Hermitage Academy in Helensburgh is celebrating after the school received Platinum status in the Investors in Young People Award Scheme, the highest accolade in the programme. The latest achievement makes it the first school in Scotland to gain national recognition at bronze, silver, gold and platinum levels.

Argyll and Bute Council is making improvements to its household recycling facility at Glengorm, Mull, before moving to its sites at Helensburgh, Islay, Coll, and Colonsay.​

Work has started on five play parks in and around Campbeltown, thanks to an £186,000 share of £938,000 of funding, allocated to Argyll and Bute, by the Scottish Government.

Tarbert’s newly refurbished playpark will be named for the late John McAlpine, the former councillor who played a key role in campaigning to ensure the project was able to secure the funding it needed to make it a reality.

Funding from HITRANS, totalling over £1.5m, will be used to develop improved connections between Islay and Jura, and Seil and Luing.

A huge amount of work is ongoing in Argyll and Bute to tackle the area’s housing emergency.

Argyll and Bute Council has nominated four island projects in the area for a share of funding from the Scottish Government’s Islands Programme.

At a meeting of the council’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure committee, councillors agreed to introduce the new grant scheme to support owners and tenants of empty business properties to return their properties to productive use.

Argyll and Bute Council, on behalf of Food Standards Scotland (FSS), is making local shops aware that they may have received and are selling Jolly Rancher confectionery products manufactured by ‘The Hershey Company,’ in Canada, some of which contain mineral oil.

Staff, children and young people from every school across Argyll and Bute have worked hard to put children’s rights at the heart of school life, where children feel respected and their talents nurtured. The hard work has now paid off with all schools achieving Gold, Silver or Bronze UNICEF Rights Respecting Awards.