Community Conference for Bute and Cowal

Residents of Bute and Cowal  are invited to attend a community conference on Saturday 6th March 2010 from 10.30am to 3.45pm at Dunoon Grammar School.

Funded by Working and Learning Together, the event is being run by Bute and Cowal Area Community Planning Group and is a Forward Together event designed to give the two communities a chance to share their views.

Part of what is driving the event is the Community Planning Partnership’s awareness that it has not always seemed clear to the local community how to connect with the Partnership and how to become involved in the community planning process.

Area based community planning groups have been set up to build local links and bring community planning closer to local communities.

This begs the question of whether simply opening the door of the Community Planning Partnership itself would not save the additional layer of buffer-zone bureaucracy?

The Bute and Cowal Area Community Planning Group now needs to hear what community representatives have to say about Town Centre Development, Transport, Community Safety and Health and Wellbeing.

Bute and Cowal have some interesting facts in common.

• They are close neighbours, of course, with Cowal wrapped voraciously around the top half of Bute.
• They have one ferry route connecting them – CalMac’s Colintraive to Rhubodach.
• They each have other ferry routes connecting them to the Inverclyde mainland: Cowal through Dunoon with Calmac’s route to Gourock and through Hunter’s Quay with Western Ferries route to McIroy’s Point; Bute through Rothesay with CalMac’s route to Wemyss Bay.

So both have a long established umbilical cord to Inverclyde as well as to each other and to Argyll. There have to be joint marketing initiatives in this picture.

For Bute, the picture of the traffic coming in via its two ferry routes is a complex and interesting one.

Over the past six years and through fluctuations in volume and shifts towards cars as opposed to foot passengers, 70% of passengers shipped in come via Wemyss Bay, as do 64% of cars. Commercial vehicle traffic is broadly equal, shaded in favour of the route from Cowal by 51% to 49%. At 74%, tourist coach traffic is heavily weighted in favour of the Cowal route.

Food for thought.

Anyway, the community conference on 6th March is the first of a series of such events – aimed at making the Community Planning programme more accessible to the general public.

These events will be held twice yearly, with the venue alternating between Bute and Cowal. Feedback from them will be used to influence priorities and service delivery.

Councillor Bruce Marshall, Chair of the Bute and Cowal Local Area Community Planning Group, says: ‘The Forward Together conference at Dunoon Grammar School on the 6th March 2010 will provide an excellent opportunity to hear the views of a wide range of community representatives and organisations. I sincerely hope that people from communities across Bute and Cowal will come and join us for what promises to be an interesting and informative event.’

There is no charge for attending the conference, lunch and refreshments will be provided and free transport is available with pick-ups planned for Rothesay, Colintraive, Glendaruel, Strachur and Sandbank.If advance notice is given, childcare can be arranged.

Places are limited so people interested in attending are advised to register as soon as possible.

For those living in Bute, contact Alan Donald:

• by post: Moat Community Education Centre, Stuart Street, Rothesay
• by email: Alan.Donald@argyll-bute.gov.uk
• by phone: 01700 503696

For those living in Cowal, contact Liz Marion:

• by post: Dunoon Community Education Centre, Edward Street, Dunoon
• by email: Liz.Marion@argyll-bute.gov.uk
• by phone: 01369 704669