DUMBARTON and Vale of Leven SNP has announced its candidate team for the 2017 council elections in West Dunbartonshire.

Six candidates, with five new faces among them, are asking the public to support their vision for better services, more transparency and community driven priorities.

Leader of the SNP Council Group, Councillor Jonathan McColl, hopes to be joined in the Lomond Ward by Chris Pollock, who lives in Levenvale with his wife and children. Chris went to Knoxland Primary, Dumbarton Academy and has a degree in History from Stirling University. He owns The Coffee Station Cafe in Dumbarton Central Station.

Chris said: “I hope to help increase tourism and boost the local economy.”

In the Leven Ward Ian Dickson and Caroline McAllister are standing.

Ian has been a restaurant, hotel and bar manager for more than a decade and is looking forward to the challenge of making the council more accountable. “The council’s finances leave a lot to be desired and we need to make sure that every penny is being spent wisely on public services,” he said.

Caroline is an independent advocate for people living with mental health conditions.

She said: “I want to make sure that the council consults and actually listens to our communities.”

Dumbarton too has some fresh faces looking for public support.

Karen Conaghan, a true daughter of the rock, and currently employed by West Dunbartonshire Council, wants to see better working relationships develop between the council, parents and guardians and teaching and non-teaching staff.

Iain McLaren, an IT consultant and professional photographer, was raised in the Highlands, and holds a degree in physics from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. He moved to Dumbarton from Kinross after the Independence Referendum, and believes the council must stop treating the public like ‘customers’; the council should stop trying to be a business and instead focus on delivering good public services.

SNP Leader and Lomond Ward Candidate, Cllr Jonathan McColl added: “The SNP will build on the many successes of the Scottish Government and deliver the services people rely on in an open, transparent and effective manner. We’ve set up a survey as an early starting point at www.dumbartonvalesnp.scot/survey to seek the community’s views of council services and we’ll be focussing on areas that people tell us need improvement.”