This week's Councillor Column is written by Gary Mulvaney, Conservative councillor for Helensburgh Central and the depute leader of Argyll and Bute Council.
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It is astonishing the amount of folk who speak to me about Brexit and offer their view on what should happen. So here is my tuppence worth.
Irrespective of who speaks to me and their own particular views, the general consensus is that all our MPs have let us down. Every MP, party and faction is now pursuing their own narrow agenda, irrespective of the democratic wishes of the majority expressed nearly three years ago.
In simple terms, we had a referendum that was decisive. We have also had referenda in the last half-century on the EEC, on devolution, on the Good Friday agreement, on the Scottish Parliament, on the Welsh Assembly and on changing the voting system.
In each and every case, our MPs accepted the decision and implemented it. We didn’t dilly-dally, question the result, change house rules or think ‘we will give the voters another go to get it right’; we did what was asked.
For the sake of democracy, MPs must do so in this case. If they cannot manage that, they should do the honourable thing, forego their £80,000 salary and expenses and go. The football chant of “sack the board” has never seemed more apt for 650 folk.
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READ MORE: Councillor's Column: Transport links are vital to future success
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Following planning permission in January, the waterfront project continues to make progress and the main issue now, is procuring the main contractor for the construction works.
Within the next week or so, the council will formally issue the ‘invitation to tender’. All going well, we aim to be in a position to approve the full business case in August and award the tender thereafter in September. After that is done, we can crack on and get the construction started and I am sure that most members of the public will be delighted about that.
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READ MORE: Councillor's Column: We must make better choices for the sake of our planet
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With the weather having improved, It is great to see that Hermitage Park’s new play park is being well used by a variety of age groups.
This is a real improvement for the town and a genuine tribute to partnership working between the council and community volunteers.
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READ MORE: Councillor's Column: Development plan has been five years in the making
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The council agreed a balanced budget for 2019/20 in late February, and while there were some differences in the financial approaches by particular groups, in the context of a £240 million budget, there was vastly more consensus than divergence. Again there have had to be some tough decisions, but it should be recognised that Argyll and Bute Council in the past five years has had the third largest reduction in core service grant funding of all 32 Scottish councils.
Whilst the SNP continues to peddle its ‘independence is the answer; what is the question?” agenda, councils have been remorselessly starved of funding and Argyll and Bute is one of the worst examples.
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