The changing of the clocks last month marked the beginning of spring.

Springtime is about renewal and growth after the cold and gloom of cold winter nights.

It is a time to look forward to the warmth, excitement and colour of the summer.

West Dunbartonshire Council has confirmed an additional £50 million investment package over the next five years, which increases the overall spend to £326m.

I am really looking forward to seeing how the working group will develop plans for the additional investment in housing.

One of my priorities was to make sure we targeted the scourge of dampness and were able to respond quickly to complaints about this in tenants' homes.

We will plan to double our investment in the buy-back scheme by matching the Scottish Government’s £2m per year. This will allow us to address the lack of larger homes for families and more accessible homes for people with disabilities.

Housing

We have plans to build 720 new council homes across West Dunbartonshire as part of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan, with 173 of these being for specialist provision.

The new homes will be built at Clydebank East, Old Kilpatrick, Pappert in Bonhill, Willox Park in Dumbarton, Bonhill gap sites and Alexandria.

This is a rolling programme of new house builds, which are scheduled to start in autumn this year and be completed by summer 2025, so there is plenty to look forward to.

I am keen to see all of the new houses come to fruition, along with the plans for 26 net zero homes in Pappert. The aim is to build a range of energy-efficient homes to meet a range of housing needs.

The development will help form future housebuilding standards.

We successfully applied for £1.25m from the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund for the development and we will also have funding from the Affordable Housing Supply Fund.

At a recent council meeting, I was pleased to get cross-party support for my motion on the Additional Dwelling Supplement Tax.

The Scottish Government had originally proposed an increase from 4 per to 6 per cent per property. This would have been an additional burden on council tenants but councillors and others raised concerns, which resulted in a second consultation with the aim of removing the tax from council homes.

This will mean that we can invest more in new housing in future.

Roadworks in Dumbarton

Meanwhile, residents in Dumbarton West and those passing through Cardross Road have been subjected to periods of gridlock caused by utility companies carrying out either emergency or planned work.

The disruption has been extremely frustrating and we need to do something about this at the next council meeting.

Utility companies need to be mindful of the impact they can have on local communities.

Thank you for taking the time to read my column and, as always, if you require to get in touch, please do not hesitate to contact me.