Over the last year the Covid-19 pandemic has been the focus of the government and our council.

This required an emphasis on ensuring that our most vulnerable were protected and support given to our staff to help respond to the needs of the wider community. To keep people safe, new and restricted ways of working were introduced in many areas, like education provision, social work, care homes and most other council services.

The resolute determination shown and the continued roll-out of the vaccines means that there is a clear route for our country getting back to some normality.

The council will now play our part in a serious and comprehensive national recovery. This recovery will open our care homes further so that residents can see more of their loved ones. It will give additional support to help our children catch up with their education and not be held back. It will bring the gradual reopening of all council and health and social care services.

I believe that it is essential that this is not a “one size fits all” approach to recovery. I will ensure we work hard to get a recovery that meets Clydebank’s needs and that all parts of the council are dedicated to ensuring it is sustainable.

I will help drive a local recovery that has a vision beyond the pandemic. It is right that we put every effort into responding to the challenges Covid has presented to us all, but our future must not be defined by it.

I want us to take every opportunity there is to access the resources on offer to take our town through this. This is the time to have the strength of character and not be timid.

The scale of the challenge is huge, and we must not make the mistakes of the past when the eye was taken off the ball.

I am reminded of the time when Kvaerner closed the John Brown’s site. The Labour Party at the time insisted that the land be sold to the private sector, instead of allowing the council to extend borrowing consent and take ownership.

After an initial promising start, they then allowed progress to stagnate and ignored the community.

The SNP reinvigorated regeneration activity by putting the community’s needs at the heart of our approach. Over the last few years we have seen massive progress, including affordable housing and the state-of-the-art health and social care facilities, where not a brick had been laid by Labour.

We will build on this progress and provide a green and sustainable regeneration for Clydebank.

This council won’t take our eye off the ball. We won’t be slow in pursuing the investment funds needed for education, decent green jobs and services, health and social care, and integrated transport.