Morrisons Daily in Dumbarton High Street is an excuse for a Post Office. Above: Dumbarton Castle and the River Leven by Gerry Docherty
Notebook by BILL HEANEY
I went down the town this week to post a few cards, as you do in Dumbarton at Christmastime, and was dismayed by my first look at the “new” Morrisons Daily store and at what is supposed to pass for the “new” Post Office.
I say “supposed to be” because what is there is not real and would never have been accepted had we a vigilant council and an MP who cared as much about Dumbarton and the Vale as he does about Clydebank.
What has been done to create the new Post Office is to take a small corner of the store beside the door out to High Street and create a counter with three service points – one for the post office and the two others for alcohol, tobacco and other goods that have nothing to do with postal services.
There was the inevitable queue “out the door” as one woman tried to post a number of parcels, although there were three people behind the counter.
It was clear that two of them didn’t deal with postal matters, but one of them was kind enough to take a handful of cards from a person who couldn’t find the post box.
That must have been the post box that was stolen the morning the so-called post office opened its doors officially for the first time.
Only in Dumbarton …
Needless to say I left the queue and went back to my car and drove out to Silverton Post Office where my experience is that the staff are always courteous and they handle things in much more efficient matter.
You can’t blame the people who work in the new Morrisons post office. They have to accept what their bosses provide for them which, as is increasingly the case with so many things in dirty old Dumbarton, not even third rate.
It is unquestionably second class – just like the only stamps local people can afford to buy since the Post Office recently hiked up the price of their stamps.
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I was glad to read our correspondent Nick Kempe’s piece about the Loch Lomond National Park Authority and the courteous way he was treated there.
In his most recent Parkswatch article, due to be published in The Democrat on Christmas Day, Nick had nothing but praise for the communications staff.
Nick, pictured right, writes: “I had not attended a Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority (LLTNPA) board meeting in person since before the Covid lockdown, but on 11th December once again took the train to Balloch.
“Having just written a post on the fundamentally useless National Park Authority and its useless National Park plan, it was very decent of the LLTNPA’s head of communications to welcome me when I walked into the meeting room at Lomond Parish Church, the only member of the public to attend.
“She has a great sense of humour and while helping me to find somewhere to plug in my laptop said something to the effect that ‘I expect we will hear if we have got something wrong!’.”
Nick added: “The LLTNPA’s communications team is nothing if not professional and, as several Board Members said during the meeting, have done a great job presenting the new National Park Partnership Plan (NPPP) and making the contents readable.
“The problem, which is not their fault, is they can only communicate the content they have been given and that, as this post explains, is not going to change anything for the better.”
It’s high time West Dunbartonshire Council took a leaf out of the Park Authority’s book.
Of course, they get bad publicity from time and it’s not always justified. The comms staff don’t make the policies.
They don’t complain however and take it on the chin and move on and, in The Democrat’s case, if we make mistakes then we correct them. And even apologise for them if that is necessary.
That is so unlike the council who have banned us and helped to throw out of a meeting because we asked if they could turn the sound up in order that we could hear what they were doing with public money. We also asked if they could give us a press bench where we could take notes and from which we could identify who was speaking.
They demanded us to join IPSO which is a regulator for the media and has replaced the old Press Council which after the Leveson Report was deemed unfit for purpose.
They refuse to speak to us to answer the questions we ask on your behalf and insist we go down the Freedom of Information route which takes ages and was also recently deemed unfit for purpose – by its own commissioner.
The public who take the time to go along to council meetings don’t like the way they are treated and snubbed and stared at by some not too bright councillors.
Methinks it is West Dunbartonshire Council’s communications team and the councillors who support this anti-democratic decision who are arrogant, hubristic and not fit for purpose.
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Dumbarton Quay should be a promenade, a parade, a walkway, an esplanade with beautiful views of Dumbarton Castle and Levengrove Public Park. Instead it’s a dump and a pot-holed car park full of puddles. As I mentioned above, I was in the town this week looking for Christmas cards with views of Dumbarton. Is it any wonder that there were none to be had?
Top of page picture by Gerry Docherty
As for the town centre if the council are still taking suggestions in light of the fact that they have no good ideas of their own, I think we should have a police office, a post office, a health centre and a council one stop shop there. The council should forget about their plans to spend £7.2 million on a library until the country and the council gets back in the black.
Happy Christmas