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º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute Council is one of eight local authorities across the North and West of Scotland which are working together to ensure children and young people are given the best educational opportunities. Known as the Northern Alliance, the partnership is a Regional Improvement Collaborative (RIC) set up to secure excellence and equity in education.

Counselling services are to be made available to young people in º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute, as part of the Scottish Government’s 10 year Mental Health Strategy. At a meeting of º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute Council’s Community º£½ÇÉçÇø Committee this week, members agreed to support the initiative, which will see children as young as 10 having access to a trained counsellor.

Brendan O’Hara has been elected as the Member of Parliament for º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute in the UK general election.   Votes from the º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute parliamentary constituency have been counted and the result has been declared as follows:    Rhea Louise Barnes, Scottish Labour Party – 3,248 Gary Mulvaney, Scottish Conservative and Unionist – 16,930 Brendan O’Hara, Scottish National Party (SNP) – 21,040 Alan Reid, Scottish Liberal Democrats – 6,832  

Where will you see Vanilla Ice, Gritny Spears, Captain Gritter Pants and The Grittersaurus keeping the roads free of ice and snow? In º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute – thanks to the imaginations of primary school pupils across the region. In October, the council took delivery of 17 new vehicles to join its fleet of winter maintenance vehicles. And we thought one gritter in each of our four areas should have a name. The challenge was put out to our schools and great ideas and fantastic drawings came flooding in. The winners are:

º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute has aspirations to become the centre of seaweed farming excellence. A report, commissioned by º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute Council, has set out a template for setting up and running a seaweed farming business from conception right through to selling products to consumers. Produced by the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS), in Oban, and funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), the study highlights a major new opportunity for economic growth for º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute.

New apps now enable travellers on council-run ferries to buy tickets via their phones or other mobile devices. This extends the range of ways to pay to include cash, debit/credit cards on board the ferries or via the council website, making the service more convenient for users. Customers wishing to pay using a mobile device app should visit either Google Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone) and search for: 

Chaidh freagairt aontachadh le Comhairle Earra-Ghàidheal is Bhòid Diardaoin (28 Samhain) air co-chomhairleachadh le Riaghaltas na h-Alba air prionnsapalan cìs luchd-tadhail. Cuiridh an fhreagairt seo ri tuigse Riaghaltas na h-Alba air an eallaich a th' ann a thaobh na h-àrainneachd is bun-structair ann an cuid a sgìrean air sgàth àrdachadh àireamh an luchd-tadhail. Cuiridh i cuideachd ri leasachadh laghan a leigeadh le ùghdarrasan ionadail a' chìs a chur an sàs nam biodh sin iomchaidh.

A response to the Scottish Government’s consultation on the principles of a visitor levy was agreed by º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute Council on Thursday (28 November). This will help the Scottish Government’s understanding of the pressures on the local environment and infrastructure felt in some areas by the increase in overnight and day visitors. It will inform development of legislation that would allow local authorities to introduce the levy if they felt it appropriate.

Council heard on Thursday (28 November) that the terms of º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute’s Rural Growth Deal (RGD) continue to be negotiated. Discussion with Scottish and UK governments to date has been positive, with the amount of consultation done when preparing the RGD particularly noted. Both the Scottish and UK Governments have committed £25million each in support of projects, designed by the council, to deliver success across º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute based on:

The º£½ÇÉçÇø and Bute Council Employee Excellence and Recognition Awards 2019 have taken place and we can now reveal the full list of winners. Held at Mid º£½ÇÉçÇø Sports Centre in Lochgilphead, the event was made possible thanks to the support of our sponsors: Brodies, Walker Love, Oban Electrical º£½ÇÉçÇø, MacLeods Construction Ltd, PAM OH Solutions, Priority Management, Portavadie Marina, Live º£½ÇÉçÇø, Midton Acrylics, Mid º£½ÇÉçÇø Chamber of Commerce, GMB, Unison, Unite, EIS and Positive People Development.