Councillor Vivien Dance told the Advertiser money was given to develop shop fronts in the town more than two years ago, as a condition of Waitrose being allowed to build their store.

Yet, 18 months after the store was opened and began trading, the shop fronts have still not been developed following a delay by Argyll and Bute Council in the award of grants applicants.

However, a spokesman for Argyll and Bute Council said it was ‘a facilitator’, which allocated the grants. He added the deadline for shopfront improvements to be completed was March 2016.

Councillor Dance told the Advertiser the council was ‘trying to blame the retailers’ for not having their stores developed in time for summer 2015.

She said: “In February 2012, £140,000 was levied on Drum Developments for shop front developments as part of the planning gain sum of £860,000 when permission was granted for the new Waitrose Store. “Since then the store has been built, opened and traded for 18 months, but it was not until October 2014, some two and a half years after the funds were agreed, that elected members were asked to approve the grant of half of the sum allocated, £70,000, to the retailers who had applied for funds. “Another inexplicable delay by Argyll and Bute Council and they are now trying to blame the retailers for not being ready for this season given that the town centre works are finally complete.” She also said that shops were now facing ‘a dilemma’ – to work on their premises over the season, or wait until after summer.

She said: “The dilemma the shops now face is whether to further disrupt another season by working on their premises or leave it until after the summer season, they should not have been placed in this position, the money was in the council bank three years ago. “The feedback I get from visitors and business people with whom I meet regularly to try and encourage investment in the town is that some, but not all, of the shop fronts leave a lot to be desired, they are tired looking and unattractive and do little to encourage spend in the town. “However, many owners realise the importance of the appearance of their premises and do a great job and let’s hope it will not be another three years for the rest of the money to be allocated.” Jackie Baillie, MSP for Helensburgh and Lomond, also criticised the council’s response – saying the council would ‘have themselves to blame’ if the funding had to be returned to the developers She told the Advertiser: “Argyll and Bute Council is sending out mixed messages to local retailers in Helensburgh.

“For many months now the council has been quite happy to take credit for the shopfront scheme but at the first sign of criticism of the scheme’s administration they try to distance themselves from it by saying they are merely the ‘facilitator’.

“The fact is, the funding was provided by the developers of the Waitrose site as part of the Section 75 agreement on the planning application deal.

“It is correct that if the projects are not complete within a certain time frame then the council is obliged to return the funding to the developer. But if this happens then the council will only have themselves to blame – the funding has been available to the council for over two years now so the real question is why have they taken so long to process applications, leaving retailers with little time to complete the work.” An Argyll and Bute Council spokesman confirmed 19 awards had been made, equating to around £70,000 of the pot.

He said: “This is funded through the council’s £140,000 Section 75 agreement with Drum Development, who developed the Waitrose site.

“The remaining £70,000 will be held over for a second phase of shopfront improvements, following completion of these works.” He added that the impact of CHORD had ‘already seen huge improvements’, and said the shopfront enhancement initiative ‘is a key component of the wider project’.

The spokesman added: “The March 2016 deadline only applies to the first phase. The second phase will go ahead after March 2016.”