NOTEBOOK BY BILL HEANEY
Most of us are acquainted with the fact that politicians do not have crystal balls and that neither Mystic Meg nor Russell Grant was included in the seven Labour members of West Dunbartonshire Council who resigned when their plan to elect Cllr MIchelle McGinty to the Provostship was defeated.
We were left scratching our heads however in relation to the £20 million “levelling up fund” cash that Boris Johnston allocated but never actually paid up to regenerate Dumbarton Town Centre.
And how, it came about that the axe that was hovering over it was said to have been lifted thanks to the Labour Budget Chancellor Rache Reeves announced on Wednesday.
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Councillors had been biting their nails worrying over the fact that the cash promised by Boris Johnston’s Tory government would ever arrive.
Anxious, they were, when the UK Government refused to give assurances that it would.
It appeared that West Dunbartonshire Council had fololishly assumed the money was already in the bank and went ahead with the work of creating a library and museum in Glencairn Houise in the High Street.
They had applied for Levelling Up Funding in 2021 and were awarded £19.9m to deliver projects that would enhance Dumbarton town centre, with more than £10m earmarked for the Artizan Centre.
They were so confident that it would come down the line that Labour councillor David McBride floated the idea that a new Dumbarton Health Centre should be created on the site of the old Rialto cinema and bingo hall.
Council discussions going forward also included the transformation of historic Glencairn House into a museum and library, which some people thought was a waste of money.
However, in a letter written to North-east Tory MSP Liam Kerr, Westminster’s new Scotland Secretary Ian Murray suggested that previous ministers had “in some cases made promises to communities they knew they could not keep” when asked if the Labour government would commit to continuing to fund the projects.
West Dunbartonshire MP Douglas McAllister, right, told one reporter – he refuses to speak to The Democrat – that “significant announcements” could be expected in the government’s autumn statement – but admitted that “tough decisions will have to be made”.
“Due to the absolutely dire state the Tories have left the public finances in, tough decisions will have to be made.”
McAllister, who beat the SNP’s Martin Docherty Hughes for the West Dunbartonshire seat at the General Election, added: ““The UK Labour government has inherited a £22 billion in year black hole in the accounts from the previous Tory Government who had spent the Treasury reserves three times over by July this year.
“The Tories’ economic incompetence is matched only by the SNP Scottish Government who have created their own £500 million budget black hole. The SNP has no funding to offer to Dumbarton.
“Just 18 months on from crashing the economy with unfunded spending plans the Tories were ready to do it all over again, assisted by the SNP at Westminster who are now voting with the Tories.
“That’s why the Labour Government is taking the tough but necessary decisions to get the books in order after the mess the Tories have made of things.
“Unlike the SNP we won’t make promises we can’t keep.”
The possibility that the town centre cash would not be forthcoming appeared still to be there.
The UK Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government declined to comment, but it is understood that a number of councils are still seeking clarification on funding that was promised.
Is WDC one of them?
In an attempt to clear matters up, Jackie Baillie, the Dumbarton MSP and deputy leader of the Labour Party in Scotland, told The Democrat: “I am delighted that the first Labour budget for 14 years delivered for Scotland.
“Not only did Rachel Reeves deliver the largest block grant to the Scottish Parliament in the history of devolution, but she has committed an additional £1.4 billion for projects to help boost Scotland over the next 10 years.
“I welcome the £25 million pledged as part a £50 million Rural Growth Deal package for Argyll & Bute, which I helped to deliver, working alongside my colleague Ian Murray [the new Secretary of State for Scotland].
“Clydebank will also receive investment of £20 million over the next 10 years as part of long-term funding for towns.”
She added that reviously the Dumbarton Town Centre regeneration, which included refurbishing the College Street underpass and Station Road; the creation of the controversial Atlas concrete balls and the multi-coloured painting of the roadway, had benefited from Levelling Up funding.
And that the Mitchell Way demolition and the Smollett Fountain work in Alexandria was being paid for from Place Based Investment Funding, which meant that Clydebank was the only town in West Dunbartonshire which had not yet secured improvement funding.”
Dame Jackie added: “Dumbarton has benefited from West Dunbartonshire Council securing £19.9 million in Levelling Up funding in 2021, which has funded projects including the College Street underpass, the purchase of the Artizan Centre and subsequent demolition and the refurbishment and transformation of the historic Glencairn House.
“In addition, West Dunbartonshire Council has invested in the Alexandria Masterplan, which has included the £254,000 refurbishment of the Smollett Fountain and public realm works, alongside the demolition of void properties in Mitchell Way.
“A £44 million joint investment between Glasgow City Deal and West Dunbartonshire Council will fund the Strategic Development Site at Bowling, which will deliver improved transport connections utilising the former Exxon/Esso Bowling Terminal.”
Now, the questions that remain to be answered in order to clarify matters once for all are: Was the government money in the WDC bank when the council put up £2.2 million of its own money and started work on the regeneration of Glencairn House and the demolition of College Way?
When did the new UK Labour government confirm that the Boris Johnston promised Levelling Up Fund money had arrived, or did the Council, using a crystal ball, simply embark on that work on a presumption that it would get here eventually?
Could the Council have been left to pick up the tab for the town centre themselves, or was the statement that the cash decision for the levelling up fund was still to be made simply scaremongering?