News

Following on from national guidance and the easing of some lockdown restrictions, facilities across Argyll and Bute can now start to open.  

Argyll and Bute Council has agreed an action plan that will progress improvement in key areas identified by the Accounts Commission’s Best Value Review.

Children and young people across Argyll and Bute have been doing their bit for the environment during lockdown, helping to offset global warming in the process.  Before the summer holidays started, schools were actively encouraging pupils to take part in outdoor learning activities as part of their home schooling, with many teachers giving pupils tasks to help raise awareness of climate change.

A strategy for helping Argyll and Bute move on from the impact of COVID-19 has been agreed by the council’s Business Continuity Committee (BCC). A report to the BCC outlined the ways in which COVID-19 was affecting council services as well as local people and businesses.

A group of pupils from Dunoon Grammar have won at the Apps for Good UK awards 2020 for the fourth year running – beating off stiff competition from schools from across the UK, Portugal and the USA. epicpen, a smart auto injection pen which contacts emergency services and loved ones if a user is taking an anaphylactic shock, scooped the Future Technologist category at this year’s Apps for Good awards final, which was hosted online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dunoon Presents, Dunoon’s Business Improvement District (BID), has been awarded £15,500 from the Scottish Government’s BID Resilience Fund, delivered through the Scottish Towns Partnership, to provide much needed support to local companies in Dunoon.  The funding will help Dunoon Presents and partners Argyll and Bute Council, Dunoon Area Alliance, plus local suppliers, lead the response to the challenges facing local businesses in the wake of the pandemic crisis. This partnership approach has developed and delivered a programme of assistance that includes:

The impact of COVID-19 on the work of Argyll and Bute Council was considered by the Business Continuity Committee (BCC) when it met yesterday (25 June). A report to the BCC shows that responding to the pandemic has brought considerable change for council services, employees and the support needed from the council by local communities. Putting national health guidance into practice has required changes that include: Putting face-to-face council services on hold or on-line Employees working from home rather than from council offices where possible

Argyll and Bute Counci's Policy Lead for Education has issued a message of thanks to pupils, staff and parents as the school year comes to an end today (Friday). Councillor Yvonne McNeilly said: "As we come to the end of the school year, I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our staff, pupils and parents for all their hard work, commitment and understanding over the last few months. "Lockdown is something that none of us could have prepared for and, hopefully, something that we’ll never have to experience again in our lifetime.

The council’s Environmental Health team resolved 85% of public complaints within 20 days, exceeding its target of 80%, in the last quarter of 2019/20, the Business Continuity Committee heard on Thursday (25 June). This was across the team’s wide-ranging remit of services which include food safety, health and safety, public health, drinking water quality, licensing and registration of let accommodation, animal health and environmental protection.

Argyll and Bute Council’s Business Gateway provided support to 65 existing businesses in the last quarter of 2019/20. That’s almost double the target of 38 it aimed to reach in that time period. This success was reported to the council’s Business Continuity Committee on Thursday (25 June). That means by the end of the year, the Business Gateway team has supported 255 existing businesses against a target of 200.