Context

Our Area

Argyll and Bute is an area of outstanding beauty and enormous variety. With the second largest geographical area of any Scottish local authority, the 7,000 square kilometres of Argyll and Bute extends from Helensburgh west to the Atlantic islands of Tiree and Coll, and from the Mull of Kintyre north to the edge of Glencoe. We are a land of contrast and diversity with six towns, many remote rural communities and 25 inhabited islands.

Geography, a changing population of 92,000 people, the local economy and diverse communities, bring challenges as well as strengths. The natural environment is among the most unspoiled in the UK with a rich biodiversity. The west coast location and proximity to Scotland’s main urban centres highlight the area’s strategic importance for renewable energy on land and at sea.

The Council is working with partners to realise the area’s potential - investing in new technology to overcome problems of distance and isolation and raising our profile in Scotland, Britain and Europe. We work to provide opportunities for our diverse communities to prosper and we protect our unique natural and cultural heritage through sensitive and sustainable development.

The challenges and risks we face

There are a range of factors that create significant challenges for Argyll and Bute. The local acceptance of these characteristics as being a ‘normal’ part of life tends to underplay or hide the difficulties of living and working in the area. These include:

• the changing population
• the fact that people ‘living on the fringe’ can be excluded or experience deprivation that is not acknowledged in conventional measures
• the unique geography of the area
• vulnerabilities in the local economy

Changing population

Remote rural and island areas often act as an early warning for population changes that can affect other areas. Higher priced housing, lack of available property and an aging population act to drive young people away or discourage them from moving to the area. Projections up to 2024 show possible changes that are a concern for more fragile communities. Particular concerns are the large increase in the older population, the significant drop in the younger population and the decrease in working age people.

People on the fringe

Life in rural and island areas often places additional pressures on people, for example dependence on the car, higher fuel costs and the distance to basic services such as hospitals, supermarkets and schools. There can be very poor people living alongside comparatively rich people – excluded or deprived individuals and households are much less visible in rural areas.

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) and additional local analysis related to the Fairer Scotland Fund reinforces the picture of diverse needs across the area.

Our geography

25 of the 95 inhabited islands in Scotland are located in Argyll and Bute – 16% of the total Scottish island population lives in the area. Approx 45% of the population lives in settlements of 5000 or more people and at the opposite extreme 1 in 5 people do not live in a settlement (a settlement is 6 or more households).

Our Economy

Argyll and Bute’s economy is predominantly service-based with over 85% of jobs provided in the service sector. The proportions of people working in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors and tourism-related activities are far higher than Scottish averages – as expected, e.g. tourism-related activities account for 15% of jobs in Argyll and Bute compared with the Scottish average of 9%.

Unemployment rates are below the national average, but vary according to the time of year because of the high levels of seasonal and part-time employment. This reflects the importance of tourism in the local economy.

The full impact of the economic downturn may not yet have been felt within Argyll and Bute. We have the highest proportion in Scotland of people working in the public sector and effects on employment and the economy will soon start to be felt as the most challenging cuts in public sector spending start to bite. There is therefore a risk that as other parts of Scotland start to recover as the private sector recovers, Argyll and Bute may suffer further impacts on the economy.

GVA (Gross Value Added) figures show that our economy is performing less strongly than the Scottish average. Average earnings in Argyll and Bute are 4% lower than those in Scotland as a whole. Levels of self-employment are highest in the Atlantic islands, which could be due to the limited job prospects, the lack of major employers and the tradition of crofting on some islands.

Strategic risks

The Council’s strategic risk register details the risks that face all services or which are so significant for a specific service that there is a Council wide risk. The risks are assessed as high, medium or low and are reviewed each quarter. Each risk has associated actions to control or mitigate the risk.

The Council is developing a risk management framework that categorises each strategic risk to communicate more clearly the areas where the Council needs to direct resources to reduce risk.

Argyll and Bute Council has delivered on significant commitments made in the corporate plan agreed in February 2009 and continues to progress the longer term changes outlined in that plan. Service highlights from the past year include:

• The CHORD programme progressed well
• Partnership work to bring Welcon to Kintyre saved existing jobs, with the potential for significant future growth
• Work got underway to unlock the economic potential of the proposed Campbeltown-Ballycastle route
• Local Plan was adopted after significant consultation
• Recycling scheme won awards with a 55% increase in recycling in Helensburgh and Lomond
• Integrated care teams assisted with timelier discharge from hospital for patients
• Business Gateway service was established to provide advice to new and developing small businesses
• Best ever performance for reading, writing and maths in primary schools and best ever Advanced Higher results
• Improved facilities at Port Askaig and Rothesay Harbour
• Improved choice of temporary housing for homeless people and reduced number of people presenting as homeless
• Highest spend ever of £6M on road reconstruction and maintenance in 2009/10

Robust performance management

The Council has a Planning and Performance Management Framework (PPMF) that ensures that performance is integral to the Council’s daily work. The PPMF specifies the structure and processes for performance management at all levels. Plans are developed to respond to service demand and risks. All plans specify the outcomes to be achieved, success measures and risks to be reduced.

All plans, from corporate to team plans, have a performance scorecard that is reviewed on a regular basis. Summary reports of action to be taken in response to the scorecard reviews are formally reported to senior management and Members to ensure that the Council continually improves its performance.

Our vision and values

The Council is moving through a significant period of change to respond to external challenges and to draw upon untapped potential in all areas of our work so that we can improve service quality and efficiency.

The developing Council vision will focus on the theme realising our potential, building on actions in the previous corporate plan focused on improving how the Council works.

The Council has also reflected on the core values that describe the standard of behaviours expected throughout the whole organisation and these values will reflect the fact that we are ‘One Council’:

• We value and listen to our stakeholders
• We have mutual respect for one another
• We have pride in our Council and its services
• We are continually improving our standards
• We are open, honest, fair and inclusive
• We are proactive and challenging

Partnership links

There are important links between this Corporate Plan for the Council, the Community Plan and the Single Outcome Agreement (SOA) for Argyll and Bute. The Community Plan and SOA set out the vision and outcomes agreed by the Argyll and Bute Community Planning Partnership and how these contribute to the Scottish Government’s 15 national outcomes.

The outcomes and success measures set out in this plan are Council’s contribution to the SOA. Each outcome supports one or more of the national outcomes. This demonstrates the important contribution that Argyll and Bute Council has to make to the future success of Scotland.

Community planning partners have contributed to the SOA on the same basis so that the SOA gives a clear picture of the important outcomes for Argyll and Bute and the partnership action to make them happen.

The Council is also working with partners through the four Local Area Community Planning Groups to ensure that service planning and delivery at a more local level is focused on the needs of the communities in those areas and coordinated to ensure that we make best use of public resources.

Priorities for partnership development for the Council and CPP are focused on:

• Improving community engagement so that we link with more people and more groups in a way that reflects the diversity of Argyll and Bute’s people and places
• More effective engagement with the third sector and developing improved support for community based organisations
• Finding opportunities to improve integration, service quality and efficiency in local areas and Argyll and Bute wide