£650,000 will be available for projects in the Helensburgh and Lomond area because of the town centre CHORD project was underspent, it was confirmed this week.
Argyll and Bute Council has stated that any surpluses from the CHORD regeneration budgets will be devolved to the authority’s four area committees.
The statement described this as giving ‘more power to local areas’, perhaps in response to criticism about the centralization of decisions at the Lochgilphead-based authority.
In recent years area committees have seen powers such as planning taken away and handed to central committees meeting in Lochgilphead.
In June Cove and Kilcreggan Community Council heard that £3m was available for rural communities across the council area as the next stage of CHORD, and up to £200,000 could be available to regenerate Kilcreggan village.
The decision about underspends was taken at Thursday’s meeting of Argyll and Bute’s policy and resources committee, which heard that the Campbeltown projects are now completed and came in well within their budget, with a surplus of around £180,000.
Similarly the Helensburgh project finished with £650,000 left over to be spent in the local area, with decisions on how the money is spent being taken by local members.
Council leader Dick Walsh said: “This decision comes directly from public consultation. People have told us they want more say in what happens in their local communities.
“We said in February that we would be working on ways to give more power to local areas we are now delivering on that promise.
“The money will support the original aims of the regeneration programme – improving our towns and creating jobs for the benefit of all.”
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