
- He shunned position as a French aristocrat to live in Outer Hebrides
- Conservationists hail ‘extraordinary’ gift of £1m isle
By DREW DICKSON
An eccentric aristocrat who inspired James Bond author Ian Fleming has posthumously donated a remote island to the National Trust for Scotland.
Count Robin de la Lanne-Mirrlees, who died in June aged 87, stated in his will that the island of Little Bernera be given to the trust’s Scottish division.
The trust has accepted the gift but Count Robin’s other Scottish island, Great Bernera, will remain in private ownership.
The former Queen’s Herald was best known for his work helping Fleming to research his 1963 James Bond novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
And like 007, the count wooed a succession of socialites.
Island aristocrat: Count Robin preferred his small farmhouse on the Outer Hebrides island of Great Bernera, which he owned, to a castle. He served as a ‘cover identity’ for fiction’s most famous spy
Unspoilt: A pristine beach on the Outer Hebridean island of Little Bernera, which has been donated to the Scottish National TrustIn the book, Bond’s cover as genealogist Sir Hilary Bray was based on Count Robin, who was then the heraldic researcher, appointed by the Queen, at the College of Arms in London.
He served as a ‘cover identity’ for fiction’s most famous spy, played in the film by George Lazenby on his only outing as Bond.
Bill Gardner, Development Manager at the NTS, said the gift of the uninhabited 250-acre Outer Hebridean island, worth an estimated £1million, had stunned his team.
He said: ‘This appears to be an extraordinary act of generosity from a man who led an extraordinary life.
‘We have not been contacted directly as yet regarding the bequest, but it is not unusual for there to be a gap of several months before legal papers are received following public registration of the will.
‘Once confirmation is received we will assess the island’s ecology and landscape as to how it can be best conserved for the nation in the light of any conditions attached to the bequest.’ Little Bernera is worth an estimated £1million.
An international playboy who spoke several languages, Count Robin won the hearts of debutantes including Fiona Campbell-Walker, a top model who married one of the richest men in Europe, Baron Thyssen.
After several years of ill health, his colourful life came to an end in the Western Isles at the Blar Buidhe nursing home in Stornoway, Lewis.
The Oxford-educated nobleman turned his back on his life as a French-born aristocrat to be laird of a Hebridean island, off Lewis. He had suffered two strokes in recent years and had been poorly for some time.
A descendant of King Louis Philippe I of France, Count Robin was the godson of the 11th Duke of Argyll, and the popular laird of Great Bernera.
Playboy: Count Robin’s success with glamorous, well-heeled women was also mirrored in the Bond novelsCount Robin was deeply involved in helping Ian Fleming (left) research James Bond’s adventures for the novel On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The film starred George Lazenby (right) as 007, who posed as genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, a cover inspired by the count’s job as heraldic researcher at the College Of Arms in London
Count Robin lived there for the second half of his life, latterly moving into a warden-run community care unit when staying alone in his crumbling croft house got too much.
He was born Robin Ian Evelyn Grinnell-Milne in January 1925 to Captain Duncan Grennell-Milne, a highly-decorated First World War RAF pilot and French Countess Frances de la Lanne.
His parents divorced and his mother later married Scots war hero Major General William Mirrlees.
Taking a liking to her new husband’s surname, her son changed his name by deed poll twice, in 1958 and then 20 years ago to Robin Ian Evelyn Milne Stuart le Prince de la Lanne-Mirrlees.
Count Robin became a captain in the Royal Artillery serving in India during the Second World War and was later a herald to the Queen and attended her coronation. He also held numerous foreign knighthoods.
And in 2005, he took up his title of Prince of Incoronata, an Adriatic archipelago, bestowed upon him in the 1960s by the exiled King Peter II of Yugoslavia, to whom he had been adjutant and confidant.
Fact following fiction: Telly Savalas stars as Blofeld in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, in which the head of Spectre seeks to claim the title of Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp. Ironically, Count Robin had the title Prince of Incoronata bestowed upon him in 1967 by the exiled King Peter II of Yugoslavia – four years after Fleming wrote his Bond novel
After he moved to Great Bernera, islanders grew extremely fond of the likeable, charming man they called their laird.
He supported many local causes and readily released land for community use, building a bond of trust between laird and crofter.
After the Lloyds insurance syndicates crash in the 1990s, Count Robin had to sell off his assets to pay £2million of losses.
But Great Bernera was never put on the market. He also refused to sell Inchdrewer Castle in Banffshire which he bought as a ruin and partially restored in 1971.
At the behest of islanders, he withdrew a clutch of uninhabited islands off Great Bernera – including Little Bernera – from the market. But other grand properties had to go, including a £400,000 chateau in France – his mother’s former home – a flat in Paris and Ratzenegg Castle in Austria.
Many of his prized collection of antiques and paintings were also auctioned off.
Count Robin won the hearts of debutantes including Fiona Campbell-Walker (pictured), a top model who married one of the richest men in Europe, Baron ThyssenLater on, the crash in prices of farmed salmon also hit his finances and he was forced to sell his seven-bedroom mansion in Holland Park, London, and his Swiss apartment.
He was highly regarded on Great Bernera, which has a population of just 350, as a benevolent man.
Fellow islander Rhona Macleod said in 2005: ‘He may be a prince, but to us he will always simply be Robin.
‘He’s had two castles in his life, but he must be the only prince who preferred a croft house on Bernera. That says it all.
‘He also must be the only prince who joined a local lottery syndicate – but after Lloyds he needed the money.’
Count Robin was married once, at the age of 45 to a nurse half his age, but it fizzled out after a week.
He had a long-term relationship with a German duchess, Margarethe of Württemberg, and is survived by their son Patrick de la Lanne, 50, the mayor of Delmenhort – a town of 74,000 people near Bremen in north Germany – and three adult grandchildren.
In his later years the count was best known for being an eccentric figure who had an aggressive dislike of the Prince of Wales, whom he called ‘an absolute disgrace’ in 2003.
And in the late 1990s he provoked opposition when he proposed to open a drying-out clinic for alcoholics on Great Bernera, which he wanted to call a ‘personal rediscovery centre’.
During February 2004 he was admitted to Hammersmith Hospital in London after suffering a stroke and while he was there, he contracted MRSA.
He was convinced he had been infected by bacteria on doctors’ ties and demanded that the neckwear should be banned.
This is very sad.
BBC Gaelic radio used “SNP propaganda” about RET
Dear Gail
I agree with you Gail that the motion does encapsulate everything that the Comhairle and the OHTG have been lobbying for. Sadly, this morning on Radio nan Gaidheal I learnt two things:
The first, via an interview given by MSP Alasdair Allan, was that the Government intend amending the Motion and presenting the case for a 50 per cent increase as “major progress”. In so doing, ignoring the case you and the Comhairle have made for a moratorium until after the analysis is carried out. This illustrates what some of our political representatives have been doing, fobbing us all off with platitudes and doing Edinburgh’s bidding. And what can I say about the embarrassment of a letter from our MSP to Keith Brown that you copied us into last night…..
The second, more alarming thing I learnt was that certain BBC employees will faithfully use propaganda from the SNP as if it were truth. Today the gaelic presenter Shona Henderson said, and I translate “…the Labour Party had campaigned against RET….” This is a bare faced untruth for which no evidence exists. But it does exist in the lexicon of SNP propaganda and is now repeated by a few in the BBC. Sadly from past experience I know it’s pointless to call the Gaelic department of the BBC in Inverness – because they are always right and are incapable of error.
Incidentally – Norman MacAskill did, despite Ms Henderson’s best efforts, convey exactly what the OHTG stands for and more importantly what all reasonable people in the islands want. Keep up the good work and do not allow those that are opposed to commonsense prevailing to turn this critical issue into a “them versus us “ political football.
Regards,
DJ Macsween
Dear Keith Brown, reinstate RET NOW! demands council leader.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
Mr Keith Brown MP
Minister for Transport
Scottish Government
Victoria Quay
EDINBURGH
EH6 6QQ
16 February 2012
Dear Mr Brown,
ROAD EQUIVALENT TARIFF: CHARGING FOR COMMERCIAL VEHICLES
I refer to previous correspondence and our recent meeting in Edinburgh, and would thank you for ensuring the issue of a quick response by Transport Scotland on 13 February 2012, giving details of the amendments to the charging scheme for small commercial vehicles, and of the transitional arrangements for larger commercial vehicles.
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar considered the statement at our full Council meeting on 15 February 2012. Members of the Comhairle also met representatives of the Outer Hebrides Transport Group (OHTG) earlier in the day and, following both these meetings, I would like to make the following points for further consideration and discussion.
First of all, I would wish to emphasise the Comhairle’s total support for the RET Scheme, which the Comhairle believes, from sound local knowledge, has brought significant economic and social benefit to the Outer Hebrides community. The Comhairle remains of the view, however, that the current proposals, taking into account the Transport Scotland announcement of 13 February, in regard to the withdrawal of RET for commercial vehicles will be detrimental to the economy and community.
The Comhairle acknowledges that the proposed scheme represents an improvement from the previous position of total withdrawal of RET from commercial vehicles. Nevertheless, the Comhairle cannot welcome a scheme which includes the possibility of 50% increases in fares for commercial vehicles, in the full knowledge of the impact this will have on the islands’ economy.
Accordingly, the Comhairle requests that Scottish Government re-instate RET for commercial vehicles until the evaluation referred to in the statement of 13 February 2012 has been completed. It is unusual for a study and evaluation to take place during a time of transitional arrangements, and the Comhairle would suggest that it is in all parties’ interests – Scottish Government, the Comhairle, the Outer Hebrides community and commercial operators – that the study is allowed to evaluate the full operation of RET on the basis of objective evidence.
Over the past week, the Comhairle commissioned preliminary assessment of Government’s proposals to help us understand the potential impacts. The results of this preliminary analysis suggest that the impacts, in terms of jobs, will be a loss to the local economy of circa 100 FTE. As you will appreciate this would be a significant and highly damaging impact for a fragile, peripheral economy such as the Outer Hebrides. You will be aware from the meeting that the commercial sector strenuously denies that the benefits of RET were not passed on to local consumers.
In order that appropriate local knowledge and local market intelligence is provided, there may be value in a Comhairle official being part of the Steering Group overseeing the proposed evaluation. This may also assist transparency around the evaluation and we would be happy to release a Comhairle official to assist in this regard.
The Comhairle supports the campaign of the OHTG to seek to reverse Scottish Government’s proposals to remove RET from commercial vehicles, and will continue to work with the group as regards this element of its work.
On a related matter, the Comhairle welcomes the changes to the charging regime for small commercial vehicles and, in the spirit of consistency, would request that this change also be made in respect of small commercial vehicles using the Sounds of Harris and Barra services. The Comhairle would also wish to see RET applied to these services as soon as possible, and in time for the new financial year beginning 1 April 2012.
The Comhairle will consider its further response, as part of our response to the Ferries Review, at our Transportation Committee on 7, and our full Council meeting on 8, March 2012, and looks forward to further discussions with Scottish Government on this vital issue, which is so important to the economy and wellbeing of the Outer Hebrides.
Kind regards.
Yours sincerely,
Angus Campbell
Leader,
Comhairle nan Eilean Siar
