Councillor Iain (Shonny) Paterson
Argyll & Bute Lomond North Ward
Good turn out for the Launch of the Loch Lomond &Trossachs National Park Authority Resilient Farm Network open evening, excellent presentation by John Ritchie ( Montalt farm ) Daniel Stout (LLTNPA land management adviser) great evening.
Anyone interested in becoming a host farm can get more information HERE
Council
It is good to get back to my role as Councillor and member of the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park board. Following my motorcycle accident in Wales, in early August, I have attended Open Doors
events in Arrochar along with fellow councillors Gordon Blair and Fiona Howard. We discussed improving transport links and the Kilcreggan and Cove community hub that is being piloted by Argyll and Bute council. Following these discussions I met with representatives of Cove and Kilcreggan community , and attended a meeting with Scottish Passenger Transport (SPT) in Glasgow where I discussed transport issues that affect our rural communities. I will continue to pursue this matter along with my Councillor colleague Gordon blair who is our SPT lead in the council.
Argyll and Bute is the only authority not to have a Rural Growth deal. The county has many key industries , Tourism , Farming , Fishing, and Clean Energy generation these not only supports our local economy but that of Scotland and the UK. Argyll and Bute’s geographic location lends itself to investment. It is vitally important that we get the rural growth deal in place as soon as possible and bring the much needed revenue to the people and communities of argyll and bute, which will deliver 300 additional jobs, new housing, support for local businesses, and economic growth. It is crucial in improving the prosperity of our communities. The council continues to work positively with the UK and Scottish Government in making our case.
National park
You may be entitled to Free School Meals and a Clothing Grant of £120 per child when attending Primary School and £150 per child when attending Secondary School if you meet the criteria below.
I met with members of my constituency on Monday along with my fellow SNP councillor Gordon Blair to discuss with them means of improving transport links and service to Arrochar & Tarbet.
Gordon and I are both on the Scottish Passenger Transport board (SPT).
I took along our communities concerns with their proposals to SPT meeting in Glasgow today (Friday 20th Sept) where i discussed them with SPT board chairman Stepen Dorain.
Was good to meet with Stephen Clayton who will be running the Cove and Kilcreggan Council Community Hub that will open officially on October the 1st. This is being trialled by Argyll & Bute Council in Kilcreggan and the council will be looking to place further hubs in other rural areas of Argyll & Bute if the pilot is a success , it was the brainchild of councillor Fiona Howard, whom I have invited to Arrochar & Tarbet open doors on October the 8th to give a talk on the project.
Anyone wanting to hear first hand From Fiona please come along if you can.
The aims of Council Community Hub(s) are for rural communities to be able to have greater access to council resources to help resolve, where identified, a deficiency of facilities and equipment that a community would benefit from.
It is the Council’s ambition that users of these Hub(s) will gain from their experience and encourage more people to use the facilities and equipment provided.
It is also hoped that users will find the provision of this service to be an overall benefit to all of their community.
Kilcreggan & Cove Council Community Hub is the pilot for a model to develop further rural Hubs in the future and to take this forward we will ask users for feedback on their experience and if they consider that there are any other services or resources that they would like to have access to at the Hub.