The price of fuel

Everyone is complaining, and getting on the band wagon, but no-one seems to have any sensible suggestions about how to ensure that there is no profiteering or price fixing bey either the sole supplier, nor by the individual petrol stations.

Until now.

The problem is that cutting the price by subsidising the petrol stations is going to make many of them unviable, as the impact on their cash flow will be very severe whilst they wait for the refunds from the Government.

I've previously suggested that Transport Scotland can be used to deliver the subsidies partly in advance and partly in arrears, in much the same way that they rebate Fuel Duty to bus operators.

Unfortunately, the Scottish Government seem not to want to get involved, and political point scoring is higher up the agenda of our parliamentarians than actually coming up with a working answer.


This is the cheapest and easiest solution but one which requires the two parliaments to agree, and for those reasons, the politicians won't let it happen.

Option 2 is much more expensive, but gives a long term solution to additional issues.

The Council (or HIE or the Scottish Government) build new fuel tanks at Arnish and announce the closure of the oil depot in the centre of town for Health and Safety reasons.  As well as sheer aesthetics.  The tanks are then put out for a 5-year lease to anyone, with tenderers asked to deliver fuel to Lewis on the basis of ex-Grangemouth +x% or xp per litre.  That's the delivery price on the island, and the winner bidder has to cover their costs inside that margin on an open-books basis.

To control the petrol stations, the Comhairle need to put their supply of petrol out to tender on an annual basis and to return to publicising the price of petrol at the various filling stations, thereby encouraging the passing on the maximum savings.

We have monopolies and oligopolies of supply here.  We can't break that structure (easily) but by changing the relationship between the parties - by giving the public the maximum information and by using economic levers to discourage bad behaviour, there is the opportunity to maximise the return for us all.

---

I know the situation in Uist will be unaffected by this change, at least immediately.

There is also an issue about the discounts each petrol station has negotiated from their supplier. 

Finally, the last thing we want is any more station closures, especially in rural areas.  This might mean a flat delivery charge for anywhere in the islands to protect rural stations, which means slightly higher prices in Stornoway and lower outside. 

Owning a petrol station is not a licence to print money: there's a tiny margin so you need a huge volume.  We are that volume.

Barra fishermen sold out

It is a disgrace that a Marine SAC has been imposed on the area South of Barra, against the wishes of the fishermen.

The site was already being preserved and looked after by the fishermen, but now their livelihoods have been significantly affected, by a decision that was flagged up as having been taken before the Government started the assessment process.

Indeed, the proponents of the designation were the very ones who undertook the "independent" assessment, and reported back to Government.

Nice work if you can get it, as SNH now stand to get extra funding to protect the seabed from ......?

Of course, this was a process started and controlled by the Scottish Government; overseen by the Scottish Government; and only run under EU rules.

This point was previously conceded by our elected representatives only under great pressure for the Barraich,but let's not let that stand in the way of a series of faux-angry press releases which promise no action what so ever.

Roll-on the empty wilderness of the Western Isles where humans won't get in the way of "conservation".

BTW: Cllr Manford's views might be quite interesting.....

Guga Hunt

It looks like the Great and the Good are about to condemn the annual Guga Hunt as being inhumane, and a practice which must be stopped.
 
We all know that the well-meaning, but out-of-touch organisations that seek to designate every square inch of the islands as a protected area, SSSI, RAMSAR, Marine Conservation Zone or whatever the flavour of the month is.

The one creature that gets no protection is the human residents, who find traditional practices stopped; freedom of movement constrained; and the wisdom of generations cast aside, by 'cleverer' visitors with a degree or three and a large consultancy budget.

Not everything has to survive, of course, but neither has everything to be cast aside in favour of today's flavour of the month, and today's perceived wisdom.

Presumably, to ensure a 'humane' dispatching - by whose criteria, and by whose infallible measure? - the conservation (sic) bodies will demand that the men of Ness will have to take a fully functioning slaughtering machine, along with a suitably qualified inspector from the Comhairle to check their permits; fridges, freezers and vacuum packing equipment; EU approved labelling, including a best before date*.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, these bodies won't be satisfied until they have an empty island to play with so that the Corncrakes, Geese, Guga and assorted other visitors can swim, walk and fly wild and justify the existence of the Quangos.

They were wrong about the Uist Hedgehogs - badly wrong - but they got a few years funding out of that.

Now is the time to stop this madness.


* "Guga doesn't go off", as a wag said, "It's already off".

Pairc - the saga continues

With Thursday seeing the next round of the legal actions in Stornoway Sheriff Court it seems fairly clear what the pattern is going to be.

The legal actions are going to be long and drawn out.

The Government have already acknowledged that the legislation is flawed, which I think means that they are on a hiding to nothing in Court; but that they will drag this out until they can decide how to rewrite the legislation.

The landlord has apparently offered the crofters an amicable buy-out, if the existing Committee remove themselves.

This last element is the most intriguing, as it shows the animosity between the existing Committee and the landlord, and represents a very smart move by Mr Lomas.  Will the existing Committee withdraw and challenge Mr Lomas to stand by his word?  Well, with silence from South Lochs, it looks like that offer has been rebutted; and that no-one seems prepared to try and knock heads together and get legal paperwork in place.

The animosity can be explained by the claims of self-interest against the Directors of Pairc Trust, in that it is claimed by Barry Lomas that the suggested siting of some turbines will give disproportionate benefit to those crofters, some of whom may be the Directors of Pairc Trust.  Let me make it very plain, M'Lud, that I do not know whether these claims have any substance, but that the Directors strongly rebut this argument.  I am aware of some matters they need to refute, rather than just rebut, but I am not aware of any substantive attempt to demolish these arguments.

And, yes, I know I have said all this before, but for the reasons that follow, these arguments need to be demolished if the Pairc buyout is to have the widest possible support; and credibility lies at the heart of that.

I was reading back through the Pairc buy-out Business Plan just recently.  It's been apparently removed from the Pairc Trust website, but if you find the old cached pages on Google, the now-deleted links still took you to the pdf; which you could download for posterity.  This probably won't be possible after tomorrow.


Page 49 of the plan - as approved by CnES and the Scottish Government - has a most interesting comment on the type of holidays that Pairc Trust will be offering to the public:

A short break (3 days) with meals would cost in the region of £200 per person per night. Extra
charges would be levied depending on which activities the holidaymakers would be enjoying.
This is averaged to 20% on top of the accommodation costs.

So a couple coming for a 3 day break would spend £1,440 - which one assumes includes ferry costs, but not petrol - instead of perhaps £500 in a 5* hotel in Edinburgh (Scotsman, advance purchase rate) of £900 for a week in Crete (Thomas Cook, Aghios Nikolaos in October).

Now why is this important?

Simply because the business plan assumes that for a one-off outlay of £9,000 (what no recurring marketing costs?), Pairc Trust will be able to sell 150 bed nights the following year, generating income of £6,000.  I did mention the 20% commission the Pairc Trust will take (at page 49), didn't I. 

The Pairc Trust as promoter would take a fee (e.g. 20%) from the holiday price to cover
promotional and organisational costs and the costs of the activities while the partners in the
enterprise would benefit from increased reliable trade and collective marketing of their local
businesses.

Now, current tariffs for B&B or self catering in South Lochs are £25 per night or £250 per week for an entire cottage; or about £50 pppn in the only hotel in the area.  All of which raises all sorts of questions about the supply of suitable accommodation, given that to upgrade is going to cost £60,000+ for the majority of current providers.  My rough and ready guess is that it will cost perhaps £1.2m to provide enough suitable accommodation in the area or as little £250,000 if there is only one new-build provider.  Where is all this going to come from on the hope of getting bookings through an untested provider selling beds in an unbuilt facility?

Realistically, you can see a new provider or two trying to fill that market; but when they can sell the beds direct or via VisitScotland, why go through the Pairc Trust.

That is just one example I have seen of an element of the business plan that has been allowed to go through, and which is being touted by local and Central Government as a model of sustainability at which large sums of money should be thrown.

If the Pairc buy-out is to succeed it must succeed on a realistic basis, and not on fantasy figures, or Barry Lomas will tear this all to pieces in Court and discredit the entire process.

Unless, of course, that gives the Government their out from the entire process and time to rewrite the laws; which the cynic in me thinks might just be the case.

Whatever happens, Pairc is going to face a long slow decline as the legal process takes it's slow and winding course; something I don't think anyone wants to see.

Equateq

Good news from the Breasclete factory, where they have signed a long-term supply agreement with a Nasdaq listed company, the Amarin Corp.

I understand that this is worth $20m and will secure the future of the plant for many years to come.

These are exactly the sort of highly-skilled jobs that these islands can deliver, and the type of product - fresh, pure and healthy - that we should be encouraging to develop in the islands.

Pairc valuation

So today's the day that the people of Pairc find out what the valuation of the estate is, and how much of a mountain they have to climb.

They haven't got long, as the legislation is very specific about the period of time in which any acquisition must be concluded.

And the valuation (I am very reliably informed) is......

is.....

is.....

Withheld.

The Scottish Government appear to have decided that there will be no Part 3 valuation issued until the conclusion of the appeals by the landlord.

Yes, you read that right.  On the long-awaited and long-heralded day of the announcement, the Ministers in their wisdom have decided to suspend the valuation process until the legal actions are concluded.  Legal actions that they have known about for years.

I now, I know, it's not in the legislation that they have the power to do this and it is not within their authority, nor indeed does it follow the processes given in the legislation, but having led the people Pairc up the hill, it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel is actually just someone else who is lost.

Of course, this in itself gives the landlord grounds for yet another appeal.  Which he will no doubt file in due course.

Good work Minister; you've managed to upset all the residents by your clueless fence sitting.

Pairc - heroes and villains

Yes, I was duly embarrassed by the wrong call I made at the beginning of the week when I claimed the buy-out was to be refused, much to the amusement of some commentators

If I were infallible, there is probably another calling that I would be encouraged to follow, but yes sometimes I get it spectacularly wrong.  The erroneous post haves been suspended (not deleted) and the mocking, abusive and humorous comments preserved for all posterity, or whenever I feel less red-faced about the whole episode.

However, as the process moves on, let's see what the landlord has to say.

There are some pretty serious allegations in the document that require to be - and must be -  properly investigated.

It is also important to examine the landlord/crofter share from the Pairc Windfarm and Pairc Trust’s urgency to obtain the interposed lease so that it can deny the landlord any value from it. Two of Pairc Trust’s directors were present at the original meeting on 04 March 2003 when Pairc Liaison Group declared the issue of crofter income share to be a matter, not for Pairc Estate but, for Pairc Liaison Group alone to consider. The result? Two director’s families are in line to receive one fifth of the windfarm benefits, whilst some two hundred crofters and the landlord are intended to receive nothing.

If it is true that directors of the Trust - and I have heard it repeated from a number of sources - were to receive 20% of the benefits, directly or indirectly, then this requires to be placed into the public domain.  As a publicly funded body, and one seeking huge public assistance, it is only right that any potential benefit to the directors/trustees or their immediate families should be made widely known.

If it is fairly, openly and correctly awarded to them, then that is fine.

If the landlord is lying, then his standing will be fatally undermined, and such libellous suggestions could prove very expensive.

If the situation is not investigated and resolved, and if it later proves to be true, then the community and the whole rational behind community land purchase schemes will be undermined, and previous land acquisitions will be tainted.

The claims have been made and the must be rigorously investigated to clear the air.  If they are not, then they will be raised in Court by the landlord, and any failings of the funders will be exposed to public ridicule.

Take note: there is only one course of action that must be followed, however difficult and embarrassing.

Another ward to close

Nurses tell me that yet another ward in the hospital is to be closed in the coming weeks.

It is not clear which ward is to go yet, as there is a balancing act between keeping a wing open and efficiencies, but what is clear that the declining use of the hospital is turning it from"state of the art" into "white elephant" in a short period of time.

With the continuing population decline, budget cuts and the centralisation of services the pattern is clear.

But, just how do we reverse it?

No National Park in Harris

So Roseanna Cunningham can make up her mind, just this time she is rejecting the aspiration for Harris to become a National Park.

I've always had concerns about the impact that this would have on future developments in the area - not the current plans and hopes, but the things we don't yet know about, but it was more a series of worries than opposition to the idea.

Still, looking at the reasons, I am puzzled by the logic, which I think may come back to haunt the Minister, and her representatives in the Western Isles:

"In the absence of council support and within the context of the tight financial pressures facing Scotland, proceeding with the formal statutory process would be premature, create unwarranted expectations and cause confusion.

Leave the Council's position aside for one moment.

Since when has the budget process been an issue in assessing the appropriateness of awarding an area National Park status?  I thought the decision was based upon environmental and socio-economic factors rather than whether the Civil Servants could find the necessary cash to pump into the area.

Of course there is an issue about sustainability - which means cash - as well as the management and control - which means cash - of the designated area, but it either meets the statutory conditions or it doesn't.

In this case, it looks like Harris meets the conditions, but the Government won't give it the money: so let's make that a "No" then.

The Hearachs will be bemused to think that they might be 'confused' by a statutory process, the poor uneducated peasants that they are; but I am sure that there are a few consultants from Edinburgh that the Government could appoint to make sure that they understood what they were asking for; and that the whole process was explained in simple terms to the poor simple souls.

More than anything, the decision betrays the mindset in Edinburgh towards the periphery; a mindset that appears pervasive through the Civil Servants and their (nominal) masters, the Government.

The real cost of living

Fascinating analysis by the Joseph Rowantree Foundation and the Commission for Rural Communities on the cost of living in rural areas.


Anyone who lives outside the big towns will know that the financial impact of rurality is quite severe, and that costs are loaded on individuals and public services.

Assuming life in the Western Isles needs 20% more income to give a standard of life equivalent to the cities, and on the basis that actual income levels are 66% of the Scottish average, then income per head in the Western Isles needs to rise by 81% for us to be on a par with Glasgow or Edinburgh.

The real failure of all Governments - Westminster and Holyrood - is that income levels in the Western Isles have not risen over the past decades, and that economic decline has been allowed to continue with seemingly no interest in reversing depopulation and poverty.

Perhaps the Council should grab hold of these statistics and use them as a big stick to beat Holyrood to argue that sparsity of population has now been better quantified and that further support is necessary to keep schools and communities alive and active.

Let's hear the outcry from our elected representatives.......

A new big windfarm for Lewis?

Yes, probably, maybe.

When I get a few moments later this week when I have much more time to pontificate whilst spending quality hours with the family, I'll give my take on how this proposal and the study on peat bogs should actually have knitted together for the benefit of the islands.

As I said at the time and was shot down by those who didn't listen.

I'll say it again, hopefully more clearly and with fewer vested interests putting the boot in, and I hope it provokes a proper debate, rather than just knee jerks.

The Pairc Trust

With the community representatives on the Trust at loggerheads with the Landlord, Barry Lomas, and with recent accusations and counter-accusations flying around, I was grateful for some documents that reached me recently, and to which I will be giving detailed consideration shortly.

I looked carefully at the Pairc Trust website and was interested to note that the footer reads:

Copyright (c) 2009 Pairc.co.uk. All rights reserved.

So who owns pairc.co.uk?

A quick look at whois.co.uk produced an astonishing answer:

Domain name:
pairc.co.uk

Registrant:
BJY Lomas

Registrant type:
UK Sole Trader

Registrant's address:
Lomas
14 Offchurch Lane Radford Semele
Leamington Spa
CV31 1TN
Unknown
United Kingdom

Registrar:
Easily Limited t/a easily.co.uk [Tag = WEBCONSULTANCY]

URL: http://www.easily.co.uk

Relevant dates:
Registered on: 20-Jan-2000
Renewal date: 20-Jan-2012
Last updated: 04-Mar-2010

WTF is going on???

Why do the parties seems to be playing at being opponents at each others throats when there appears to collusion between the parties, not just in the simple matter of the website, but in apparently secret deals behind closed doors which apparently seek to benefit some of the Trustees interests and the sellers interest in a mutually beneficial way? (More on this to follow)

As a charitable trust, the Trustees have to show an even higher standard of probity than company directors, but the public in the Pairc area need to be make any decisions in the full knowledge of the full facts. And the politicians need an even higher level of knowledge before public funds and public approval are bestowed on the deal.

Of course, I may be wrong, and I will happily publicise any further information that may shine light on the nature of the dealings, if I have got the wrong end of the stick.

How many right-wingers does it take.....

...to form yet another 'independent' political party?

The genesis for this post goes back a few months when I was contacted and asked to find the gossip on an individual who was included in the leaked list of BNP members. The person concerned had now moved from the Hebrides to South Africa and their new neighbours had 'found' my blog and wanted to get the inside track.

I was pointed in the direction of some 'friends' of the individual who were also supposedly (former) members/supporters of the BNP, and neighbours of this person when he lived in Scotland.

A little bit of digging on the web and I found all the websites owned by the neighbours, and lo and behold, but one of the 'private' and hidden websites had an unusual picture. One that I had posted to my website just the week previous.

A few minutes further digging and it was obvious it was a set-up, so I sat back and waited for the next contact from this very concerned citizen in South Africa. She did appear on her company website, but someone with the same name as her husband seemed to be involved in extreme right-wing politics.

It is the startling incompetence, stupidity and blatant ar$eholeness of the extreme right that you just have to love. As a punch bag for their own incompetence, I mean, and as a way to measure your own ability and sanity.

Thanks therefore to my spies for pointing me in the direction of the manifesto of the latest bunch of intolerant misfits, the English Democrats (sic, sic, sic).

One of their more imaginative policies is:

3.15.11.3 The deportation of all illegal immigrants. There should be no amnesties. Illegality should not be rewarded by the granting of citizenship. Nor should organised crime rackets be allowed to profit from people smuggling. Discovered illegal immigrants should be offered the choice between cooperatively returning straight home, or being sent to a distant offshore holding centre during the processing of their repatriation case.

I think that we can all assume that they don't envisage the Isle of Wight or even the Scilly Isles being 'distant' enough.

But is there an opportunity here for the Western Isles, and the wider Scotland, to welcome the doctors, business people and families that some of the English don't want?

Quite apart from the skills that would be dropped into our laps, won't it really annoy the English Democrats if we offer to keep all the 'expelled' right next door; ready to visit England as wealthy tourists and rub the noses of the English Democrats and their ilk in their own insecurity. Whilst we all benefit from the influx of ready, willing and able emigrants?

No comment can do this justice....

The Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has condemned Cal Mac for its controversial Sabbath sailings between Stornoway and Ullapool.

The Presbytery has recorded its protest which reads: “The Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland met in Stornoway on Tuesday 1st September 2009 places on record its most vehement protest against the actions of CalMac Ferries Ltd in imposing a Sabbath ferry service between Stornoway and Ullapool on the Lord’s Day and against every fair test of community opinion.

“The Presbytery wishes to record that CalMac Ferries Ltd have broken a written assurance, in 2000, to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar that Sabbath sailings would not be introduced against the Council's wishes; that these sailings were only inaugurated after the solitary Western Isles representative on the Company's Board retired in March this year; that they ignore the weight of petition evidence (3,760 island residents against Sabbath sailings, as opposed to barely 1,200 for); that the Company has refused to make public the legal advice on which it claims it is obliged to provide a 7-day service; and that the service was finally initiated after only five day's notice in July.

“t further considers the alleged reasons for the commencement of this service to be utterly spurious and an incorrect interpretation of the law cited. It considers reprehensible the fact that commercial, social and entertainment interests appear to be shielded behind this supposed legal necessity and demand that Caledonian MacBrayne make public its legal opinion which precipitated this action.

“The Presbytery notes too, with regret, that letters of concern from the Sabbath Observance Committee of our Church in 2007 to Western Isles parliamentary representatives, Alasdair Allan MSP and Angus MacNeil MP, were not even granted the courtesy of acknowledgement.

“The Presbytery considers the action to be harmful to the local community and to be overtly anti-religious as was attested by the triumphalism on Stornoway quayside – with baiting slogans and blasphemous comments – and the attendance of a senior Company manager to exploit the considerable publicity.

“The Presbytery further fears the employment rights of those with religious convictions opposing Sabbath work, other than those done in necessity or in mercy, are now imperilled. Despite assurances to the contrary it seems inevitable that, in future recruitment of Company shore staff, applicants not prepared unequivocally to commit to Sabbath working as required will be denied employment.

“There is no legal safeguard against this and little to protect shore staff presently in employment by the Company from pressure to comply in this regard.

“We are again reminded that, as our land retreats from the law of God and all the blessings of the Reformation and our spiritual inheritance, we see not only contempt for the Fourth Commandment but the power of the State being wielded to impose on a despised minority.

“This has been done in open disregard of and in disobedience to the moral law of God contained in the Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

“The Presbytery cannot believe these sailings are either a work of necessity or of mercy.

“The operator’s action being a further public breach of God’s law, the Presbytery exhort and warn Caledonian MacBrayne and users of this service of their danger in so acting and that such transgressions deserve the just punishment of God, who observes all sin with displeasure.

“The Presbytery call on CalMac Ferries Ltd to cease this service immediately and encourage the Comhairle’s Transportation Committee to initiate an inquiry into the legal interpretations given as reasons for this action.

“It further calls on islanders and visitors to refrain from using this service and to honour the law of God before temporal and supposed financial gains.”

The population falls, again,again

An almost 5% drop in the population of the Western Isles in 2008 is a serious blow to the islands.

It is difficult to overstate the impact of the demographic changes that we are seeing and forecasting for these islands, with the young being replaced by the elderly.

Fewer schools needed; more old folks homes. Fewer births; more pensioners. Fewer incentives to stay here and bring up a family; more incentives to retire here.

Why is this happening?

I believe that it is very simple - those who leave to get a good education cannot find work back here when they graduate. We lose the majority of our most intelligent and able: my schoolmates are spread across the world with doctorates in this or that but with skills that cannot be used here.

That process is not new, but is increasing over time as the communications improve and as the ability to find jobs in Aberdeen, Glasgow or the Nigerian delta becomes easier and easier.

And then the incentive to return diminishes as the comparison between life here and life there comes into focus - better facilities, more options for the kids and easier access to more life choices.

And so the cycle perpetuates itself, heading into a death-spiral.

But how to break the cycle? Over-dependence on the public sector in all its forms is an immediate cause of the lack of opportunity, but there is a bigger underlying issue about bringing opportunities - skilled, unskilled and semi-skilled - here and the need for deliberate and sustained Political action to find remedies.

All the summits, meetings, and letters to Ministers may have done nothing more than possibly slow the decline, but the threat remains and needs urgent action. As a community, Harris is in an almost terminal state; Uist may come closer to terminal decline if the Rocket Range closes; Barra seems able to sustain and replace it's population; Lewis is fast becoming a retirement home where tourists come to see the quaint traditions of the locals.

Becoming the next St Kilda is still some time off, but moving into the grip of the black hole of depopulation from which there is no escape is coming closer and closer.