Communities urged to pull together this winter

Another winter of pulling together is likely for Argyll and Bute, an organisation fighting climate change in the area has warned.

Time for Change Argyll and Bute has urged communities to work together for a longerterm strategy than just the winter.

In a report to go before community chiefs, the group claimed there was a lack of knowledge in communities and some third sector organisations about what could be done.

The report was due to go before Argyll and Bute Council’s Mid-Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands community planning group yesterday (November 2) at its meeting.

A spokesperson for the group said: ‘Unfortunately the current economic, energy and climate situation is almost certain to require another winter of pulling together.

‘We ask those listening, as a planning partnership, to think and build in a longer term and broader view than just this winter, to use the difficulties we will face as a feed into cooperative strategic planning for what is acknowledge as the climate crisis and the need for community resilience.

‘Public sector bodies are likely to be ahead within their own parameters and hopefully can and are building partnerships.

‘Outwith this, in communities and in some third sector organisations there is lack of knowledge and surety as to what can be done or is allowed to be done.

‘A great deal of resilience comes simply from knowing who can be turned to, who has capacity or access what is needed. Many community councils and community groups and organisations kept going through Covid, with the use of Teams or Zoom, but others either didn’t have the technical capacity or know what was OK to keep in the way of data and email contacts etc.

‘Our world is built around communication, can communities in whatever form build a resilient backup?’

The report cited incidents like a major recent telephone and ethernet outage in Shetland, and claimed that events like Storm Arwen in December 2021 were likely to become more common.

The spokesperson added: ‘Warm spaces are opening to help communities through the winter energy crisis. Could these be hubs for information to be permissively collected, who has a landline, what resources are locally available?

‘This is not a harbinger of doom, but a request for everyone to think ahead strategically, not easy when fire fighting in a crisis, and to ask at every turn: ‘‘Will this action exacerbate or mitigate climate change, solve or promote problems in the future?’’.’