News

The official opening of Campbeltown’s new £26 million secondary school took place yesterday (Tuesday). Although pupils and staff moved into their new school last year, the old school building still had to be demolished to create a large car park, brand new 3G pitch and a sensory garden, complete with raised beds for pupils to cultivate. With all works now complete, invited guests went along to the new school for the official opening ceremony and to get a tour of the state of the art facility from pupils.

Today (Wednesday 5 June)  marked the official opening of Oban’s new £36 million high school. Although pupils and staff moved into their new school last year, the old school building still had to be demolished and ground works still had to be carried out to create an external social space, a new bus drop off area and additional car parking.

As the weather gets warmer, the council is backing the Dogs Die in Hot Cars campaign, stressing the dangers of leaving dogs alone cars. Stencilled messages will be sprayed in car parks reminding people not to gamble with their dog’s life. We will target our busiest car parks and those used by dog walkers. When it’s 22 Celsius outside, within an hour, the temperature can reach 47 Celsius inside a vehicle, which can result in death for a dog.

Communal bins at Uisken Beach, Mull, provided for the houses at the end of the road leading to the beach, will be removed in the near future. Home owners have already been provided with individual bins. This has been done because of persistent fly tipping, most recently of building materials. Not surprisingly this has brought complaints from residents and has meant the council has been forced to step up its refuse runs in the area. This in turn increases costs, not only in staff time, but also for landfill taxes.

Dalintober Primary School and Nursery in Campbeltown has received top marks from Education Scotland following a recent inspection of the school. In the report, inspectors praised the head teacher’s vision and strong leadership for inclusion that benefits children across the school and early learning class. Her values are embraced and demonstrated by staff and the whole school community.

Top civil servants from the Scottish and UK Governments visited Argyll and Bute this month to hear how a Rural Growth Deal could help the area thrive and achieve long-term economic success.

On July 1, the council will introduce a new improved advice service, aimed directly at helping the most vulnerable people in our communities, throughout Argyll and Bute. The service builds upon the existing advice services which are available from a wide range of local and national agencies or third sector organisations, and introduces a range of improvements which will reinforce this partnership working to ensure that those seeking advice will be able to access appropriate services.

The local totals from Argyll and Bute from the Euro Elections 2019 have been announced. The six MEPs for Scotland will be announced on Monday 27 May 2019. Change UK - the Independent Group -505 Conservative and Unionist Party - 3985 Labour Party - 1197 Liberal Democrats - 5019 Scottish Green Party - 2255 Scottish National Party -11,366 The Brexit Party - 5450 UK Independence Party (UKIP) - 568 Edgar, Gordon - 141 Parke, Ken -43

Argyll and Bute Council’s Policy and Resources Committee has agreed to pursue the transfer of lifeline ferry services to Transport Scotland, services currently being subsidised by the council by £1million. The provision of lifeline ferry services is the responsibility of Transport Scotland. These small, local services were likely to have been operated by Strathclyde Regional Council and were taken over by Argyll and Bute Council when the single tier authorities came into being. The four ferries currently operated by the council are:

Tha Comataidh Poileasaidh is Ghoireasan Comhairle Earra-Ghàidheal is Bhòid air aontachadh iarraidh air Còmhdhail Alba na seirbheisean aiseig riatanach san sgìre a ghabhail os làimh, seirbheisean a tha a’ faighinn subsadaidh luach £1 millean bhon Chomhairle an-dràsta.