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Nominations are now open for Community Councils in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute. If you care about your community and want to get more involved in local life, why not consider standing for election? Community Council elections will take place in October 2022. Community Councils are voluntary organisations which are set up by statute by local authorities, but which are run by local people to act on behalf of their community. Their general role is to act as a voice for their local community.

The project team behind Campbeltown’s £15.2 million Flood Protection Scheme (FPS) are inviting local business and residents to a pop-up event to find out more about the scheme. The informal event will take place in Burnside Square on Wednesday 31 August between 3pm and 9pm, and is a great opportunity for people to go along and have a chat with representatives from Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council, Dawson WAM and Aecom before work starts next month.

A new public square, improved car parking and additional seating are just some of the benefits Ardrishaig residents and visitors can look forward to as improvement works start from 29 August.   The Ardrishaig development works include:  

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council is holding a by-election to elect one councillor in Ward 2, Kintyre and the Islands, on Thursday 29th September.  You can find more details about the election on the council website /election-kintyre-and-islands-29th-september-2022. The Kintyre and the Islands ward spans the mainland area from around Tarbert to Carradale and includes the islands of Islay, Jura, Gigha and Colonsay.  It has an electorate of just over 6,000 people.

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council teamed up with liveÂ鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute TSI to host two successful welcome events for Ukrainian refugee families who have arrived in the area. The welcome fairs took place in Dunoon and Oban, and a large number of partner organisations and community groups attended to showcase the wide range of services and support available.  The event attracted a large number of families, all of whom received helpful information on everything from housing to benefits.

Cashless parking will be available across Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute from Monday 15 August 2022 making it more convenient for residents and visitors to park and help support town centres and local businesses.   The new PayByPhone app is user-friendly and available across 35 on-and-off street locations. It offers an alternative means of payment to the existing pay and display machines enabling payment via your mobile phone.  

Following a £1.5 million investment, Lochgilphead’s Front Green will open to the public this weekend. The transformation includes a new public square, play park, additional seating, new walking and cycling facilities and drainage and landscaping to help ease the impact of flooding. Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council secured additional Scottish Government Town Centre funding to upgrade the footpath and railings along the front of the Green using local Achnaba stone. Councillor Robin Currie, Policy Lead for the Economy and Rural Growth:

Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute Council has cut its carbon emissions by a third since 2015/16.   Emissions have now dropped for the fourth year in a row thanks to a range of measures aimed at reducing the carbon footprint created by the council’s business activities.   Measures have included making buildings more energy and heat efficient, replacing traditional lightbulbs with LED, moving to electric or hybrid vehicles and recycling municipal waste.  

Cost of living support, business growth and climate-friendly communities – these are among the initiatives on track to benefit from a £4.5 million investment plan agreed by the council, for submission to the UK Government. The funding is Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute’s allocation of UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). Activities included in the Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute UKSPF Investment Plan are all aligned to three key investment priorities - communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.

Senior secondary pupils across Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute have cause for celebration today after achieving impressive results in their SQA exams.  This spring, for the first time in three years, S4-S6 pupils in Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æ and Bute were presented for examinations.  As a result of the pandemic, the last time our young people sat exams was in 2019.  Therefore, pupils have had no previous experience of sitting SQA exams, and some had their studies interrupted by the requirements of self-isolation for both pupils and staff.