I have been visiting my constituents in Port Ellen, Bowmore, Port Charlotte and Portnahaven the past few days. I have been reporting all new potholes to our roads department and checking up on the repairs I had already asked to be done.

Our council's latest budget has invested large amounts of funding into our crumbling roads network. As I have said before this investment is long overdue and very welcome, that said my constituent's justifiable anger at terrible local road conditions on Islay, Jura and the rest of the Kintyre and Islands ward can only be addressed when they see roads resurfacing and pothole repairs actually happening.

Many local residents have also contracted me about the disruption and cancellations to services as our ageing Scottish ferry fleet continues to falter. The working life of the ferries is 25 years yet 14 of the 33 strong ferry fleet run by the taxpayer owned operator CalMac is older than that with 8 now 30 years old.

The 37 year old MV Hebridean Isles is one of the oldest in the fleet. Plans to replace the archaic ferry serving Islay have not even gone out to tender and this is 4 years after Transport Scotland said it would actually have been built! Our island economies need new, larger and better ferries to keep up with the growth in tourism to our islands and the huge increase of output from our distilleries.

Crumbling road networks and a ferry fleet which is long past its prime are holding back the Islands of Islay and Jura. This is not a matter that can be left on the back-burner any longer.

Cllr Alastair Redman