I have been out and about Islay the past week speaking to my constituents, visiting local businesses and monitoring the roads department's progress with road repairs.

Unfortunately Cal Mac management's shocking handling of our local ferry service is really taking it's toll on many local businesses that depend heavily of Islay's growing tourist trade. We simply cannot allow Cal Mac to continue to make the same errors every year without consequences.

I have been unimpressed with our local roads department management's sluggish response to a large number of complaints from local residents and myself about the plague of potholes scattered across Islay.

There are many roads across Islay that have some potholes marked to be filled while others remain unmarked despite them in many cases being side by side. This scattershot approach to pothole repairs is as ineffective as it is random.

In the future we will need to see a more long term resurfacing solution to our local roads with less short term, random and piecemeal patchwork.

Cllr Alastair Redman