A £500,000 scheme aimed at attracting new residents to Argyll and Bute has finally received its first application from someone wanting to relocate to Helensburgh and Lomond – more than nine months after the initiative was launched.

The Rural Resettlement Fund, run by Argyll and Bute Council, was set up in a bid to tackle the area's declining population.

A report to the authority's policy and resources committee this week states the fund has attracted 36 applications since it went live last October – but states that no 'personal relocation grants' have been approved in Helensburgh and the surrounding area, and no residents relocated, in that time.

That compares to 11 approvals, totalling more than £51,000, for Oban, Lorn and the Isles, which have seen 29 people relocate to the town.

However, Argyll and Bute Council leader and Helensburgh councillor Aileen Morton said this week that since the committee report was published, one successful application for money to support a planned relocation to the Helensburgh and Lomond area had been received and approved.

Cllr Morton said: “There is significant promotion of the fund to actively encourage more people and businesses to relocate in Argyll and Bute – including recently through S1 Jobs and S1 Homes.  

“The aim has always been to use this fund as part of our wider work to attract people to live in Argyll and Bute rather than simply hand out the money as quickly as possible.

“The figures are changing constantly and, since the report was published, one successful application has been confirmed for the Helensburgh and Lomond area.

“To build on that, we’ll step up our activity in the area, working with local employers and companies to make sure that as many people and businesses as possible are aware of the opportunities the fund brings.”

The report to Thursday's committee meeting also states that since the fund was launched on October 31, 2016, only three applications for financial support to relocate businesses have been received across the whole of Argyll and Bute.

In her report, Pippa Milne, the authority's executive director of development and infrastructure, said: “Take up of the Rural Resettlement Fund has got off to a stronger start for the Personal Relocation Grant.

“Take up of the Self-Employment Relocation Grant has been slow and to date we have had no applications for the Business Relocation Grant.

“The Business Gateway team do refer clients who are looking to relocate their business to the area to the grant.

Cllr Morton added: “It would be particularly welcome if we could attract more businesses into the area with the Business Relocation Grant.”

The Rural Resettlement Fund was set up as part of the council's response to the last UK census, which recorded a population decline of 7.5 per cent in the Helensburgh and Lomond area over the ten years from 2001 to 2011 – and of 6.6 per cent in Helensburgh itself.

The population of Argyll and Bute as a whole fell by 3.4 per cent over the same ten-year period.

Migration figures published last year by the National Records of Scotland (NRS) showed that 233 fewer people were living in Argyll and Bute in 2014-15 compared to the previous 12 months.

NRS population predictions in 2012 forecast that the population of the Helensburgh and Lomond area will grow from 24,941 to 25,269 by 2026.