It is with deep regret that I must announce that I will be standing down as your Labour councillor in Clydebank Central after 10 years.

In administration I helped to make a massive investment in our regeneration at Queens Quay, build a new care home there, and secure the funding for a new health and care centre.

All of these investments are now bringing great improvements to Bankies’ lives. There was also great investment in new schools, including a new Kilpatrick School.

Recently in opposition, I have brought motions to council which have also improved my constituents’ lives - for example, enhanced gritting of pavements and footpaths in the winter months, recently reported to have prevented hundreds of falls and visits to hospital.

At the last council meeting, I had a motion passed condemning the cut to educational attainment funding, and another motion passed providing additional funding for the emergency removal of offensive and sectarian graffiti.

This arose from the recent anti-vax and sectarian graffiti at The Hub vaccination centre, which I arranged to have removed within 24 hours.

I have also helped with hundreds of constituent enquiries over the years. These are often about housing allocations and repairs.

However, I have often dealt with problems suffered by people with disabilities and those on the autistic spectrum. My life experience as someone with autism has been invaluable here.

And sometimes I have gone the extra mile in dealing with problems outside the remit of a councillor. For example, I managed to help a constituent with an immigration problem to bring his wife to Clydebank.

It would, however, be remiss of me not to express my concern about the running of West Dunbartonshire Council going forward. I have been quite clear in these columns over the years that politics is about values more than party labels.

I have also been clear that political will must come from coherent, principled politics to make the changes needed to improve people’s lives. Politics is about choices. These choices cannot and should not be taken by unelected officials or interference by national governments. The current administration has been characterised by a lack of experience and leadership.

I sincerely hope that the next administration does not repeat this mistake.

So I will now sign off by wishing everyone all the best and looking forward to seeing the regeneration of Clydebank in the near future.