PRESENT:

Sandy Brunton, Michael Ackerley, Georgia O’Neill, Tom Bettley, John Cable

APOLOGIES:

Barry Morley, Derek Crook

MINUTES:

May minutes.  Proposed by Michael, seconded by John.

MATTERS ARISING:

John’s article about the Travel Expo has been well distributed amongst the press.

MARINE PARK:

The Community Trust have published a position statement about the possibility of becoming a  Marine Park.  John proposed that the Chamber should endorse the viewpoint of the Community Trust.

The bullet points of the statement will be sent to Chamber members with a link to the whole article on the Trust’s website.  <Georgia> will inform the Community Trust and email members.

CALMAC

John received an email from a tour company drawing attention to the changes in the price structure for tour coaches traveling on CalMac ferries.  John contacted Alison McDermott at CalMac who explained that they have switched to a flat rate.  This will benefit coaches that are full but penalise any that are less than half full.  CalMac reported that it has increased numbers.  John has drafted a reply stating that the point has been raised with CalMac and that, despite previous success influencing changes to timetabling and frequency of sailings, the Chamber has no jurisdiction over pricing.

CAMPERVANS

A letter was received from a holidaymaker who says that there are too few facilities for disposing of chemical toilet waste.  John contacted Argyll & Bute Council who informed him that there were no council run facilities of this nature in the whole county.  SEPA is bringing in new legislation about such waste and its disposal.  <John> will reply pointing out that there are facilities available at official campsites, for a fee.

The above prompted a discussion about council services.  Georgia had received an email from Chamber member Ian Slade in response to a Chamber email about the Sustainable Tourism Thistle Award.  His comment was, ‘How can we have a clean town when we have a council that refuse to do any maintainance or cleaning?’  <Georgia> has promised to write to the Council about this and several other relevant points were raised to be included in a letter.

Another correspondent commented on the Chamber’s website entry that advises campers to ask permission from landowners first.   Although permission is not needed, according to the Land Reform Bill, it does state that people should ‘act responsibly’.  It was the consensus that asking permission first was acting responsibly.

PRESIDENT:

Consultation paper received from the Scottish Executive ‘Transforming Public Services’

TREASURER:

Tom reported a balance of £3,754.31

SECRETARY:

Georgia had requested postal templates for ‘Pricing in Proportion’

AOCB:

Michael has discovered a bus service that runs from Glasgow (also stopping at the Airport) leaving at 3.00pm which is a dedicated bus to meet the 6pm ferry.  Michael bravely tested this route and concluded that it is a good service that should be publicised.  Details are on pages 8&9 of the Area Transport Guide.