Glasgow City Chambers, City Council leader Ricky Bell, and West Dunbartonshire Council headquarters, all involved in speculation about local government reform.
Don’t be surprised if West Dunbartonshire is merged with Glasgow City Council as part of the Scottish Local Government reorganisation being planned by First Minister John Swinney.
Ricky Bell, the new SNP leader in the City Chambers, is a former newspaperman, as was his father, Danny, with considerable vision and drive about him.
This, as you may well know, is something that has been sadly lacking in Dumbarton, Clydebank and Glasgow for the past decade or more.
However, Ricky Bell has entered the ring swinging, marking a noticeable shift in leadership from his predecessor.
According to the relatively new informative and entertaining news, features and entertainment online platform The Bell, which has been making a big name for itself in the city and beyond, where his predecessor Susan Aitken was at times criticised for her pusillanimity, Ricky Bell “might soon garner a reputation for his pugnacity.”
Why so, you might ask?
Ricky Bell says that in her nine years in office, Ms Aitken scarcely criticised the Scottish government, with the exception of a few pointed interventions on homeless accommodation and dispersal policy, which was threatening to sink the council financially.
Within a week of taking the reins, however, the new man in the green eyeshade at The Bell has targeted the Scottish government transport minister, Stephen Flynn.
Bell has been looking at which revenue-raising policies he can introduce at a local level, including charging visitors to access the city’s museums as well as a congestion charge aimed at wealthier suburban commuters.
Who knows, Ricky might well have an eye on Dumbarton’s Glencairn House museum cum library as a revenue-raising addition to the other services that might raise cash in such places as well-heeled, leafy Bearsden and Milngavie, whose residents at the moment make use of Glasgow’s parks, museums and other amenities without contributing to the city’s council tax funding.
Ricky may have a problem since Glencairn House and the Town Centre are over time, over budget and over here, however.
Last week, Stephen Flynn MSP, who was the SNP spokesperson in the House of Commons, and who fancies himself as a future first minister at Holyrood, halted plans for local councils to develop policies for road user charging, despite promises to the contrary in the run-up to Holyrood elections.
The news angered the Scottish Greens, but Ricky Bell’s ire was more noteworthy.
Bell accused Flynn of not only breaching the “Verity House Agreement” (intended to aid a collaborative policy approach) and failing to consult local authorities, but also labelled it a “disgrace” in a letter to the Minister.
“Congestion charging would have been a great opportunity,” Bell said, adding that he’d now have to find ways to raise money elsewhere.
“The next battleground for (Ricky) Bell then, if he has the mettle, is overhauling council boundaries,” according to The Bell.
It adds: “The new council leader might be pugnacious, but is he nimble enough to outmanoeuvre the lawmakers in Glasgow’s wealthy suburbs?”
Such as Helensburgh, perhaps, where the locals hate Argyll and Bute for the disaster around their storm-damaged Leisure centre on the seafront, or Dumbarton, where everyone just hates West Dunbartonshire Council for the cack-handed way they handle everything they touch.
Top of page: The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, where the decisions on local government will be made.
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