Not a Penny More: The people of Helensburgh and the personnel at Faslane will not benefit by even an extra penny more from the £5m for Helensburgh announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his budget. Councillor Leader Dick Walsh has re-assigned the money for Dunoon pier with the support of some of our local councillors.

Education: I have proposed the Council end its post code lottery in the number of qualifications pupils can take in our secondary schools. I hope all councillors will uphold that principle of right for all our pupils to have the same opportunities.

New Swimming Pool: After inexplicable delays this project is now moving forward. We need a new pool quickly but a few more weeks to get it right and get consensus seemed sensible. Now some bad decisions have been made and won’t be changed because of egos. The site will not be raised above the flood risk and flood gates have been suggested. It was an opportunity to have a regional standard pool with all the social, health and economic benefit that would bring. There will be no café in what should be an iconic building on a prime site in the town. These and many more are decisions the town will come to regret if they are not changed. We can afford all this and maybe even fix the pier itself if Councillor Walsh gives us our money back.

Raising Attainment: Education Scotland has create average attainment benchmarks for school leavers that takes account of all the factors for each school such as early leavers, deprivation, academic ability etc. Schools across Argyll and Bute are falling short of these expectations. At Hermitage Academy the top 20 per cent of pupils are in line with their benchmark, the middle 60 per cent of pupils are nine per cent below their benchmark and the bottom 20 per cent of pupils are 33 per cent below their benchmark. This information and more on school performance is available on the Parentzone website. I have proposed the Council adopt these transparent measures and set targets to raise the attainment of school leavers and close the attainment gap.

Good Earner: In the last year the Council has issued over £180,000 of Penalty Charge Notices for parking in Helensburgh. Perhaps that is why we can’t get a clearly marked and easily understood set of parking rules for the town.