Headstones fiasco
- Programme carries on despite assurances
Last week the Observer received a phone call from an angry and upset resident of Dunoon who had just found out that her mother’s gravestone in Tarbert cemetery had been uprooted by Argyll and Bute Council.
This follows on from last year when the council received substantial criticism over its handling of the way that headstones, deemed unsafe, were removed from their plinths and laid flat, without the relatives being informed.
Last May, the council issued a statement admitting that the way the situation had been handled was insensitive and promised that it would look at the way it deals with ‘unsafe’ headstones. The statement issued on May 15, 2007 can be seen in full at the end of this article.
Mrs Christine Gray told the Observer she was appalled when her brother phoned to say that their mother’s stone had been laid flat.
“When I last visited, in September, the stone was definitely safe and secure. I am really angry that it has been uprooted without anyone letting us know. I knew all about the fiasco last year which makes it even more unbelievable that it has happened again.There are several others that are either down, or have been earmarked to come down. I think it’s disgusting,” Mrs Gray said.
Initially a spokesperson for Argyll and Bute Council said: “Argyll and Bute Council increased funding for headstones and as a result there has been increased work in this activity this year.
“We are re-erecting the stones that have been laid flat and once complete we will move on to taking loose stones down and then re-erecting them. We will not be laying stones flat and leaving them in this way.
“It may be the case that some stones will have been marked to come down, but we plan to have these re-erected.”
We asked the council to expand on its answer, in particular with regards to whether or not there was a timescale for re-erecting the stones once they have been taken down; if there was a schedule for when cemeteries will be tackled and if there had been any recent announcements/notices advising that this work will be taking place, especially given the public outrage last year - and if not, why not?
The response was: “This work has been, and continues to be, on-going this financial year. A press release was issued about these works in the past and we are looking at ways of improving awareness of this issue.”
On Wednesday morning Stewart Turner, Head of Roads and Amenities Services for Argyll and Bute Council added: “£250k is available to undertake headstone repairs in Argyll and Bute this financial year.
“This money is going to be used to take down and repair stones and that will include stones in cemeteries in the Argyll and Bute Area.”
Council Leader Dick Walsh said: “The council has a budget of a quarter of a million pounds and this will be used to make safe headstones that are deemed to be unsafe.
“With regards to the cemetery in Tarbert, any headstones should be re-erected immediately, however given that the groundsmen do this outwith their core hours this has not happened due to the current industrial action.
“There should have been a clear process, which involved the owners of the lair or the next of kin being informed of the intended action and the timescale for the re-erection. This has clearly not happened and I will be looking into, where the breakdown in communication stems from, and dealing with it.”


WORKERS REMAIN DETERMINED AS STRIKE ESCALATES
Sporadic strike action by union members within Argyll and Bute Council staff has caused widespread disruption to services across the local authority area this week.
A number of categories of council staff took part in a staggered two-day programme of action, including the home carers service, refuse collection personnel, roads staff, pier workers and non-teaching school staff.
Now in its third week, the programme of intermittent industrial action involves members of the two main unions representing council workers - Unison and Unite (formerly the Transport and General Workers Union) - in response to the council’s plans to introduce ‘single status’ terms and conditions of employment for all staff. Many categories of worker, mainly those in lower-paid jobs, face a loss of shift allowances and reduction in salary after a three year period.
Council employees were issued with revised employment contracts in November, and were faced with a stark choice - sign or face dismissal.
Earlier union threats over strike action moved closer to becoming reality in December, when a ballot resulted in a majority, but by no means an overwhelming majority, in favour of industrial action.
Unions promise an escalation of strike action in coming weeks if the council does not re-open discussions on single status, with three days of action planned for Tuesday to Thursday next week.
Argyll and Bute Council takes a different view on the single status issue. Head of Personnel at the council, Danny Longwill, told the Observer: “We are disappointed in this action by Unison and Unite. The unions were fully involved in discussions at an early stage over single status, and despite major concessions and extra funding being found following Unison representation, they remain intransigent.
“We have reached a point where the number of council staff who will lose out at the end of year three has fallen from 700 under the original model to less than 160. We remain committed to offering support and re-training to mitigate the effects of this exercise on staff.”
Despite this reduction in the number adversely affected by single status, those staff members involved are left feeling angry, frustrated and let down by Argyll and Bute Council. At picket lines around the local authority area, union members made their feelings clear to all, including the council itself.
In Cowal, all but a handful of home care staff removed their services on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the NHS community nursing team from Dunoon Hospital covering their normal duties.
This type of action goes against the grain for the majority of care workers, and their frustration was clear at Tuesday’s picket outside Ellis Lodge, Dunoon. “We feel as if we have been ignored in all of this,” said one employee. “We hate having to take this action, as we are dealing with many vulnerable people who we grow close to in our duties,” she continued, “but we can’t afford to lie down to what the council is doing.”
Another home carer commented: “We are skilled workers, not skivvies, and we have been badly let down. We work long hours under increasing pressure from council managers, and to reduce our pay is just an insult. Most of us can’t afford to lose £50 per month or more.”
Meanwhile, the unions and council appear to be moving no closer to the discussion table.
Unite regional industrial organiser Tony Devlin said: “The determination among our members is resolute. We will continue this strike action until the council do the right thing by engaging in a meaningful dialogue to negotiate a mutually agreeable settlement. We very much regret the inconvenience this will cause the public but the council alone is the architect of this preventable situation. We have extended numerous invitations to the council to negotiate but our goodwill has not been reciprocated. The council’s actions, or lack of them, are a disgrace.”
On the council side, Danny Longwill said: “We have been talking with the unions for over a year now, but there has been a reluctance to reach agreement on their members’ behalf. This intransigence is such that we have very few specifics on what it is the unions want from us. They have been long on rhetoric, but short on detail.”
Mr Longwill confirmed that the council had made last-ditch efforts to negotiate an agreement with unions to exempt certain groups within the council’s staff from strike action to avoid disruption to services, including road gritting staff, home carers and others. The unions rejected these proposals, agreeing only to assist with the emergency services as requested.
The final word goes to a young Dunoon mother, whose son attends a learning support unit in a local primary school: “I was left high and dry on Tuesday - the school couldn’t tell me whether the unit would be open or not, or for that matter if the bus would be turning up. It’s not easy for me to get time off work, and I just wish they would sort this out.”


No to Corlarach
Members of Argyll and Bute Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to refuse planning permission for a wind farm development on Corlarach Hill.
Cowal Wind Energy Ltd had hoped to establish a wind farm consisting of 14 wind turbines at the Glen Fyne site.
The council’s planning department recommended refusal of the application on various grounds. Following a presentation made to the Bute and Cowal area committee at its December meeting, and given the level of public representation, it was decided that the application should be heard at a special PAN41 hearing, and this took place in Dunoon’s Queen’s Hall on Tuesday January 29. Around 35 members of the public attended to observe.
Committee members heard submissions from both planning officials and the developers. The councillors had made a visit to the site on the previous day.
The planning department repeated its previous presentation, but at Tuesday’s hearing, the councillors also had the opportunity to listen to the developer’s case.
Steven Salt, a director of West Coast Energy Ltd, of which the applicant company Cowal Wind Energy Ltd is a subsidiary, emphasised the need for renewable energy sources and pointed out that the site had been chosen in November 2003 because, at that time, it was part of a Preferred Area for Wind Farm Development.
He concluded that the site was well located and the wind farm would be well designed.
No supporters of the project had made a request to speak at the hearing, but a group of objectors were present to make representation. Saying that the fragile local economy depends on the unspoiled landscape to maximise visitor numbers, the objectors’ comments included: “Don’t kill the goose that lays the golden egg” and “Are we seriously considering scenic vandalism?” One speaker, Mr Alick Noakes, emphasised: “We are not against appropriately sited wind farms. This particular one is inappropriately located.”
Following summations from all parties, the councillors engaged in a period of debate over the issue, before voting unanimously to accept the recommendation of the planning department that the application be refused.
Locals who attended the meeting were delighted with the decision, with Norma Murray - who also spoke for the objectors - claiming “a victory for common sense.” Philip Norris of Dunoon and Cowal Marketing Group said: “We felt the hearing was very thorough and fair, and are delighted and relieved at the decision taken.”
Commenting on behalf of West Coast Energy Ltd, Steven Salt said: “We are obviously disappointed with the outcome today. We had a fair hearing from the committee, and we now need to take stock of the decision, look at the emerging policy and decide what to do. We still believe that Corlarach Hill is an appropriate location for a wind farm development.”
Mr Ian Gamage, one of the objectors and members of lobby group CaRES, welcomed today’s decision but cautioned: “This is only the first step in the battle.
“There is still the possibility that this application will go to appeal, and then the fight really begins.”
The developers have the right of appeal to the Scottish Government, but when questioned about their intentions in this respect, reiterated only their need to consider carefully today’s result.
* Full results from our recent windfarm questionnaire will appear in next week’s edition.


Council hits back over land release claims
Argyll and Bute Council has reacted strongly to recent reports relating to the release of land for the building of new social or affordable housing, with the Oban area singled out as being of particular concern.
Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) had pledged to build 150 new homes in the Oban area in 2008. However, it claimed that a drop in funding received from Communities Scotland (reduced to £17m from £21m last year) combined with the council’s withdrawal of key sites from the housing stock transfer, has resulted in it being unable to fulfil its promise.
Argyll and Bute Council countered by saying that in the Oban area referred to, “relatively few developable sites have been retained”, and it is therefore not impeding ACHA’s progress in that locale. It pointed out that the 150-home pledge is not a requirement set by the council, and that the land it has retained is considered to be of strategic importance to the council.
At a meeting of the council’s executive in Kilmory on Thursday January 24, Housing and Communities Spokesperson Councillor George Freeman (Lomond North, Ind) stated that he and various council officers were “extremely disappointed” at the coverage.
Cllr Freeman stated that the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) - an organisation set up to support and provide good practice guidance in Scotland - was fully aware of the council’s position and was fully satisfied, as was funder Communities Scotland, following lengthy discussions on the land bank transfer issue.
“We have not been asked by ACHA to release any land,” he said. “If ACHA asks for land, we will consider the request, bearing in mind that our priority is to address the needs of the Local Housing Strategy.
“Some of the sites held in the council’s land bank have schools or other strategic facilities there and we would not transfer these to a social housing land bank.”
Cllr Freeman’s statements were backed up by Cllr Duncan McIntyre (Oban North and Lorn, Ind) who said: “I have to agree with the spokesperson - there has been no approach from ACHA about any sites in our ownership.
“At no time has ACHA made a request for land which has been refused.
“ACHA allege that the council is unco-operative when it comes to land release, and I have asked ACHA to supply specific details of this - to date I have had no response.”
In response to a question from Cllr Len Scoullar (Bute, Ind) about whether land released in response to such a request would go for the market price, Cllr Freeman confirmed that each individual case would be assessed on its own merits, saying: “In some instances land might be the council’s contribution to a specific development.”
When asked for details of any requests made to the council relating to land release, ACHA’s Chief Executive Alastair McGregor said: “ACHA, prior to transfer, asked the council not to remove developable sites which were on the Housing Revenue Account from the transfer as they would be of immeasurable assistance in delivering the association’s new build objectives.
“The council chose not to do this and decided to retain developable sites and put them in a strategic land bank.
“The only indication that ACHA has had with respect to the council’s intention is that we would be considered for these sites when the council was in a position to release them. At the present time the council has not released any of the sites to ACHA for affordable housing development.
“With respect to the Oban, Lorn and the Isles area, it is the association’s view that there are 17 retained sites which could provide affordable housing. These are sites which are almost entirely next to existing ACHA housing.
“In the Dunoon area, the site which was integral to ACHA’s new build strategy is located at Spence Court.
“If the council is now in a position to discuss these sites with ACHA to meet the housing needs of our communities, the association is more than willing to do so.”
Meanwhile, Argyll and Bute Council is to carry out a review of housing needs in the Mid Argyll and Kintyre areas. The survey will include interviews with over 1,000 households to determine housing needs and help to shape future policy decisions. It will also review the supply and demand for affordable housing and analyse the local homelessness situation.
Results of the study will be announced in early summer.