Iona Community Council

DRAFT MINUTES

Iona Community Council Meeting: 6 March 2026

Present

Dot Stewart, Katy Russon, Rob MacManaway, Shiona Ruhemann (chair), Toben Lewis (minutes),
13 members of the public

Joined remotely

MachairWind (requested a slot in the meeting): Deborah Bryce, Ellen Kane, Kiera Wilson; South West Mull and Iona Development: Rutger Emmelkamp

Apologies

Jane Martin, Harrie Burney

Minutes from previous meeting – proposed by Rob MacManaway & seconded by Ailidh Lennon

Reports from organisations:

Iona Housing Partnership – Katy Russon

Had an EGM in December. Amended articles of association for compliance with Community Right to Buy legislation. Next AGM will be before end of April. Part of that will be detailing how and when the Right to Buy might be used, and the checks and balances in place.

Iona Renewables – Shiona Ruhemann

Everyone knows we’ve had to walk away from trying to work with Scottish Government officials on low carbon heat because the public administration standards by which they’ve managed Iona aren’t acceptable.

Outside the heat network project, Iona Renewables has tried hard to facilitate support on low carbon heat for households eligible for support. That work has almost all stalled, the funding has halted, and there are also indications that contractors have easier, preferred locations to work in.

This is not a surprise. Scottish Government spent a lot of public money trying to find an alternative to the community project that was deliverable at scale in the Iona context – and accepted that its own consultants hadn’t been able to do so.

Last week, Scottish Government published its second National Islands’ Plan. The section on Climate, Nature and Energy is full of references, e.g., to supporting islands as centres of innovation that can benefit the whole of Scotland, to targeted support for island communities in recognition of their bigger challenges and costs, and to the importance of co-benefits – that net zero projects can also be designed to support island sustainability in all kinds of ways.

Needless to say, Iona’s long experience is diametrically opposite to the claims in the Climate, Nature and Energy section of the second Islands’ Plan.

Meanwhile, we’ve still never received the Scottish Government officials’ self-review of their assessment of the Iona project – which proves that you cannot get a lead official to mark their own homework, and any review they have done (which has never been produced) is not valid. A competent, accurate, impartial review remains crucial, not least because of the hundreds of thousands of pounds invested in the Iona project.

Iona Broadband Committee – report from Gordon MacCormick read by dot stewart

R100 Fibre Network failure during power outages

The R100 Fibre network, on the Ross of Mull and Iona, should continue to work during a mains power outage. To enable it to do so, battery and generator backup power is required, and provided, at Tobermory, Pennyghael and Fionnphort, exchanges.

Since the network first went live in January 2025, and prior to Storm Amy on the 3rd October, there had been six area wide power outages that affected Iona and the Ross of Mull up to the Kinloch sub-station. On each occasion the fibre network failed, instantly, when the power went off.

Those network failures should not have happened and they were reported, but by the time of Storm Amy, Openreach had not been able to identify the cause, or the location, of those failures.

However, by monitoring the timings of the power outages and subsequent network failures caused by Storm Amy, as it moved across Iona and the Ross of Mull, it was possible to determine that the network failures were being caused by the failure of both the battery and generator backup systems at Pennyghael exchange, and the failure of the generator backup at Fionnphort exchange.

This information was passed over to Openreach and in December, their power engineers attended Pennyghael exchange to investigate. They found that there was an issue with the essential power system within the exchange and an order was placed for the equipment required to fix it.

They now have that equipment and their engineers are scheduled to return to Pennyghael, in March, to install the new system.

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) – Switch off

The final date for the PSTN switch off, when all UK landline telephones must have been migrated over to the broadband network, remains the 31st of January 2027, and Openreach have said that this is the final “hard stop” date and there will be no further extension.

There are a number of households on the island whose landline telephones are still on the copper network, although their broadband is now Full Fibre.

Those households should expect to be contacted by their Service Provider, within the next few months, and will be asked to migrate the service over to their broadband network, or risk losing the service, when the PSTN is switched off at the end of January.

Mull and Iona Ferry Committee / Sound of Iona Harbours – Finlay MacDonald

In December there was a potential issue at the breakwater work site that could have required work to stop. Fortunately this did not occur and now appears to be sorted out.

Work on breakwater paused for winter, should recommence end of March or into April and follow through to completion. No further disruptions are expected.

Toilet block has been delayed due to issues with the doors. Building warrant approval hoped to come before end of March, at which point temporary toilets will be removed.

Progressing with design work and Environmental Impact Assessment on the Fionnphort side.

Currently on a Frisa only timetable for a week, although a few sailings with a larger vessel have been added to allow for capacity. Busses were not able to completely change schedule at last minute, but WCM has confirmed that they will make some small adjustments and wait for the ferry where they can.

During this period it is helpful to let CalMac know when large groups are travelling to/from Oban.

Frisa scheduled to go to dry dock 13 March.

Big issues with dry dock schedule. Isle of Lewis now out for 3 months.

Glen Sannox about to undertake trials, nearly ready to be part of schedule. Isle of Islay needs to be tested at various ports before entering service.

Caledonian Isles currently favoured by CalMac to replace Isle of Mull. Ferry committee would prefer keeping Isle of Mull. Awaiting report on viability of IoM staying in service. Caledonian Isles does not fit passenger access system at both piers, but there may be scope to fix this.

The capacity of proposed new small vessels is lower than current, CalMac stats show this would affect 9 weeks at the height of season. They estimate 92 people per day would need to be turned away during these 9 weeks. When factored across the season, this translates to a vast loss of revenue on Iona.

Transport Scotland open meeting 5 March 10.30 to 1 in the hall. Drop in and give feedback.

Discussion – Katy Russon queried vehicle capacity with the Caledonian Isles. FM: without mezzanine deck, only 6 fewer than IoM, with mezzanine deck more. And decks are quick to load. Rick Johnston asked for an update on 22 ton limit on Loch Buie. FM: will follow up. New vessels should not have that limit. Colin McDougall asked if there has been a decision made on ‘small’ vs ‘large’ boats on the Oban run. FM: not yet, and clarification over what is small and large. E.g., Glen Sannox is a large boat, capacity of 120 vehicles – we do not want 120 cars coming off a ferry at once on these roads. So actually a medium size vessel would be more appropriate. KR pointed out the capacity affects Iona on only very specific sailings, so having smaller boats running back and forth constantly may not be of help to us.

Iona Community – Caro Penney

Enjoyed Islander Soup Lunch and hope to continue doing this, next one in the summer. First guests on Saturday.

Mull and iona Community Trust – Sarah Akehurst

Finance. Staff wages to increase in consequence of the living wage increase. Discussion re increasing gap between income and expenditure for MICT. Without counting the income from Ardura forest, which is short-term, the deficit is/ will be considerable. The urgent need to find sources of income generation is a focus for Denise, the new CEO, the Board and the staff.

There are some extra hours for a staff member to keep on top of social media posts and the website is to be updated and made more user friendly.

Denise has been meeting with all staff on a one-to-one basis and will do that with Board members too. Denise said that she has met with MICT staff, and found a very high level of commitment, though they are overstretched and there is a lack of work space. There will be more regular face to face meetings with the aim of making MICT function more as one organisation despite the diversity of projects.

Bunessan MESS building – MICT may be able to buy this for a very low price. It could be used in a different way and there could be a MESS shop on the Ross.

Feedback from MCC included information re education data that Mull and Iona PSs were doing well as is Oban High school. Work on emergency planning and resilience continues on Mull, mainly focused on village halls.

From Facilities management there are 2 new de-fib cabinets on Iona.

MICT survey with purpose to help MICT establish it's priorities and strategy for the future – crucial that Iona evidence is included; some have completed the survey and Iona’s own standalone urvey data/ other evidence is also being incorporated.

Denise Baxter was over on Iona last week including to meet Iona Board members. She is very keen that MICT has more of a presence on Iona and the Ross, and would like to hear from people who have ideas about projects in which MICT could be involved, even on the level of advice, signposting towards funders etc. Her agenda is very much about improving the quality of life for island residents, sustainability – the focus on income generation is to enable this.

MachairWind OFF shore Development – Deborah Bryce, Ellen Kane, and Kiera Wilson (remotely)

Proposed area has been refined to smaller than original. No change to project characteristics. Planning to submit planning application Q2 this year. Currently preparing environmental impact assessment.

Cultural impact assessment will add an Abbey area image, on top of photomontage available [one image of the turbines from Iona, from Dun I].

Been part of a ‘Fit for Offshore Renewables’ programme for the last year, mentoring 4 businesses in Argyll and Bute.

16 public consultation events across 5 islands over the last year, and a virtual consultation for those unable to attend the in person events. Total of 272 attendees and 168 feedback forms. Findings from Iona: supportive of renewable energy; but concerns about tourism impact and local species, and community benefit.

Small Donations Fund launched in August and closed in November. 21 applications received across all islands.

Hoping to sponsor Sound of Iona Music Festival this year.

Socio-economics action plan has been developed. Actions include establishing Community Benefit Funds, 5 apprenticeships or work placement opportunities, encouragement for direct contractors to engage in Argyll and Bute, allocation of at least £500,000 to ‘support capability and capacity’ building in Argyll and Bute. Consider this to be a live document that can be refined over time to reflect communities’ changing requirements.

Full socio-economic report and environmental impact assessment will be available on their website.

Discussion –

Rick Johnston: how will size of Community Benefit Fund be worked out? Ellen Kane: historically been on a £5,000 pound per megawatt basis for land based wind farms, no precedent for offshore wind yet. RJ: if using the onshore figure, what would the Fund be? EK: the cost involved in offshore is higher so it’s very unlikely to be the same amount. It’s not yet known what the recommendation for offshore will be. Katy Russon: do the changes to the proposed area satisfy the concerns that stakeholders, including National Lighthouse Board, had put forward? Kiera Wilson: yes. Current proposed area is the final proposed area. Finlay Macdonald: why are corncrakes not included in the environmental impact assessment. Also have some concerns about the visual representation of the proposed scale of the project. Project is the size of Mull, three times as high as Dun I. The photomontages use a wide angle viewpoint that does not accurately portray what you will actually see in person with naked eye. You need to zoom in on an image until a reference point (i.e. a house) is actual size to get a feel for actual size. KW: will pick up corncrake issue with our ornithologist and get back you. It has been raised before. NatureScot and Argyll and Bute Council agreed to the parameters and locations of the photomontages, they have been made to the guidance provided by NatureScot for applications such as these. There was opportunity in feedback forms to ask for additional viewpoints, too late to do this now. FM: requested that exact coordinates of each turbine be provided so digital images can be constructed. Shiona Ruhemann: a huge amount of process has been coming at us for this, and a lot of anxiety, but three years on we have one image from Iona of the proposed wind farm. Rutger Emmelkamp: can we ask contractors who made these how they made these images in order to understand the process and how we can recreate our own from viewpoints we want to see. EK: happy to facilitate this. KR: will every turbine have a light, or the boundaries? KW: the lighting shown is what is required by Civil Aviation Authority, happy to provide more detail on that. It is not every turbine. FM: are the substations lit up? KW: presumably there will be marine lighting, but would need to come back to you on that. SR: to confirm the basics – the grid connection is to be somewhere in South Ayrshire, but can you confirm from there where does the power go? KW: subsea cables will go down to South Ayrshire to a switching station, will then go to Kilmarnock South and another to North Wales. Colin McDougall: who owns the company? KW: Iberdrola, a Spanish utility company. CM: so we could have the same situation again as during Ukraine invasion, our prices went up to subsidise capping the costs in their home country? KW: we can get back to you on this, not aware of this having happened previously. SR: on your findings from Iona, there are more concerns than those listed; and asking if people are pro-renewables is like asking ‘do you like sunshine’ – being generally pro-renewables cannot be treated as a finding of support for this proposal, it’s not connected to MachairWind. To clarify another basic issue, why was this site selected? Our understanding is there were originally 27 potential sites, three on the west coast, two of which were discounted as they would be floating arrays? EK: There were 19 possible areas identified by Scottish Government as part of the Sectoral Marine Plan. That was done through consultation with RSPB, NatureScot, Scottish Fishermans Federation. A number of developers were interested in this site, we were the ones awarded. The capital required for a project of this size requires an international owner for financial input. SR reiterated question of why this site was chosen. KW: all sites were put out to competitive tender and we secured this site and two others on east coast. All the areas have been successfully awarded to developers. Most to international businesses. This site was preferred as it has good prospects regarding the development potential, and due to the fixed bottom technology, which is a more tested technology and which this company has experience with. KR: how many of the other 19 were also fixed bottom? KW: would need to check, but maybe 4? KR: will the 5 apprenticeships / work placements be across Argyll and Bute? EK: yes, further discussions need to be had to identify where the best impact can be made. KR: when you reported to Mull Community Council on Community Benefit, Bendoran was identified as a potential site for development. Local wisdom is that it may be less than ideal as a relatively shallow area. SR: And have you spoken to South West Mull and Iona Development? KW: yes, we’ve spoken to SWMID and have done due diligence and we think it is a potential. It could be used during the construction phase. RE: representing SWMID, what is not clear how this could actually work. It’s a community owned area used for water based learning activities that would be disrupted by commercial traffic. KW: it’s still early stages, all the areas we are looking at have levels of activity. There is an acceptance and acknowledgment that there will be disruption. Further work needs to be done and discussions need to be had. SR: is there confirmed consent from the organisation being cited as an option, from outside SWMID we’re not sure that’s the case? As island residents, we’re used to being very constrained on any development in this landscape, to being stewards and custodians, e.g. our affordable housing couldn’t puncture the skyline – it’s surprising and quite alarming to hear this landscape being described in terms of “competitive bidding” by development companies and being “a good prospect for develop potential”. Your email on how impact on the visitor economy will be assessed: is it a fair summary of your consultants’ methodology to say that they will look at nearshore wind farms elsewhere, solely at how employment was affected in these places; and that look at ecological/ species changes that they think are connected to tourism; and that Iona is considered to small a sample size to include? Is that a fair summary? EK: Yes, it’s comprehensive. BiGGAR Economics will be drawing on information from operational wind farms, but we are not the ones undertaking this report we don’t know the methodology inside and out. We can pass on concerns. KR: the issue is you don’t know how it might affect us without speaking to the tourism operators here. People come to Iona for puffins, for corncrakes, for peace and tranquility. You can’t fully assess the impact without knowing these things and without speaking to the operators here. SR: other sites won’t have the same unique issues as Iona. Having done a lot of research, that is not comprehensive and I wouldn’t have confidence in it as a methodology. If BiGGAR thinks they can bypass Iona, that’s it too small a sample size and they wouldn’t know methodologically how to deal with the size, I wouldn’t have confidence they can do this research, valid methodology  isn’t something you can just bolt on. CMcD: where are the turbines manufactured? KW: some blades can be built in the UK, the rest will come from further afield. Manufacturers have not yet been selected but will be outside the UK. CMcD: is it China? KW: Some might be Europe. Will need to check with engineers. CMcD: Spanish owned, Chinese parts, powering Wales. Phil Ruhemann: the desk based method on tourism is not fit for purpose. If you’re not meeting with tourists coming off the ferry and asking them the direct questions of how the wind farm could or would affect their visit, you can’t get the evidence. It can’t be just desk based. DB: will feed this back to BiGGAR. RE: are there any local fishers that use that ground and have they been consulted? EK: we have a fisheries liaison officer who has been meeting with the known users of that area. SR: to clarify on 5 apprenticeships, is that across the whole area of Argyll & Bute, because there are perceptions for example that’s just for Mull? EK: yes, that’s the whole of Argyll & Bute, but that’s a starter for ten. SR: what is the timeline of the £500,000 for supporting capacity in Argyll and Bute? Is that across the entire lifespan of the project? EK: not sure, would need to come back to you, probably the whole lifespan of 25 years but unsure. KR: will people be notified when your application goes in and the 6 week response window is open? How do people respond? EK: the statutory window is 28 days, set by the Scottish Ministers. Notice will go into local newspapers. We will make sure you are aware of when this happens and how to access the links and information. SR: when are you submitting? KW: aiming for mid May. DB: where is the best place for us to have printed materials and a tablet with information? SR: will get back to you.

MachairWind representatives committed to come back to ICC on several questions. Community discussion ensued after remote connection ended.

Discussions / Updates

MacLeod Centre project (Iona organisations – ICC, IHP, IVHCT – with MICT) – Shiona Ruhemann

Steering group meeting every two weeks. Design team for feasibility study has been appointed and has had first visit to Iona. Surveyed the Mac and met with numerous people. Coming on 1 April for a community consultation. Moving forward as fast as possible.

AOB

Post Office: Hilary looking to retire March of next year, seeking someone to take over. Speak to Hilary for more information.

 

Date of next meeting – Wednesday 3rd june