THIS week's Councillor Column comes from Aileen Morton, Liberal Democrat councillor for Helensburgh Central and Argyll and Bute's policy lead for sustainable economic growth.

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NOVEMBER is a busy month for the town – with the Fireworks now past (so glad the Round Table got a dry night!), and the Christmas Light Switch on and Winter Festival still to take place.

As one of the organisers of the Winter Festival this is the point where a real sense of urgency starts to kick in. While it’s great to see the Festival continue to grow in scale, it does increase the pressure to keep on top of everything.

This year’s Festival will see the town centre turned into an outdoor extravanganza, with a skating rink, stage, mini ponies and reindeer all adding to the atmosphere.

A road closure on West Princes Street between Sinclair Street and James Street means there will be lots of space for our normal market stalls as well as vintage vehicles that have been converted into specialist food and drink stalls.

There are so many events and activities on it would be impossible to list them all. From Santa’s Grotto to Guided Walks to Street Theatre to popular Tribute Acts (for free!) – there really is something for everyone.

Our new website - www.helensburghwinterfestival.co.uk - provides details on all of the many, many attractions available over the weekend. And there are also regular updates available on our Facebook page.

Rail Matters: As ever, I am continuing to pursue the condition of the town’s railway bridges with Network Rail. In recent months, though, a number of local residents raised concerns with me regarding the timetable changes and other issues on the Helensburgh line.

Following this I wrote to the rail operator, and subsequently met with two representatives from ScotRail.

It is good to see that the morning express service will be added back in to the timetable from December, and a commitment to ensure virtually all services on our line are now six carriages, but there are still a number of concerns to be addressed.

ScotRail do totally accept that their communication with local communities is at least partly to blame for the current level of unhappiness and I suggested that it would be appropriate for them to attend a Helensburgh Community Council meeting.

They have also agreed to consider the timing of departures from Queen Street to ensure a more useful service for commuters, and have made a national commitment to eliminate “stop skipping” except in absolutely exceptional circumstances.

Fingers crossed improvements do continue to be made.