All school children returned by August 17 to a very different start of term, or start of school, to the one that families had envisaged.

Council staff from many departments prepared and are maintaining facilities to meet all new health and safety requirements.

West Dunbartonshire Council schools are taking part in the UK Government’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme, as are many restaurants and cafes across the county.

This is one of many support initiatives that have been put in place by the UK Government to boost businesses and help individuals cope with the economic consequences of the coronavirus.

Attention is now turning to providing fresh work opportunities; it is the creation of jobs that will drive recovery and help to pay for the financial cost of Covid-19.

Since the easing of lockdown Loch Lomond and Balloch have seen a huge increase in the number of visitors.

This is a compliment to the beautiful place in which we live, but it has been a challenge due to the lack of facilities in general but also facilities that have been unavailable due to Covid-19 control measures.

The Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) are behind the drive to encourage more visitors, but they must also be encouraged to provide better infrastructure.

Litter and human waste has been a real problem not only here but across many parts of Scotland.

Conservative councillors from Stirling, Perth and Kinross and West Dunbartonshire have approached the chairman and chief executive of the park to lobby for better tourism infrastructure.

It is not good that the water quality within the LLTNP is poorer than outside the park – could the cause be waste from motorhomes going into water courses due to a lack of facilities?

Getting out and about locally has been the marque of this summer and Balloch Country Park has been as popular as ever. The proposal for a nature hub within the park has now been shared with council officers and I hope that they will consider it seriously.

We could all benefit from knowing more about the biodiversity that surrounds us and what is in the loch. It is amazing to have a fish, the powan, that has survived from 10,000 years ago and adapted to live in fresh water when the sea subsided as glaciers melted. It occurs naturally only in Loch Lomond and Loch Eck.

Balloch Country Park is an important area of public open space and an invaluable community resource. It is maintained, but it could also be improved.