This week's Councillor Column is written by Graham Hardie, Liberal Democrat councillor for Helensburgh Central and a board member of LiveArgyll.

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During lockdown all the leisure and library facilities and community halls in Helensburgh and Lomond have been closed.

As a company director with LiveArgyll, who operate these facilities, and with my fellow board members, I have been working closely with the LiveArgyll management team to make sure that when we are allowed to re-open facilities, we do it in a safe and responsible manner.

Senior management are working through the recently updated Scottish Government route map which outlines when services may begin again with a view to resuming services on a phased basis.

Protecting our staff and customers remains our priority and this will be at the heart of all of our decisions and plans. We will share further updates on our social media pages and website.

READ MORE: All LiveArgyll facilities in Helensburgh and beyond closed until further notice

We plan to operate a cardio room in the Victoria Halls as well as our gym at the leisure centre to maximise the number of people that can use our gym equipment in a social distancing manner.

Fitness classes will take place in the main hall of the Victoria Halls to maximise space while we are unable to run large scale events.

We are also working through recently published national guidance on the opening of pools and awaiting national guidance on the re-opening of our libraries and wider facilities.

Upon re-opening our facilities and programmes they may operate very differently from before.

READ MORE: Get active online as LiveArgyll launches social media fitness sessions

For customer and staff safety, there will be additional rules and protocols in place and enhanced cleansing to ensure that relevant physical distancing and industry guidance is complied with.

Our council partners are being supported by us in the short term as we facilitate the use of our LiveArgyll facilities for education hubs and wider school requirements.

Many of our staff are also volunteering in their local communities to support the Covid-19 emergency response.

We continue to provide suggested fitness workouts and well-being advice through our social media pages.

READ MORE: Nominate your volunteer hero in LiveArgyll sport awards

Around Scotland online lending in libraries has soared during the lockdown and with LiveArgyll you can access the BorrowBox service. Please refer to the BorrowBox section on the website for full instructions.

Finally, I would like to thank all the staff especially the senior management team at LiveArgyll for all their hard work during this difficult time.

We are very much looking forward to welcoming back our customers when it’s safe to do so.

READ MORE: Click here for all the latest news headlines from across Helensburgh and Lomond