By Lucy Ashton
Politicians have a bad habit of blaming the media whenever anything goes belly up on them.
And, in West Dunbartonshire, that’s often the case with our basket case local authority.
But now our elected representatives and council officials are choosing high profile targets to shift the blame on to. Things like Covid and the Ukraine war.
The Council said that Covid-19 restrictions were the reason for the situation, with the materials meant to be sent directly to properties for work during lockdown.
Concerns have been raised after £250,000 of building materials were left unsecured at a Dumbarton council depot for the past 12 months.
Even councillors said they were “alarmed” and “astonished” after it was revealed UPVC windows and doors and timber roof battens worth a fortune were stored out in the open at Elm Road pm the Broadmeadow industrial estate in Dumbarton.
And these valuable goods were not adequately protected from theft or damage.
The Council say Covid-19 restrictions were the reason for the situation, with the materials meant to be sent direct to properties to be installed.
Depute Provost Karen Conaghan, left, SNP, said: “I found it quite alarming that something like this had gone on for so long.
“I’m wondering how many years these had been accumulated over and what sort of value there is on these 166 units?
“Moreso what is going to happen to them? Are they now redundant and scrap or is there anything that can be saved out of them?
“I’m also interested in the action plan to ensure that this doesn’t happen again. It’s quite concerning that it could go on for such a lengthy period without us knowing about it.
“Where was the failure that allowed that to happen?”
In response, a council manager for audit and fraud, said: “The majority of the stock was built up as a result of Covid-19. The team were continuing to purchase replacement windows as a result of their ongoing maintenance programme.
“However, due to Covid, we were prevented from being able to go and fit those. The stock has built up over time, however they didn’t find a secure area to store the windows and timber battens.
“When we carried out the stock check that’s when the auditor saw that there was quite a significant value of materials lying in an area within the site itself which was not secure.
“Immediate action has been taken to secure the stock. A process is now underway to bring the items into stock for allocation. Our expectation is that any waste will be minimised.”
Labour’s Daniel Lennie, pictured right, questioned why the situation was allowed to arise, as he labelled it “astonishing and incredible.”
He said: “As a storeman myself in a past life for many years I find this absolutely astonishing and incredible.
“New stock comes in, it’s logged in, it goes out and it’s logged out. There really shouldn’t be an issue.
“Is our stock checking hardware too complicated to operate?”
The official replied: “These individual items were direct purchases which should go out to the property.
“But given the circumstances around lockdown they had to be stored elsewhere.
“Over time the level of direct purchases held within the site will reduce because they’ll start going out to the properties.”
Picture: Broadmeadow Industrial Estate in Dumbarton, where the windows were dumped during lockdown.
Easy come easy go.
Go to the local dump and daily you will see council workers in their vans dumping brand new building materials over ordered or mistakenly ordered being thrown in the dump. Or the sight of over ordered copper pipe being broken up and put into a scrap bag.
Yes, easy come, easy go as the new window saga reveals. And the Council leader bemoans the council budget being inadequate.