Islanders suffer most

Sir, I was pleased to attend the latest Argyll Islands Strategic Group meeting in Kilmory recently.

I was able to speak to Scottish Government and Argyll and Bute Council representatives about the challenges facing our island communities.

While we on the islands of Islay, Jura, Colonsay and Gigha are rightfully enjoying strong local economic growth, future growth will be stifled by poor local infrastructure, at times unreliable ferry links and the neverending troubles with the A83.

Regardless of what political stripe the leadership of the Scottish and UK parliaments have, all should be united in getting our vital links to the mainland and wider the UK economy back up to scratch.

Without large-scale investment from central government to fix Argyll and Bute’s roads and Transport Scotland’s trunk roads, our future prosperity is at risk and, as ever, it will be islanders who suffer the most.

While political bun-fights in the local press letters pages are entertaining, what we really need is action from our MSPs and MPs.

If we were talking about road and transport

links between Scotland’s cities, it is highly likely these problems would already be fixed. The Scottish Government must in the future not be so urban-centric in its allocation of resources. Councillor Alastair Redman, Kintyre and the Islands ward.