by Councillor Douglas McAllister

Just when you thought the SNP council at West Dunbartonshire could not sink any lower, they have managed to surpass even their own record of complete incompetence this month with their inability to get even the basics of running a council right.

We are now all witnessing at first hand the disastrous effect of the SNP’s decision just a few months ago to slash the grass cutting service, reduce the park maintenance budget and cut the parks and open spaces budget, not to mention the cemetery maintenance budget.

The SNP talk about having pride in our nation. I just wish they would have some civic pride for our town of Clydebank. I have never been so ashamed as a Bankie at the state of our town.

Our open spaces, public parks and play areas are in a disgraceful condition. What must visitors to our town think? I have been inundated this month with constituents across Faifley, Hardgate and Duntocher complaining about the state of our open spaces.

The public are fed up being told it’s part of a bio-diversity plan – this insults our intelligence. It’s just a short-sighted money saving cut dragging our neighbourhoods down. From the moment you drive into our town you are met with overgrown neglected greenspace areas.

My Labour council spent a fortune on improving our children’s play areas and public parks. This weekend you would struggle to use them – most resemble jungles.

It is disheartening for residents to work hard on their own gardens and look out across overgrown council land. It must also be soul destroying for our hardworking greenspace staff who take great pride in their work, only to be told to cut the edges of our parks and open spaces and move on, leaving the rest to grow out of control. This is not a bio-diversity plan, it is just creating eyesores. Of course the SNP decided to cut the budget for floral displays, leaving parks without any colour such as the jewel in the crown, the flowerbeds at Dalmuir Park abandoned this summer like a wasteland.

I say this to the SNP council: “You are dragging down the amenity of our area, you are dragging us all down with your ineptitude. The SNP councillors can’t get the basics right, they can’t manage the upkeep of our town. Move aside and let Labour clear up your mess.”