COUNCIL’S SHAME AS LEVENGROVE PARK CAFE IS CLOSED AND SHUTTERED

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May be an image of 1 person, floor plan and textNOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY

West Dunbartonshire Council’s wordsmiths should really be called blacksmiths since they drop one clanger after another.

This week they have added to the despair of those of us who worry about too many of our school pupils leaving without being able to read or write.
I noticed recently that school leavers were being graded in such a way that they were only put forward for jobs as supermarket check out assistants if they passed yet another exam to establish if they were numerate.
To all that money council taxpayers pay for education (remember every pupil was to get an i pad) we’ll soon have add the cash to buy each pupil an abacus.
When we revealed recently where our schools stood in the Times and Sunday Times league tables for schools that returned acceptable “higher” results, which was a long way down the lists, the council rebutted this by issuing a media release, which gave the impression they were doing OK, which they aren’t of course.
Instead of teaching the three R’s, the powers that be have pupils being taught how to cope with bereavement and other bizarre subjects.
What brought all this on then? What has caused me to stir this up?
Well you may ask, gentle reader.
It was sight of the council’s latest howler to appear in print.
It turns out that they can’t spell accommodation, which is probably the most mispelt word in the English language.
How it is spelt properly is one of the first things anyone whose job involves putting pen to paper is taught.  There are two C’s and two M’S in accommodation.
Unfortunately this mistake has cropped up in an advertisement which underscores the council’s incompetence in yet another area – providing a pavilion in Levengrove Park and looking after the ways and means to finance it.
As you all now know, they have failed miserably on that score.
And there is a blatant lie in the advert too. It says Dumbarton has a “thriving” town centre.
Maybe it would have been better had the Pavillion (there’s an L of a difference) never been built and all that money spent on it – around £3 million – and the hopes raised of the community, such as the retired folk, the baby walkers, cyclists and Saturday park runners, to believe that at last we had something to be proud of in Dumbarton.
The shutters are up now at the cafe while £7.2 million of “levelling up” money is being shovelled into the folly that is creating a library and museum at Glencairn House in the High Street.
And of course cramming the community library in Balloch into the school campus across the road.
I hope Haldane residents, 1500 of whom signed a petition which fell on deaf Labour ears, get a result in the judicial review they have to pay for themselves.
The pauchling the council did with the finance for the cafe, switching the responsibility for it to the Health and Social Care Committee (another SNP lame duck if ever there was one) instead of the leisure budget, predictably ran into quicksand.
The council cannot say they were never told this would happen.
Of course they were. Anyone with one of those aforementioned abacuses at their disposal could have told them the Pavillion with two L’s would never be viable as the council planned it initially.
But with volunteers, adult trainees and the Saturday park runners it might have just managed to turn an honest coin.
The £100,000 a year suits had made a bouroch of it again.

We told them at the time that Pavilion had only one L in it by the way, but their hubris caused them to ignore our advice and to paint their mistake in large letters on signs and everything else to do with the cafe.

Now we have accommodation with only one M in the advert to lease the mispelt Pavilion.

They want £15,000 a year to do that. Step forward the business person whose head buttons up the back to fork out that money.

I have suggested in the past, a number of times, that mediocrity should be the watchword for West Dunbartonshire Council.  That they should emblazone it on their coat of arms.

While I am at it, I should remind you of the council’s most embarrassing mistake of all recently.
And what the public had to say about that one.
Suzie Hutchison wrote on Facebook: “It’s the lack of education for me, the use of the word tolerance is disgusting, the use of the colour blue shows that absolutely no research has been done in the first place. Education is needed to create change and it’s very clearly lacking in this instance.  The use of the colour blue comes from Autism Speaks, which is effectively a hate group against autistic folk.”
Wolf Saanen added: “Exactly, I have a child with ASN , insulting that such little awareness is shown from the council.”
Chris Docherty wrote: “My beautiful niece is autistic and my sister was understandably upset at seeing this. Whilst I have no doubt it’s not been done on purpose, I still strongly condemn this post. Who in their right mind would word it like that…..do they not proof read … ” 
Well, do they? The Council’s so-called communications department, which costs £400,000 a year to fund while they close libraries and make savage budget cuts, have banned The Democrat from speaking to them.
It’s not only First Minister Humza Yousaf and the Scottish Government that should be facing votes of no confidence next week.
It’s the 32 Scottish councils as well, with West Dunbartonshire number one in the firing line.

Here’s what it says in the advert:

Pavilion Cafe Levengrove Park, Clydeshore Road Dumbarton G82 4AF

Pavilion Cafe Levengrove Park, Clydeshore Road Dumbarton G82 4AF
 back to property search

We are seeking rental offers in excess of £15,000 per annum. The rent will be paid monthly in advance.

The Park was gifted to the Town Council of Dumbarton on 1885 by two eminent local shipbuilders. The park extends to some 32 acres and comprises formal gardens, open grassland, an Arboretum, recreational facilities and play areas.

Location

The town of Dumbarton is situated approximately 15 miles north west of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde. The town has a thriving town centre and is served by three mainline railway stations. The town is on the main A82 road which links to Glasgow, the M8 motorway (via the Erskine Bridge) and the Western Scottish Highlands. The town has a population of around 20,000 and a 15 minute drive time population of approximately 75,000 people. The subject property is located within Levengrove Park which lies to the south of the town centre where the River Leven flows into the Clyde Estuary.

Levengrove Park

The Park was gifted to the Town Council of Dumbarton on 1885 by two eminent local shipbuilders. The park extends to some 32 acres and comprises formal gardens, open grassland, an Arboretum, recreational facilities and play areas.

The Park has been used as a venue for a number of community events including the Scottish Pipe band Championships, gala days and fire- works displays. It also is the hosts the weekly Dumbarton Parkrun event.

Description

The subjects were purpose built as a café in 2019. They comprise a detached single storey property constructed of stone with a pitched and slated roof. There are large glazed display windows in the front elevation looking onto the Park.

Internally the property contains open plan café area, kitchen, toilets and an office area. There is a decked area to the front and side of the building which has an open sided canopy above.

Accomodation

The property has a Gross Internal Area of 133m2 (1,432 sq ft) excluding the decked area.

Rateable Value

The property is currently listed in the Valuation roll with a Rateable Value of £11,400.

Further information can be obtained by contacting the Assessor’s Office, Clydebank on telephone
number 0141-562-1200 or visit their website at: www.saa.gov.uk

Planning

The previous use of the property was as a café and office .We understand that a similar type use
would be acceptable but interested parties are advised to make their own enquiries.

Further information on permitted uses can be obtained by contacting Planning & Building
Standards.

Tel : 0141 562 8794

Development.Management@west-dunbarton.gov.uk

Lease

The property is available on a full repairing and insuring (FRI) lease. The length of lease is
negotiable but with a minimum duration of 5 years.

Rent

We are seeking rental offers in excess of £15,000per annum. The rent will be paid monthly in
advance.

VAT

The property is not vat elected.

Legal Terms

The tenant will be responsible for all legal costs associated with the transaction.

Entry

To be agreed.

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