Month: September 2015

Last Thursday was the day of the full council meeting in Argyll & Bute. The new Reform Group (see here) comprising myself, Vivien Dance and Bruce Marshall, shared thoughts on some of the papers prior to the meetings and prepared motions for some of these. One of the reasons we created the group was because… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: September 15 Council Meeting

I have written several times before about the group that Cllr Walsh created to consider what could be the largest ever cuts to council services. I understand at the moment that we’re looking at losing about £9m from the budget in each of the next 2 years. The group Cllr Walsh formed is called a… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: The Budget Secrecy

The official opposition to Cllr Walsh and his group is the SNP Group. There are 4 other councillors who are not in Cllr Walsh’s administration: myself, Vivien Dance, Bruce Marshall and Neil McIntyre. There has been no approach to any of the 4 from the SNP as far as I am aware but there have… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: New Political Group

As readers of previous posts will know, Alan Stewart of South Cowal Community Development Company (SCCDC) submitted a complaint about 3 senior council officers over the way they handled the community buyout of Castle Toward. This was submitted on 1 September. The complaint can be found here and it is well worth a read: Castle… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: Complain about somebody and the same person handles your complaint!

I provided some links here to the articles in last week’s media about the new campaign led by Kerry Nixon. There is more information on Kerry’s campaign at: http://www.iheartcastletoward.co.uk/ There is a petition to support this and this can be found at: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/work-with-us-argyll-and-bute-council-bring-back-the-youth-of-scotland-to-castle-toward Support this if you can please.

Today the press carries a number of pieces about the disgraceful decision not to sell the property to the local community and, instead, to sell it to a private developer. I emailed my fellow councillors this morning about this. People locally are still angry at what’s been done; some, in fact, are seething with anger. I… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: The shame of Castle Toward

The Dunoon Observer has a piece on their website today about the latest on Castle Toward. Their piece can be read at: http://www.dunoon-observer.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9484:castle-toward-latest It’s becoming clearer that the council has a real problem on its hands and it’s wholly their own fault. The manner in which the community buyout was handled was shameful and my… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: more on Castle Toward

My previous post on the situation with Castle Toward can be read here. There have been a number of people who have complained again to the council about what has happened, myself and Cllr Marshall included. The best thing this council could do now is cancel the sale due to the fact there is no… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: Castle Toward Update

Cllr Bruce Marshall and myself have submitted a serious complaint against 3 senior council officers following the report to the council’s Performance Review and Scrutiny committee last week. That report was written by the independent chair of that committee, Mr Ian Ross. His report can be read at: SUPPLEMENTARY PACK 1 FOR PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND SCRUTINY… Continue reading How Argyll & Bute Works: complaint re Castle Toward

Audrey Forrest has asked that I post this on her behalf: SUICIDE PREVENTION WEEK   Many of us will have been affected by the suicide of a family member or friend. It is something which has a devastating effect on those left behind who are left struggling with loss and a bewildering catalogue of emotions… Continue reading Suicide Prevention Week, a post on behalf of Audrey Forrest