The release says additional grass cutting will be undertaken across West Dunbartonshire after a decision to restore investment and seasonal staffing was approved by councillors.

Well, actually, it wasn’t.

Proposals to cut grass to the same level as undertaken in 2024 had been approved at both the IRED and Housing committees. Now that bit’s true.

This is rare good news, but why make the announcement so complicated and impenetrable?

How many members of the local public would be able to tell you what IRED stands for?

Come on. Tell the truth for a change.

The announcement waffles on: “Due to the proposed spending commitment, those decisions had to be ratified at a meeting of West Dunbartonshire Council and on Wednesday, following discussion, it was agreed that work should progress.”

Maybe that should just say that the work will begin soon.

But then again it might not – it will only start if and when the council can recruit the workers to do it.

Since they haven’t said who is saying the following, we will have to take it that it’s a councillor.

“It means a one-off investment of £280,000 will fund additional cuts for the rest of 2025/26, subject to available Greenspace operatives. It will also ensure seasonal workers can be retained to cut back areas with long grass over autumn and winter.

“A further £400,000 will be invested from 2026/27 to fund and maintain the same level of grass cutting each year, as well as the reinstatement of twice yearly weed killing and retention of bedding plants in public parks.”

Now we are told that West Dunbartonshire Council leader, Councillor Martin Rooney,  has emerged from under the bed and he is quoted amidst the spin as stating: “This Council is in the midst of an ongoing and significant financial challenge and earlier this year, as we tried to protect the vital services our residents rely on, we had to make truly difficult decisions – one of which was around grass cutting.”

This decision impacted on the public far more than the councillors, who clung on to the payments for their part-time work, some of them despite the fact they have two jobs, which they have been quick enough to criticise others for.

Martin is quoted as adding: “Since then it has become clear from the feedback we have received from our communities that well-maintained open spaces are a priority for them.”

It took a long time for that particular penny to drop, did it not?

“The Council values that feedback, and have listened to it which is why the decision to make immediate improvements, as well as longer term changes, was agreed.”

Well, it wasn’t really because the council are now telling us they might not be able to make the changes they wouldn’t be making if the public hadn’t embarrassed them into it.

Martin is said to have added: “The work will take on priority and targeted areas with a view to making a visible difference.”

It’s hardly likely not to have been “targeted to make a visible difference”.

And yet again Martin warns the public that it might not happen at all if they can’t get the workers, which the spinners refer to as the “operative capacity”.

Undeterred, Martin adds: “As I said previously, while this is welcome news, the budget is limited, as is operative capacity, and it may take time to see a difference locally.”

That will be “a visible difference” then Martin?

Cllr Rooney adds that they’ll be doing a bit at a time, so don’t get your hopes up that there wil be the welcome sound of lawnmowers outside your door soon.

“The stepped approach means next year our grass cutting service capacity will be restored to the levels we undertook in 2024 in a planned and achievable way, which focuses on priority open areas and high amenity green spaces,” he waffles on without so much as an apology to the public for the disaster this has been.

And then we’ll still have to wait for the final go ahead as the council battle their way through all this red tape.

Martin says: “The work will be funded from the Council’s general fund temporarily, with a report to be brought back to Council detailing which budgets it should be funded from going forward.”

That will mean even more waffle from Martin and his cronies as they dive for cover from yet more public criticism.

We were initially led to believe the money diverted from the grass cutting would be coming from the housing budget which is desperately required to repair things such as black damp, sewage leaks and insect investment in houses allocated to families with babies and young children.

Look out for more public criticism of the Council in their naive complaints column – a local government version of ‘pass the parcel’ which will go on indefinitely as our elected representatives descend ever deeper into grass so long that they cannot find their way out of.

Certainly not without ticks on their legs and scat on their shoes.

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The Labour administration on West Dunbartonshire Council must be really proud of themselves. This week they were joined by the Reform UK party in Nottingham in the anti-democratic business of banning the press. What a silly, naive and politically stupid thing to do. The Society of Editors says all they are doing is depriving the public of information about what’s going on in their area. And they could be right when you think about what they are actually doing here in West Dunbartonshire. One mistake after another. It doesn’t reflect well on them.  Here the council are quibbling over the word “ban” so we’ll call  it a restrictions. They refuse to let their press officers speak to us. A ban by any other name is a ban jujst the same.  The last time a Labour councillor spoke to me was after a meeting when he threatened me. Not allowing questions about important matters on behalf of people who pay their council tax is a disgrace. Talk about totalitarianism. Talk about Labour in West Dunbartonshire.

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Still on the subject above. The lesser spotted Provost Karen Murray Conaghan tells me that getting “banned” was my own fault because I made a a few mistakes with people’s names, a pet hate of hers, she says. Like the stern school marm she was trained to be, she agrees with my punishment but refuses to call it a ban.  Karen’s a member of the SNP though. Perhaps she has never made a mistake? As Samuel Smiles said: “A (wo)man who never made a mistake never made a discovery.” She must be pleased with her ascendancy to the gold chain though, especially when it led to the breach in the Labour group. And a few Labour councillors being suspended from it. Talking about people being disciplined, as the Dumbarton councillors were, I noticed this week that the enforcers in Labour were checking up on party members who had the temerity to put a “like” after any post on Facebook which didn’t accord with their own policies. Das ist verboten.