Sliverton and Overtoun Community Council is made up of a group of volunteers who reside in the Sliverton and Overtoun areas of Dumbarton and are committed to helping our local areas remain beautiful, safe and thriving for all our residents.

We support and instigate change by working with others including West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC).

Our community council has continued to remain active during the challenging circumstances that we have all experienced for over a year.

We have adapted by having virtual meetings and we hope that in the near future we can reconvene physical meetings which would allow all our members to attend.

Community councils across West Dunbartonshire are currently working together to raise awareness of what community councils do, how we make a difference in the local area and how residents of West Dunbartonshire can become involved.

One of these initiatives is our engagement with the Scottish Community Development Centre and West Dunbartonshire Council.

This consultation will focus on how we can improve the visibility and effectiveness of community councils.

Another initiative is re-invigorating the Community Council Forum where representatives from across community councils engage and collaborate.

A hot topic at all our community council meetings is that of planning.

Residents will be aware of the ongoing discussions around Dumbarton Football Club wishing to re-locate to a site at Young’s Farm.

Two years ago, we fought to protect this valuable green belt site from development, and if required we will again consider whether we would object to a further application.

Other areas of interest that we are working on include:

· The state of the footpath from the A82 up to the Overtoun Estate. The path, pictured right, is in a poor state of repair, and there is also the issue of rubbish, particularly garden rubbish, being left adjacent to the path. We are working with WDC who are currently considering how best this can be improved.

· The sad and meaningless fire at the playpark at Millburn Crescent will be discussed at our next meeting in July and we will be offering our support to WDC.

· Litter is a continued issue in our area and we are currently working with WDC and litter picking groups to see what can be done both in terms of prevention and litter picking. Watch this space!

· ‘Growing West Dunbartonshire’ is a group that several of our members belong to. There will be a ‘GrowFest’ event in September which will bring together community growers and organisations across the local authority. We will also be part of this, so please watch this space for further information.

· WDC Draft Climate Change Action plan: we are encouraging all community councillors to take part in this consultation as even our small group needs to think about what we can do to make a change.

If you are interested in finding out more about community councils in your area, go to west-dunbarton.gov.uk/council/community-councils where you can find out more about what is happening in your area and how you can make a change.

The next Silverton and Overtoun Community Council meeting is on Thursday, July 15 at 7pm via Zoom.