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Hebrides News: Lorraine Kelly, Barra air service

Lorraine Kelly backs Barra air service campaign              26/2/13

TV celebrity Lorraine Kelly is backing islanders’ fight to save Barra’s lifeline plane service.

The popular daytime television was horrified to hear that Western Isles Council voted to axe the vital travel link between the tiny island and the rest of the Western Isles.

In a series of savage budget cuts a majority of councillors decided to completely abolish the Barra to Benbecula air link.

Lorraine was on the island with her husband Steve Smith researching for her forthcoming book about Scotland’s most loveliest places.

She chatted with airport staff worried how bad their jobs will be affected and she signed a local petition asking the Scottish Parliament’s Petition’s Committee to intervene and get the plane service reinstated.

Lorraine highlighted what is a unique scenic trip for tourists like herself is a vital, necessary service for islanders and avoids the alternative of lengthy, bumpy, rough, ferry trip.

Speaking to Hebrides News at the Traigh Mhor airport, Lorraine stressed: “This is a lifeline service.”

She urged the council to listen to the concerns of islanders.

She added: “It is really important to have this service.”

Lorraine who thought Barra was “so gorgeous” said: “Of course it’s great for tourists like myself, but if you live here you really need to get to and from different islands quickly, especially when there’s an emergency.”

She said: “I know times are tough and cuts have to be made and that its difficult for the council but, in this day and age, we should not be going backwards with transport and communications.”

She pointed out there was an economic benefit from the air service as it brought flocks of tourists to the islands.

Eoin Macneil of community group Voluntary Action Barra said the cuts would hit the local economy and disadvantages the ill and elderly.

Islanders were so angry that councillors in the neighbouring Uist voted to axe the air service, he said.

He said: “We would like to know why they voted that way and we invited them to Barra to a public meeting to explain themselves.”

He added: “Questions have to be asked of the council about why they withdrew this service.”

He queried if the council really considered the negative impact on the community before making their decision.

Though the Scottish Government is spending around £5 million on two new-built Twin Otter planes designed to land on Barra’s unique beach runway, the islands’ authority has controversially voted to axe the flight which links Barra to the rest of the islands to save £148,000.

The council says the plane link to Benbecula which lands on Barra’s unique beach airport is underused.

It says it is fighting the islanders’ corner to get Scottish Government to subsidise more flights from Glasgow.

The plane timetable is governed by the tides and, every fortnight, switches between morning and afternoon flights when the sea retreats from the beach.