Argyll trust celebrates success with plans for expansion
A COUNTRYSIDE and coastal trust in Argyll is set for expansion after a year and a half in operation.
The trading arm of Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust, called Act Argyll Ltd, employs three staff in Oban and three in Helensburgh on a four-day contract. Launched in August 2015, employees carry out amenity spaces improvement, groundwork and maintenance, brick work, paving, path laying, landscaping, removal of invasive species, small tree work and small-scale joinery.
The project is supported by the Scottish Government’s People and Communities Fund, which was procured though Dunbritton Housing Association in partnership with West Highland Housing Association. The company has also received financial support from Argyll and Bute Council, Forestry Commission Scotland and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Act Argyll employs a skills and contracts manager, admin officer and has three trainees in each of its Oban and Helens- burgh teams. The trainees are on a 12-month, 30 hours per week contract, earning £11,497, which is 10 per cent above the national minimum wage.
In January, the trust will launch sector-based work academy placements, co-ordinated through JobCentre Plus, giving eight weeks of work experience with the teams. Act Argyll held its annual open day on December 16, with representatives from West Highland Housing Association, Dunbritton Housing Association, ACHA, Argyll and Bute Council, SNH, FCS, Dunollie, Glenshellach Grow- ers, JobCentre Plus and Greenshoots H2O in attendance. They were given an update on how Act Argyll Ltd and the trust are operating, and plans for the coming year. The event was held at the trust’s Oban premises at Torran Gorm Industrial Estate in Glenshellach Road.