It was great to catch up with my local constituents in Portnahaven and Port Wemyss over the past few days.

I met with local business proprietors and spoke with them about numerous concerns including the recent decision to take away most of their local recycling bins as well as the relocation of the glass recycling bins.

I have raised serious concerns about this with Argyll and Bute's roads and street lighting department and have made my view very clear that these recycling facilities must be returned.

I also was very happy to see that Portnahaven Stores is backing the Daily Mail's Great Plastic Pickup campaign which is encouraging a clean up of plastics from our beaches, beauty spots and the streets of Britain.

I spoke to more of my constituents at today's Rinns Ladies Group meeting. I heard of many local issues including lack of Post Office operating hours in Portnahaven, terrible Vodafone signal, dog fouling, substandard short term road repairs and the need for new social housing to be built in our smaller villages.

As your local Councillor I will do all that I can to make sure our small and large villages alike are no longer sidelined.

Cllr Alastair Redman