PLANS to close the social work department in Alexandria's Church Street have been put on hold.

Members of West Dunbartonshire Council agreed that "meaningful consultation" with trade unions, staff and local service users should take place before a final decision is taken.

At a meeting of full council in Clydebank Town Hall last Wednesday chief social work officer, Jackie Irvine, put forward a report, recommending that the office closed.

If it was passed, staff would have to relocate nearly 12 miles away to Aurora House, in Clydebank to continue the service.

In her report she stated: "It is my professional assessment that closing the Church Street office will have no detrimental impact on the quality of children and families service delivery."

The report also recommended that the council "confirmed" the planned closure of the Church Street Office in Alexandria; and the relocation of the social work team to Aurora House, Clydebank- and "note" that the relocation of the Children and families social work team will have "no detrimental impact" on either the quality or accessibility of the service.

But there was stiff opposition to the proposal and Renton woman Helen Short, who has earlier submitted a petition against the closure, addressed members.

She said: "So many people use that social work department.

"It covers many areas such as Alexandria, Renton and Balloch. Parents and children need and use that service and it would have a big impact on them is it closed down.

"My big concern is that children and staff will have to travel the extra miles to go to Clydebank, that's another 20 minutes to go to the other office. That could put someone in a dangerous situation.

"I believe that moving this service to Clydebank will hurt vulnerable families and make life more difficult for the children and their parents who will now have to make their way to Clydebank for essential meetings and contact visits."

Cllr Jim Bollan had earlier announced a motion asking that the council agree to "rescind" the proposal to close the social work office.

At the meeting he also demanded to know "what evidence" there was from social work that a closure would have "no detrimental impact."

Jackie Irvine told the meeting that it was "difficult" to manage the work for staff and the department was not able to "fully utilise" their full staff from the two locations.

Cllr Bollan said that was "an assumption," adding: "At the end of the day we (elected members) have got to make these decisions. She (Jackie Irvine) has produced no evidence to back up what she has said."

Council leader Jonathan McColl said of the proposed decision: "As councillors it's very important that we take advice from the chief social work officer.

"But from my point of view I'm massively concerned about being able to respond (to service users)."

In relation to the proposed closure he added: "At the moment I'm not convinced it's the right thing to do."

Labour group leader Martin Rooney warned, though, that keeping the office open could cost the council an extra £300,000 going forward but did state he was "comfortable" with the idea of keeping it open.

He added: "The massively important thing is that we put child protection at the forefront of our decisions."

In the end the SNP group produced an amendment stating that they would "agree" to instruct the chief executive Joyce White to conduct a meaningful consultation with the trader unions, staff and local service users and report back to the council on views and comments received.

The amendment added: "This council takes the welfare of children and families very seriously and requires the fullest possible information to safeguard the decisions we make in the delivery of services."

Back in 2014, the Reporter told how a report to WDC recommended that authority be granted to the executive director of Infrastructure and Regeneration to declare the Church Street building as surplus and have it demolished once it closed.

Three years on, though, and the future of the building is still uncertain.

The facility in Church Street currently is the base for one of the Under 12’s Children and Families teams and consists of 36 staff; 1 Team Leader, 3 Senior Social Workers, 21 social workers and 11 Clerical Staff.