It was good to be back in Clachan for my surgery in the Primary School where I had the opportunity to hear about the numerous pressing local issues. These included the extensive damage to Clachan village hall's roof which has sadly led to the hall being unusable. Without a local village hall the local youth club has much more limited options of where to go. Our village halls are more important than ever. What is certain, is that for the communities they serve and the volunteers who sustain them, the village hall will always be more than a building. It epitomises a whole rural way of life.

Many local residents I have spoken to in the past have commented on the problem of dog fouling getting out of hand. The dog warden has been active and the matter has somewhat improved but the problem is still prevalent.

Clachan's population growth and school enrolment numbers are in part linked to the availability of affordable housing both to buy and and to rent. Sadly Clachan has had few if any builds for quite some time and this has led to young people being forced to move out of their home village to get housing elsewhere. This is one more reason why our housing associations must built new housing in our small villages and not just our large towns.

The expansion of better mobile phone coverage has been underway for some time and across the Kintyre and Islands ward we have seen some real improvements but in Clachan there are some real challenges with mobile phone signal and service. The mobile phone networks and central government must move on from a seemingly city first mentality to treating all areas both urban and rural the same and give us all fit for purpose network coverage. I will continue to raise these matter and more in my capacity as Councillor as often as possible.

I look forward to being back in Clachan soon.

Cllr Alastair Redman