I was very pleased to hear from the First Minister last week that almost a third of adults in Scotland have now received their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination.

This information was expanded by the leader of West Dunbartonshire Council at last week’s council meeting. He advised us that many health and care staff have already had their second vaccinations, and that the second round of jabs is now complete for all our care home residents. With managed indoor visits restarting soon, this is extremely comforting news for residents and families.

The prioritisation of care homes, the most elderly and vulnerable groups has already made a huge difference, with reported reductions of more than 84 per cent in hospital admissions. This will be welcome news as it is one of the main obstacles to getting out of these tough lockdown restrictions.

It will enable businesses to open up, workers to go back to their work, and pupils learning at home to go back to school. Each day is getting brighter at the end of what has, for many, been a pretty gloomy period.

Speaking of brighter days, spring is arriving on our doorsteps. I’ve been taking the opportunity to get out and walk, or cycle a bit more than I could in the winter, and trying to keep the good habits I was picking up during last summer’s lockdown.

Local charity The Leamy Foundation has been working on an excellent online resource at wdwalkabout.com . The website has information on walks of various lengths through woodlands, grasslands, muirs, wildlife corridors, nature reserves and other sites of scientific interest. It will be a really good addition to your to-do list for this summer.

In our built environment, some progress behind the scenes is being made with the Mitchell Way redevelopment in Alexandria, with Lidl proposing to bring in the bulldozers this summer. Keep an eye out for final consultations on that shortly.

The housing at Creveul Court has been completed in Alexandria, with St Andrew’s School, Aitkenbar and Haldane being finished any week now, and Dumbarton Harbour due to be completed in a few months. All eyes will be on what’s next for council house building, which will include Queens Quay, Clydebank East, and central Alexandria.

In May, councillors will also hear about the first stage of planning for development of around 50 new build council homes in Pappert, Bonhill.

I have campaigned for some time for us to move to the next level of energy efficiency and Pappert will be the pilot development of the hyper efficient Passivhaus type homes which deliver huge savings directly to the residents.