THE area committee chair for Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands has hailed the area’s “second to none” community spirit as he looks ahead to 2026.
Councillor John Armour (SNP, South Kintyre) has also said that the New Year will be one of “Rising to challenges while delivering for communities” for Argyll and Bute Council.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the area committee chair has reflected on the successes and challenges of 2025 for the local authority.
He also hopes that core funding can be secured to maintain core services provided by the authority in the coming year.
Speaking about the importance of the community in achieving goals for Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands, he said: “One of our priorities as an administration was to increase engagement with our communities, to go out and talk directly with people.
“We’ve been doing this all over the area as well as on an individual basis, for example by holding the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area committee meetings in different places all over the ward.
“I always find when we speak directly with people, community councils and businesses that they have a real understanding of the challenges that the public sector faces, that they recognise councils can’t do everything they used to or would like to, and that they know there’s a need to do things differently when the money simply isn’t there.
“I’m personally very grateful for that constructive approach and also for the invaluable knowledge our communities share.
“It’s important that we are able to join our voices together wherever we can and securing the expansion of the Islands Business Resilience Fund is just one example of how that brings results.
“I feel honoured to represent my local ward of South Kintyre as well as play my part in the wider Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area and, of course, Argyll and Bute.
“Our community spirit and resilience here is second to none and the determination of our communities to succeed is incredible. I’m always amazed by what our communities do and achieve, and I have every confidence that 2026 will see even more of that.”
On the biggest successes and challenges of 2025, he said: “We’ve been able to secure a significant amount of funding for the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands area over the past year – most recently around £2.5 million through the Community Regeneration Partnership fund and Scottish Government Islands funding which will support a number of projects across the area.
“We also said when we came into administration that we’d speak up for our communities and I welcome the recent confirmation from the Scottish Government that islands in this ward will also be able to benefit from the expansion of the Islands Business Resilience Fund, following representation from ourselves as councillors and from our communities.
“The recent completion of major investment at Campbeltown harbour including dredging the inner harbour has already seen an increase in larger vessels using and looking to use the port.
“Core funding is a challenge for every single council in Scotland and this year looks to be particularly difficult. That’s another reason why securing that external funding is so important – it means we can deliver in ways we’d otherwise be unable to afford.
“Despite that we are doing our best to face up to that challenge and as a council we have a lot going for us – a committed workforce, a good track record in financial management as well as in bringing in other funding, communities who want to work with us and most of all determination to do the best we possibly can.”
He added: “Securing the funding to maintain core services is always the biggest challenge for any council.
“Rising to challenges while delivering for communities – the council does this all year round. That’s always a priority, every single day and at all times of the year, and it will remain so.
“We all have to think ahead and plan for the future, so while we will have to focus on finalising the budget for 2026/27, at the same time we will be considering what happens in the next few years and beyond and what we can put in place now to make that go smoothly.”
