The summer holiday period is now upon us, and hopefully we will see some improvement in the weather so that local residents can enjoy the much anticipated but short lived Scottish summer.

The council has had a few storms of its own recently.

Despite their promises to listen to the people, the SNP council set their budget this year without consulting the public, so that they could avoid awkward questions about their new commercialisation policy which significantly increased charges, not just for vulnerable adults, but across all groups.

As predicted, the massive inflation busting increase in charges by the SNP council has been a shock to the system for many of our most vulnerable residents. Community alarm charges doubled and there were huge increases in day care charges etc.

The SNP also cut posts, and due to Scottish government budget cuts, they again had to use reserves that had been built up over many years to help close their budget gap.

Read more: Councillor Martin Rooney: Mild weather has been good for building

It’s not all bad news, the council received national praise for the new council offices built under the previous Labour administration.

The Dumbarton Harbour project which Labour initiated is racing away with the housing development, and over recent weeks we’ve seen serious works on the retail element which includes a new Lidl store in the town centre which pulls the centre of gravity for retail shopping closer to the town centre.

We are also seeing lots of the housing projects progressing, such as new homes in Haldane, Bonhill, and Dumbarton - with more yet to come.

We still don’t have enough one bedroom homes to meet local needs, and the demand for larger homes for rent continues to be an area of concern, but overall the quality of our housing stock has improved because of the investment plans we made some years ago.

In Balloch, the planned £38m investment in tourism has attracted criticism and praise in equal measure. There are lots of people who object to the development plan that would better link Balloch village and Lomond Shores as per the Balloch Charrette Action Plan.

There are potential significant economic benefits for the local area and businesses, and the construction phase alone is expected to support 354 jobs.

In the longer term, there would be 80 full time and 50 part-time tourism jobs as a result. It is also expected that there would be another 70 seasonal jobs.

The Station Square element is expected to include restaurants, cafes and a brewery. The development also includes a 60 bed hotel and a variety of accommodation options for visitors to the village and national park area.

This is the biggest planned investment into Balloch in decades, and if the plans were rejected, it is highly unlikely that there would be any future commercial interest in developing the West Riverside area.

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So it’s a now or never decision, and the controversy seems set to continue for some time yet.