THIS will be my last column before the Council elections in May. 

Like many of my fellow councillors in both Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire, I’ve graced you with my thoughts in many an article since I became a Councillor. 

Sometimes they may have seemed ‘political’, at other times I’ve tried to steer clear of the obvious political issues and just commented on what I saw of the world around all of us. 

There may well have been a few that focussed on Covid and its consequences – how could that not be the case?

But I have enjoyed writing them all.  Its been a privilege to be a Councillor and to be afforded the opportunity to comment on the world as I see it, albeit in around 350/400 words.

On this final occasion, although I am standing again and hope to be back, I want to say a few final words about both the humdrum stuff that we all take for granted and the big issues that we face going forward.

The reality of most of local government is that it's all about delivering services. 

Parliament makes the rules and generally, we deliver the services in line with those rules. 

So, we employ the teachers that teach our children and the bin staff that empty our bins, but the big issues around school qualifications or the overall finances for bin services generally get decided elsewhere. 

If the service is poor, you the voters are entitled to be unhappy.  If the service is good then we hope you will notice.

But in fact, we are also on the front line in dealing with many of the big issues that face us today. 

In education, it's down to Councils to work to ensure our children get the best start in life. 

In services like bin collecting, it's actually the front line on questions like climate change, as we try to recycle as much as possible rather than just dump more rubbish into landfill.

In short, what we do matters.  It matters for our children, it matters for the vulnerable who rely on our services, and it matters on big issues like climate change.

I hope that you think on all of this and that come May 5 you’ll find the small amount of time to vote in the election. 

It's such a small thing, but it's precious. It really does matter and it's really worth the time it takes.

So it's goodbye from me, but I hope to ‘see’ you all again in the coming months!