More than £800,000 has been secured by Argyll and Bute Council to strengthen its cycling networks.

The local authority said the £835,000 funding, from the Sustrans Community Links programme, will help to support the creation and upgrade of cycling networks.

The projects set to benefit from the funding are:

• Scotrail (£140,000) – Links to rail stations on West Highland Line are to be improved, complementing the train service between Glasgow and Oban.

• Dunoon Active Travel (£250,000) – An upgrade to Dunoon esplanade and local walking and cycling infrastructure to compliment CHORD works.

• South Islay Distillery Path (£250,000) – The final phase of traffic-free path will link Port Ellan and Ardbeg.

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• Kilmichael Glassary (£150,000) – The construction of a footpath, linking Bridgend and Kilmicharl, to provide a safe walking route to the local school.

• Appin School Link (£20,000) – An upgrade of the existing off-road path from Kirkton which provides a walking route to a local primary school.

• Kilchrenan School Link (£25,000) – To provide an off-road path link, including a bridge, to link the primary school with the village hall.

The local authority has said it hopes to have the projects completed by spring 2015.

Policy Lead for Strategic Transportation, Councillor Duncan MacIntyre, said: "This is very exciting news for the area. With this funding award we will be able to keep our communities connected and ensure safe traffic-free transport links – a key aspect of our economic development strategy.

"We will be working closely with our partners to deliver these projects within the given timescale. From the projects listed people will see that we have matched them to issues we know matter to our communities – safe transport for our schoolchildren; complementing on-going regeneration work and linking in to the fantastic new Scotrail service of 6 trains a day from Oban to Glasgow."

(JP/MH)