Comhairle nan Eilean Siar joins a range of community representatives in the islands in formally rejecting the proposals from Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland and their contractor Calmac to further reduce the limited winter timetable currently in place and delay a summer timetable indefinitely.
However, the Scottish Government told Hebrides News there are no plans to cut timetables unless the community wants them to.
The comhairle accuses Transport Scotland of seeking a reduction in service on the “spurious grounds” that it would reduce unnecessary interactions between customers, vessel crews and port staff and reduce the risk of Covid community transmission. This is being considered now following other transport operators being asked to reduce services.
This despite there being strong controls in place on travel during lockdown and at a time when the key sectors are anxiously looking to Government for more clarity on the roadmap towards easing of restrictions said the council.
A Transport Scotland spokesman told Hebrides News: “We have been working with CalMac throughout all phases of lockdown to continuously review whether services are running at the appropriate levels, in light of the current low levels of demand and ongoing travel restrictions.
““There are no plans to reduce services from current levels unless communities want us to and we will be engaging with local authorities, Regional Transport Partnerships and tourism bodies to discuss their feedback later this week.”
Robert Morrison, Operations Director for Cal Mac, said: " Transport Scotland have asked Cal Mac to seek views on potential service reductions, based on current demand and in the context of ongoing travel restrictions.
"The information and feedback received will be shared with Transport Scotland, and this will in turn support any decisions they make around changes to our timetabled services."
A council statement said: "In many island communities injury is added to insult when the reality is that ferry service reliability is so poor that interaction between passengers and crews is already much reduced as ferry services are so disrupted by weather and technical failures across the ageing fleet that Government has placed at Cal Mac’s disposal.
The Comhairle have taken the following formal position on the proposal from Scottish Ministers to further reduce Western Isles ferry services:
• There requires to be further formal engagement with, at a minimum, the Comhairle’s political leadership prior to any changes being considered by Transport Scotland;
• Further information is needed as to the proposed length of the reduction period and when it would commence;
• The consultation period is extremely short, for reasons which are not apparent . It cannot reasonably be said that there is an urgent need to reduce services on account of COVID issues when Scotland has been in Levels 3 or 4 since December 2020;
• With the imminent return to the summer timetable, a reduction in COVID cases, the progress of the vaccination programme and the possible return of the Western Isles to Level 3 in early course, this seems to be a strange time to be discussing the reduction of services;
• A reduced frequency will mean more traffic on individual sailing increasing the proximity of customers one to each other and to crew members;
• Will the operator and Transport Scotland confirm that a full summer timetable can be implemented with adequate crew in place overnight when travel restrictions ease;
• These comments are made in the context of considerable and damaging service failures , particularly in Uist and Barra, which are only partly attributable to weather. The Comhairle considers that, rather than reducing services, Transport Scotland should instruct CalMac to find greater flexibility within its fleet, assisting the company whenever possible through the purchase or leasing of other vessels, some of which are available elsewhere in Scotland.
Chair of Transportation Cllr Uisdean Robertson said: “This request to further reduce ferry services will have a calamitous impact on our seafood industry which already has enough to contend with because of Brexit and creates wholly avoidable uncertainty for our tourism industry which has already effectively endured 3 winters in business terms and needs some form of summer season in 2021 if we are to see any recovery from the pandemic.
I am calling on the Islands Minister to step in and abort this unnecessary and ill thought plan and to recognise that the unreliability of the Calmac fleet cannot be swept under the carpet any longer.
What is needed is decisive action to provide new tonnage to ease the strain on the fleet. I wrote to Mr Wheelhouse last week setting out actions that can be taken to relieve pressure on the fleet in the short to medium term including the opportunity of a new build Catamaran for Mull and chartering Pentalina and a freight ferry for Stornoway. Responsibility for the debacle of our ferry fleet sits with Scottish Ministers and I am calling on them to show leadership on this issue.”
Row over plans to cut ferry sailings; government maintains no timetable reduction unless wanted by the community
24 February 2021
