It was great to catch up with my fellow Conservative Councillors in Kilmory and to hear of the terrific work they have been doing for their constituents and the wider Argyll and Bute area.

Policy Lead for Education Cllr Yvonne McNeilly, Depute Policy Lead for Economic Development Cllr Bobby Good and myself spoke about many pressing issues including the Gigha dairy being unable to sell milk to the local Gigha primary school, transport links, the recent reduction in ferry sailings to Islay and small business growth being hindered by over regulation and poor broadband speed.

I also had an in depth discussion with the hard working Policy Lead for Roads and Amenity Services Cllr Roddy McCuish about the seemingly slow pace of street lighting repairs and potholes marked for filling being left untouched by our roads department in my council ward.

It was great to be updated on future plans for roads repairs and maintenance as well as progress being made in fixing our local street lighting.

Waiting months for basic pothole patchwork and having our villages left unsafe due to no functioning street lights for in some cases years cannot be allowed to become the new norm.

We in Argyll and Bute pay first world levels of council tax yet for many of our Islands we are receiving third world levels of repair and maintenance speed.

Our roads management must see that this no longer happens in the future.

Cllr Alastair Redman