by Councillor Lawrence O'Neill

As I sit typing this week’s column whilst in glorious sunshine and listening to the children playing nearby, I am also trying to respond to the many constituents who have been in touch with me by email, letter or telephone over the last few weeks given the state of the ward, the town and the county as a whole.

I fear this will take longer than it is currently taking our greenspace staff to cut the areas of open space that are either getting the “full works” or the SNP/Independent “budget works”.

Everyone is up in arms about the state of the area and “guerrilla activity” by people like Davie Hughes of Duntocher will undoubtedly be on the increase to allow our kids to play safely and in a healthy environment.

That is unless, as stated last week by one of the senior SNP councillors at corporate services, the majority of residents were happy with the arrangement and of course “voted” for it in the ill-fated and oft-mentioned WDC budget consultation.

I was at a funeral on Tuesday of last week at Dalnottar for the mother of a close friend (RIP Mary Good) and visited my late parents whose ashes were scattered behind the Room of Remembrance. I was extremely upset by the condition of the cemetery grounds.

That is not in any shape or form a criticism of our staff who tend these areas – they’ve been hampered by short-sighted decisions made by the administration.

Most of the mourners were from Ayrshire and similar sized areas to our own. All of them voiced their concerns about the state of the cemetery and the A82 verges – the tourist destination and gateway to Dumbarton, Loch Lomond and the Highlands.

This is not how our area and final resting places should look like. This must be addressed immediately by Jonathan McColl, Iain Dickson, Jim Finn & Co.

Returning to the budget, the administration reversed one of those “residents voted for” decisions as regards our trade unions after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told them to get it sorted.

I hope the lack of grass cutting in our communities and award-winning parks gets brought to her attention by many more folk and the administration are told to resolve that issue too. Alternatively, change your minds again rather than wait to be TELT.