Argyll and Bute’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic showed the area’s ‘most defining characteristic’, the council’s provost has said.
Giving a valedictory address to councillors at their final meeting together, David Kinniburgh reflected with satisfaction on the past five years.
At least 13 of the area’s 36 councillors will not return to the chamber, having decided not to seek re-election when voters in the area go to the polls on Thursday, May 5.
The meeting yesterday was also the first formal council meeting to take place with councillors in the chamber for more than two years, although many tuned in remotely.
Cllr Kinniburgh, who became provost in November 2020 after the death of predecessor Len Scoullar, said: “Summing up a five-year term in as many minutes is difficult to do.
“When I sat down to prepare this I realised almost half of the term has been dominated by Covid. To say ‘realise’ may sound strange, but over the past two and a bit years, adapting to challenges has been normal.
“Coping with the demands of the pandemic has become commonplace, but council life has continued, if having been delivered very differently.
“There is a significant element of our response which is entirely characteristic of Argyll and Bute as people and as a council.
“That is the sense of community spirit, of pulling together in a time of crisis, and pulling together to get things done.
“The way the community rallied round at the height of the crisis to support those in most need. The co-operation of public agencies taking action to cope with the demands of the pandemic.
“The swiftness with which officers adapted to working from home and the impact on life that brings. The willingness of our workforce to go about everyday demands while coping with the anxiety that the pandemic brought to everybody.
“The Argyll and Bute spirit is the most defining characteristic, and one of which we should all, rightly, be very proud.”
Leave a Reply