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Replacing street lights and columns is part of an ongoing commitment to reduce carbon emissions, improve efficiency and create a climate friendly Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute. Work is underway to upgrade lighting columns and street lights as part of a £740,000 Street Lighting Improvement programme. At the same time, work to replace standard bulbs with low energy LED lights will complete across Oban, Lorn and the Isles, as part of a £3.9 million LED Replacement Luminaires programme.

Work is progressing to deliver a £15.5 million programme of investment for Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council’s ports and harbours in 2022/23.A report to today’s meeting of the Harbour Board provides an update on these infrastructure and passenger-service improvement initiatives. The council runs 39 ports and harbours. Its Asset Management Plan covers a rolling 10 year period, and includes initiatives in progress as well as projects in development.

11,000 tonnes of salt, 31 frontline vehicles and a dedicated team monitoring winter conditions – all part of the council’s 2022/23 winter plan to keep Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute moving. The £2.12 million plan will help keep 750 miles of priority routes open for business and treat footpaths where there is heavy snow or persistent freezing conditions. It outlines priorities and resources required throughout the winter months through to spring. Councillor Andrew Kain, Policy Lead for Roads and Transport:

Ongoing regeneration across Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute is helping to attract more people and jobs and make towns and villages more attractive places to live, work and visit. Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council is delivering a programme of investment across 18 large-scale projects worth £35 million to the area. The council is committing over £5 million and working with partner organisations and external funders to lead on a range of projects to deliver community benefits and help attract further investment.  Projects include:

Ulva Primary School has received gold accreditation in UNICEF UK’s Rights Respecting School programme. UNICEF is the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights. The Rights Respecting Schools Award is presented to schools that show commitment to promoting and realising children’s’ rights and encouraging adults, children and young people to respect the rights of others in school. Assessors visited the school, where they spoke with staff and pupils and highlighted the following strengths:

Do you want to make sure your community’s voice is heard where and when it matters? If you care about your community and want to get more involved in local life, why not consider standing for election to your local Community Council? Community Council elections will take place across Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute in October 2022. Taking part in these elections - whether as a voter or a candidate - gives you opportunities to have your say in local representation and community life.

Six candidates are standing for election to represent the Kintyre and the Islands ward on Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council. The Notice of Poll (the list of election candidates) has now been published and can be found, along with a list of polling stations within the ward, on the council’s website at Notice of poll and situation of polling stations By Election 29 Sept 22 (argyll-bute.gov.uk)

A further ten schools in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute have achieved accreditation for their achievements in developing nurturing cultures in their school communities, bringing the total number of accredited schools in the area to 18. The accreditation is part of the Council’s, ‘Our Children, Their Nurturing Education (OCTNE) Strategy’, and aims to ensure that children and young people have the emotional support they need to thrive.

The council has paid tribute to the passion that exists in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute for an education service that delivers the best for all children and young people. Councillors and officers also stated the importance of working with communities in delivering change where needed, when the Community Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ Committee met today. The Committee considered reports on local challenges for education, national reform and feedback to the recent education change engagement exercise.

Residents on Mull have been giving their views on whether or not they would support a new school campus on the island, should funding become available to build one. Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council identified a new campus on Mull as the priority across its entire learning estate and, over the last few weeks, a series of public pre-engagement events have taken place on the island to gauge people’s opinions on a potential new school.