Bonhill and Alexandria have suffered from well intentioned but ultimately disastrous road schemes, leaving communities without heart and isolated by rivers of aggressive traffic.

That's the view of Jack Fordy, chairman of Bonhill and Dalmonach Community Council, who says rush hour traffic in the area regularly reaches saturation point.

He adds: "The design of our roads and junctions makes walking or cycling unattractive and sometimes dangerous, while public transport is not filling the gap."

Mr Fordy's criticism is contained in an end of year review of the community council's activities during 2018.

He said: "It was a difficult half year. A fall in numbers triggered an election reducing our effectiveness for several months.

"It was gratifying to see how the remaining councillors carried on coping with an increased workload.

"After appeals in the Reporter we gained some new community councillors, and we thank them for coming forward, however we still need more volunteers. Numbers make the organisation more effective.

"It may seem like a thankless task at times, but the residents of Bonhill have strong opinions on matters relating to the area, and coming to our meetings will allow your voice to be heard and that strengthens our local democracy in an uncertain future."

Mr Fordy said hard work by volunteers saw their submission to the Local Development Plan2 completed and it was pleasing to see that some of their proposals have appeared in the final document.

He said: "We remain unanimous in our opposition to the Flamingo Land development in Balloch.

"It's another tract of public land gifted to an unaccountable group."

Mr Fordy thanked the small team of community councillors and those who helped and supported them.

He added: "Please, all of you have a happy, healthy and prosperous Christmas and New Year.