Argyll Rally 2022

Dear Argyll and Bute Council,

ARGYLL RALLY 2022

The Colintraive and Glendaruel Community Council have now held a community consultation on the forthcoming rally (24^th-25^th June 2022) With the help of the Rally organisers, Hugh O’Neill (A&B Council Network and Standards Manager) and Gillian Gall (Police Scotland) we were able to facilitate a wide-ranging and detailed discussion on the proposal.

As the attached minutes attest there is a wide-range of views about the event, with a substantial minority expressing grave misgivings about the West Glendaruel stage in particular.

At a subsequent Community Council meeting we considered the minutes and the views of all members of our community who have expressed a view. Therefore as a community council our majority view is that the rally should go ahead this year, however we will expect all of the actions and processes committed to by the Rally organisers to be applied and abided by in full and to the letter. If the rally event this year falls short of the undertakings made by the organisers then the Community Council will withdraw its support for following years.

Furthermore, if there is to be a subsequent rally in our area we expect the organisers to:

1. Find a weekend for the event which is not in the traditional high season when all our local tourist services are already at full capacity. As a community this event would make a much larger economic contribution if it were held in the so-called shoulder months in Spring or Autumn.
2. Consult with the community, through the community council, on the routes and timings of each stage before they are decided upon. In other words we expect to be given veto as a community on any stage proposed.
3. Given Argyll’s status as one of the major contributors towards a zero-carbon Scotland, full, certified carbon mitigation / offset of the rally prior to the event, with transparency on calculations on how much carbon is produced by the event.

Many thanks,

Colintraive and Glendaruel Community Council
E: secretary@colglencommunitycouncil.org.uk
Date: 18.03.22