Councillor's Column - Dougie McFadzean October 25 2024
Welcome to my latest Councillor’s Column which gives you an insight into what I have been up to over the past month or so.
The work I have been involved in has been wide and varied and I’ve picked out a few highlights.
I had a great time at Port Charlotte Primary School a few weeks ago where I was invited to talk with the senior pupils about elections and the process of democracy.
The pupils had already completed some amazing work before I spoke with them and had actually held their own vote a couple of days beforehand, with all the campaigning taking place before the children voted.
They decided, by majority, that they wanted a comfy chilling area with new bean bags! Perhaps there is a budding politician amongst the class.
At the end of September, I popped over to Jura to speak with music lovers at the annual Jura Music Festival.
Another brilliant event on Jura, organised by a vibrant and energetic group of volunteers, which brought visitors from all over Scotland and beyond to one of the most beautiful places in our country. Well done to all involved.
With my new role as policy lead for care services, I was delighted to be asked to visit Mid Argyll Hospital in Lochgilphead where I met some of the fantastic staff.
Catriona Watt, the local area manager, gave me a tour of the hospital and described the various services provided from there.
It’s a very impressive building with great facilities, but what impressed me the most was meeting a small team of staff who have developed a ’Virtual Ward’ project which has reached the finals of The Scottish Health Awards for the Integrated Care category.
The award ceremony takes place in Edinburgh on November 7 and I wish the team the best of luck.
The project is an amazing example of innovation and using the new technologies available to ensure patients are cared for in the best way possible, and within their homes, where invariably they would rather be.
I also attended a public consultation event organised by The Friends of Portnahaven Church along with my colleague Councillor Anne Horn.
Portnahaven Church is an iconic landmark in the village on Islay and has been put up for sale by the Church of Scotland.
The small group of hardy volunteers are attempting to raise enough funds to buy the building to use it as a community hub and multi-use space. This is a very worthy cause, and I give it my full support.
With the further disappointing news of an additional delay to the delivery of the MV Isle of Islay, I attended a second round table discussion arranged by, and chaired by, Jenni Minto MSP to discuss this issue and the wider ferry services to Islay and Jura.
The event was attended by various managers from Calmac and representatives from industry, Community Councils and transport providers.
The discussion was positive, and I felt the Calmac representatives listed to our concerns and agreed to continue to work with our communities to make things better, so fingers crossed.
There’s no doubting the fact that our islands and rural communities have suffered recently with a lack of transport resilience and at least there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel. I’ll be keeping the pressure on from my end!
Work is well under way within your council in relation to planning for the budget setting for 2025/26. With the United Kingdom in a declining financial position and nothing but bad financial news coming from the new Government in Westminster, the challenges that lie ahead are very significant.
Although we do not know what financial settlement we will receive as a council, and probably won’t know exactly until early 2025, we need to work now and prepare for difficult times ahead.
We need to be innovative and brave if we are to continue to provide the services our communities need, but there will be some very tough decisions to be made.
Please be assured that I will always act in the best interests of the communities I serve in beautiful Kintyre and the Islands.
Talking of our beautiful home, the northern lights shone over my house a few nights ago and I managed to snap this picture from my living room window. How lucky we are living here!
Please get in touch if you would like to talk about any local issues. Thanks, and best wishes as always, Dougie.
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Childcare and Education Worker - ARB15733 - Argyll and Bute Council
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Latest News
JOBS
Childcare and Education Worker - ARB15733 - Argyll and Bute Council
Sign up to our daily Newsletters
Permission Statement
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I understand that my personal information will not be shared with any third parties, and will only be used to provide me with useful targeted articles as indicated.
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