Committee
Public Petitions Committee, 25 Feb 2003
25 Feb 2003 · S1 · Public Petitions Committee
Item of business
New Petitions
Barra Air Service (PE598)
Jessie MacNeil:
Watch on SPTV
We thank the committee for giving us an opportunity to use the democratic structure of the Scottish Parliament to present our case for the retention of the Barra lifeline air service to the mainland. Our petition responds to Lewis Macdonald's decision to issue the public service obligation tender for the Barra to Glasgow air service for one year only, whereas PSO tenders for Tiree and Campbeltown were issued for the standard three years. By doing so, he has put at risk not only the Barra to Glasgow air service, but the Barra to Benbecula air service and Barra airport. His action raises questions about the Scottish Executive's commitment to all air services that are covered by PSOs. Mr Macdonald has acted without consulting the island's local authority, the health board or—most important—the Barra community.Barra is a vibrant and vital island that makes a significant contribution to the Scottish economy. Annually, we export more than £1 million-worth of fish and shellfish to Europe. Currently, we provide the merchant navy and the oil industry with more than 100 skilled seamen. We export skills and young people. Through the traditions of crofting and fishing, we play an important role in protecting the ecology of a fragile area.Mr Macdonald's actions threaten the viability of the island. The loss of onshore and off-island jobs, the impact on health care, education, economic development and tourism and the increasing sense of isolation that would follow any withdrawal of the lifeline service would have a catastrophic effect on the island economy. Depopulation would surely follow.The minister has stated that the car ferry across the Sound of Barra will give Barra access to the air service out of Benbecula. Regardless of health and weather conditions, the people of Barra would have to travel 40 miles north by ferry and single-track road to turn around and travel south-east to Glasgow. At best, that route would require three or more hours for travelling from Barra to Glasgow, although it is more likely that it would require five to eight hours and often an en route overnight stay in bad weather. It is like making people in Edinburgh drive to Dundee in order to go to Glasgow, but it is more serious in its implications for individual travellers.It is ludicrous to think that such a route can substitute for a direct one-hour air service from Barra to Glasgow. Moreover, in the planning for the Eriskay causeway and the Sound of Barra ferry, no hint was ever made that such an inter-island service would replace the direct air service from Barra to Glasgow—it was never thought of as a substitute for mainland air services.We recognise that public subsidies must provide full value for money. The benefits of air services to Barra, the Western Isles and the rest of Scotland must exceed the cost of subsidies for those services. We know that proper studies will establish that they do and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The Executive has made no such studies in reaching its decision. It is time that it did so.It is also time that the Executive started to follow statutory and other governmental policies of consulting the people who will be affected. The drastic action of shortening the PSO tender to one year was taken with no consultation—that is simply unacceptable for an Executive that is committed to open government.We need to be told about the consultation. What will it be about? Why, where and when will it take place? Who will consult? We urge the Parliament to bend every effort to cause the Executive to remove the immediate threat to the Barra air service by extending the Glasgow to Barra PSO to three years and to carry out promptly each element of the remedy that is outlined in our statement. If the Executive does so conscientiously, we have every confidence that it will decide without reservation that the lifeline Barra to Glasgow air service must be continued for the indefinite future.Finally, on a point of procedure, we are concerned by the fact that the Parliament will be dissolved by the end of March—the same point at which Mr Macdonald has committed himself to make an announcement about the extension of the PSO tender. We ask the committee to request that his announcement be made no later than mid-March so that the issue can be examined prior to dissolution. I thank the committee for listening.
In the same item of business
The Convener:
Lab
The next petition is PE598 from Ms Karen MacLean, on the subject of the Barra air service. The petitioners are calling on the Parliament to urge the Executiv...
Jessie MacNeil:
I am.
The Convener:
Lab
Okay. You will have three minutes to speak to the petition, after which we will open up the meeting for members to ask questions.
Jessie MacNeil:
We thank the committee for giving us an opportunity to use the democratic structure of the Scottish Parliament to present our case for the retention of the B...
The Convener:
Lab
Thank you. We have also received colourful support for the petition from children in Barra, which I will pass round to members. A card from Christine MacLean...
Mr Duncan Hamilton (Highlands and Islands) (SNP):
SNP
First, I pay tribute to the action group both for their efforts on the island of Barra and for the public meetings that were held in Glasgow. It might intere...
Maureen Macmillan (Highlands and Islands) (Lab):
Lab
I associate myself with everything that Jessie MacNeil has said about the process—the lack of consultation before the announcement was made, and the realisat...
Mr Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con):
Con
I put my full support and that of my colleague Mary Scanlon behind this petition.Recently, the Rural Development Committee did a report into integrated rural...
Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab):
Lab
I also support the petition. Barra is within my constituency, and I am glad to see the people putting forward their petition so well.I want to draw out the i...
Jessie MacNeil:
There is some health service provision within the Western Isles, as the First Minister said when he answered the question on Thursday. He stated that there w...
Rhoda Grant:
Lab
Are you saying that, in the long run, it could cost an awful lot more to charter air ambulances to take people off the island when they are very ill?
Jessie MacNeil:
Yes. We would need more air ambulances for routine health appointments rather than for emergency evacuations.
Rhoda Grant:
Lab
Is it also the case that people go to Glasgow when births are complicated? It would be difficult to take mothers with young babies, who might be very ill, on...
Jessie MacNeil:
I will let Karen MacLean answer that question, because she has had experience of maternity cases and the difficulties that are associated when maternity case...
Karen MacLean:
The answer to Rhoda Grant's question is yes. If somebody is in difficulty at the end stage of the pregnancy, it is necessary to get them to Glasgow, where th...
Rhoda Grant:
Lab
Is the service important for keeping people on the island? People who are starting a family or who are elderly and infirm would become nervous about living o...
Karen MacLean:
Yes. That is the case without a doubt. I recently spoke to one of the secondary school teachers, who is not from Barra; we take in most of our teachers. When...
John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD):
LD
Good morning folks and welcome to the great city of Edinburgh. To start, will you tell us when you left home for this visit to Edinburgh and when you are lik...
Karen MacLean:
We left on Saturday and we will not get back until tomorrow afternoon.
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
It is a three-day trip.
Karen MacLean:
Yes. We could have left yesterday, but we would not have arrived in Edinburgh until about 7 o'clock, which was far too late. If the weather conditions had ch...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
That is considered normal in Barra and other remote areas, but if I suggested to somebody in Edinburgh that it would take three days to go to a meeting, they...
Karen MacLean:
I do not know. That is one of the flaws in the argument.
Councillor Donald Manford:
We would like to understand precisely the answer to your question. The first announcement that was made advised us that the service was to be reviewed becaus...
John Farquhar Munro:
LD
In a remote area such as Barra, which is on the periphery, a direct air link is an essential part of the transport provision. The service should not be consi...
Jessie MacNeil:
When the Executive raised the question of overlap on the introduction of the new ferry between Barra and Eriskay, we expected it to cause conflict not on our...
The Convener:
Lab
I welcome Alasdair Morrison to the committee. I will give him a minute to catch his breath.
Dorothy-Grace Elder:
Ind
I admit that I am still baffled by the fact that in the 21st century anybody should be at risk of losing their air service just because they have got a bette...
Jessie MacNeil:
When the health board was drawing up its brief report, the Scottish air ambulance service stated that it saw the air ambulance service continuing. When we in...
Dorothy-Grace Elder:
Ind
So the air ambulance service would be threatened. I assume from what you are saying that the state of the beach can change within a few hours and needs a tea...