Why should pupils and families on Mull settle for 'good enough'?

The Herald Scotland

22-05-2025

There is a tendency in government to consider a decision as etched in stone, even if the outcome is not ideal: "live and learn", "we'll get'em next time", and all that.
Governments are reluctant to revisit decisions or grant special consideration because they risk setting a precedent in which every stakeholder in the future will demand an exception.
But is that such a bad thing? Surely one of the responsibilities of the government is to take every decision on its merits. Leaders shouldn't sit on their hands just because intervening means they will have to have an awkward conversation with someone later on, so what should the government do when it looks like things have gone wrong?
The question was raised this week at Holyrood, during a debate on 'empowering Scotland's island communities.' The recent decision by Argyll and Bute Council on where to build a new school on Mull was brought back into the spotlight, and highlighted by Conservative MSP Tim Eagle as an example of 'when things go wrong' when decision-makers ask island communities for their opinions but don't really listen to their answers.
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The Herald covered the saga of the Mull Campus Project extensively and the council's eventual decision to locate the replacement for the island's crumbling school in the northern town of Tobermory. This effectively cut off the southern half of the island from attending. Those communities will continue with the longstanding practice of sending their children to board on the mainland during the week.
Parents who boarded as children and struggled with life away from home initially heralded the Mull Campus Project as a chance to break the cycle for the next generation. Increasingly, however, they became disillusioned with the process and felt that the project was moving to a foregone conclusion: the school would be put in the north, and things would stay as they are.
Their hopes were up initially in part because parents could not imagine how the project could be called a Mull Campus if it was not going to be built where the whole island could benefit.
In a way, they were proved right: following the decision, the council began referring to it as the 'Tobermory Campus Project' in all communications, even to the extent that nearly all previous mentions of the Mull Campus were replaced on the webpages that had been online for years.
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There were repeated calls for the government to intervene with extra funding, extra allowances or extra time for the council to explore options that islanders were raising repeatedly and passionately, but the government declined to act at every turn.
This, Mr Eagle said, was a mistake.
But it is 'not too late,' he added.
'I think, in all seriousness, that there is something we can do around this.
'For the whole island to be successful, it was vital all were listened to. And time and time again I was contacted by people across the island that raised concerns about the process of consultation.
'Because ultimately, and this is my own opinion, the financial impact on the council was a much bigger consideration for councillors in Argyll and Bute than what the residents of Mull thought themselves.'
Too often, he said, rural and island communities are reduced to a numbers game. This is how it plays out nationally, where these areas will always be dwarfed by larger population centres. But this is also how the decision played out on Mull, where the sheer weight of population repeatedly pushed the conversation towards Tobermory.
Decisions like these, Mr Eagle said, require a 'bespoke arrangement,' something that campaigners on Mull and my colleague James McEnaney argued during the course of our coverage.
Mr Eagle said the Mull decision 'needed community, government and council to come together' and create a plan that worked for the whole island.
Mr Eagle's comments came at the end of a debate that touched on the challenges of connectivity and how Scotland's islands have been underserved in this regard.
'Rural Life is built into our very cultural heritage, with traditions and languages and history baked into our national identity. And rural services delivery does come with a higher cost, but if we want rural areas to thrive, we want our islands to thrive, we must accept that point.
'Education, like on Mull, that relies on ferries and weather and the separation of families, to me, is never a good thing.'
He said the project 'necessitated' government involvement, and he called on the government to step in to revisit the decision and fully engage with the community and the council about alternatives.
Historically speaking, it seems unlikely that the government will do so but the calls for action remain consistent.
Even supporters of the campus in Tobermory recognised that it is not a perfect solution.
In fact, the council's own papers admitted that none of the options they put forward would serve every community:
'Under the constraints of the available funding, it is unlikely that either of the campus locations would be able to provide a fully equal solution for all children and young people living on Mull and the islands."
That leads to the real question at the heart of this decision and many others that affect life on Scotland's islands: why settle for 'good enough'?
If everyone agrees that policy, logistical and financial constraints will usually keep islanders from getting a fair shake, why can't we get creative now and then?
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