We might be getting ready to turn back the clocks and welcome in winter, but let's not forget to enjoy the last weeks of autumn.
For me, it's one of the best seasons — the bright, crisp days; crunchy, colourful leaves — a season for change.
When I wrote to all of West Dunbartonshire’s SNP councillors recently to invite them to take up their two vacant spaces on the council’s budget working group, it was change I was hoping for.
I was hoping that, unlike in previous years, they might take me up on my offer and really embrace the chance to work together for the benefit of our area.
Disappointingly, despite me writing to each of the councillors individually, all declined.
Some might think that unsurprising; after all, the financial situation for Scottish councils is pretty bleak — but we’ve got their colleagues in the Scottish Government to thank for that.
According to the National Benchmarking Overview Report, funding of local government has not kept pace with other parts of the Scottish budget for many years.
It states: “While the budget for health has grown by 20% since 2013/14, the budget for local government has fallen by 0.9% in real terms in that period.
“Where there have been uplifts in Scottish Government funding for local government in the last decade, almost all of this has been to fund new services and new policy priorities which have brought with them new demands which councils have had to meet.”
The reality is that councils continue to get a raw deal and are being forced to make savings to fund Scottish Government policies.
Unfortunately, West Dunbartonshire Council is facing an £8.9m revenue funding gap next year, and there doesn’t appear to be any real acknowledgement of the challenges we face by the current SNP government.
With or without SNP input, we have made a start on how best to address this while protecting vital services for our residents as much as possible.
Our first round of budget working group meetings took place in August, and we will continue this work over the next few months in the lead-up to our budget meetings.
In the meantime, I was delighted to hear that West Dunbartonshire Council was awarded £1.5m from the UK Government Pride in Place Impact Fund.
This money comes in addition to the earlier £20m awarded for Clydebank and the £20m received for Dumbarton.
I know it will be put to very good use in the area, with our aim, as always, to make positive changes in our communities.
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