Argyll and Bute to be merged with Highland Council?

[LO]

In case you missed it, The Herald carried a story yesterday about possible changes to Local Govenrment in Scotland that are apparently currently under consideration by the Scottish Executive. You can read it all at the link below, but the crux seems to be that they want to reduce the number of local authorities from 32 to 14 (this is broadly in line with what is currently happening in Northern Ireland where they are in the process of moving from 23 to 7 unitary authorities if memory serves me). At this stage it looks as if they favour merging Argyll and Bute Council with Highland Council. If this were to happen, the implications for this area, both good and bad, are huge. Presumably, Inverness would be the administrative HQ rather than Kilmory, which seems bizarre from a Kintyre perspective, but I guess with this area due to transfer to Highland Health Board a precedent has been set. The big questions I guess are

1. Would the new Council have more to spend on this area?
2. Would they be able to deliver better services compared to ABC ? (Anyone out there know their pedigree?)
3. Will the area be so big that they will have to break it into much smaller bites - potential for Kintyre to get a bit more autonomy?
4. What will the impact be on jobs in this area? More? Less?

There are more questions than answers here and of course it is not a firm proposal at this stage but this would be a good time to start the debate in this part of the world. A poll would be in order but I can't seem to find the option on the new fangled board. Anyone care to oblige? I would suggest that the question would be "Should Argyll and Bute Council be merged with Highland Council" and the responses should be YES, NO & DON'T KNOW

Here is the link to the Herald article, and if you click the PDF link at the top you will find a couple of maps which will allow you to contrast the current set-up with what is proposed at this stage.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/55898.html

[oorly gourlay]

And they said that Strathclyde, God rest its soul, was a monster
Argyll & Bute being administered from Inverness
And they thought that Glasgow was too far away
This is a monster that only a government could create
My only recent encounter with Highland was when I had to travel up to Kentallen about 8 miles outside the A&BC boundary north of Appin and if you think our roads are bad, you want to see that stretch.

oorly

[Ship called Dignity]

I always thought reorganisation in 1996 to Argyll & Bute Council was one of the worst things to happen to Campbeltown. Under Strathclyde Regional Council, Campbeltown played an important part in the decision making of the area and also hosted a number of key posts and offices - maily because we had an air link to Glasgow! I always thought under Stratchclyde regional Council there was more money for the rural areas but perhaps I am wrong. The one thing with reorganisation was alot of processes and positions had to be replcated throughout six councils, when one team could do it for all before.

Naturally with Argyll & Bute Council, Lochgilphead became the headquarters and more and more jobs were moved there.

Just when Argyll & Bute Council are really starting to find their feet there will be another potential re-organisation! Mind you maybe Campbeltown would benefit as they could fly here from Inverness!

[WC1]

Round about 1965 (?) the Wheatley Report was the basis of the local government re-organisation which eventually led to the setting up of Strathclyde Region. But strangely enough, the original proposal for the Highlands was a region stretching from the Mull of Kintyre to John O' Groats, in other words, what is now being floated by the Executive. It was rejected then because it was found that the southern part of the Highlands saw Glasgow as their regional focus, not Inverness. On that basis, Argyll was included with west central Scotland and Strathclyde was the result. This is simply history repeating itself. Our links are with Glasgow, not Inverness. This proposal should be strongly resisted.

[Sweltered]

Having dealt extensively with the Highland Council, pray this merger doesn't happen. Think about it, Council incompetence coupled with teuchterism. This is not a good mix, believe me. Altho I do have to disagree with the roads comment. By and large, the highland roads are better. Their unclassified roads are better than most of the streets in Campbeltown.

[John S]

Perhaps a step too far but, what about North Argyll going into Highlands and South Argyll merging with West Dumbarton. This would also provide options for cutting the number of MSP's.

[Mary G]

There is surely scope to get to a more rational set of arrangements for Scotland. Remember, a lot of what was done in the last reorganisation, was designed to deliver Tory controlled councils, in East Renfrewshire and the like, something that didn't materialise until last week when South Ayrshire became the first Tory Council in Scotland in over a decade.

So, it is a reasonable starting point to suggest that things can be a lot better. The criteria for changing boundaries should not be bound up with cutting numbers of MSPs, I would suggest. An ambition that may well have merit, and be deserving of attention, John S, but do that through dedicated means, rather than tack that debate onto this one!

Turning to Argyll & Bute, I think it would be dangerous to split it up in the way John S suggests. Highland Council is already extremely unwieldy, and they have more interest in bolting on Moray, and these discussions have started. Rather, why not enlarge the existing A&B Council by re-claiming that part of Argyll handed over to Highland Council in the 70's, namely Morvern and Ardnamurchan? Population-wise, it doesn't add on a lot, but does make some sense in the wider re-drawing that will undoubtedly take place.