Helensburgh Community Council owes a huge debt of gratitude to our past Convener, Norman Muir, for the incredible amount of work that he took upon himself.

We all miss Norman’s energy, drive and wisdom in our meetings, and I know I personally miss his relentless optimism.

As a community council, we are looking for a way to remember Norman with an appropriate tribute. He was never one to shout from the rooftops about his endeavours, but we want to ensure that his tremendous contribution to the community that he loved will always be remembered.

Pierhead bid

You will see details elsewhere in the Advertiser of our proposal for a Helensburgh Waterfront Community Space. This is our bid to Argyll and Bute Council to deliver a viable, revenue-generating, area that meets the community’s aspirations for the pierhead.

The community has previously told us their desires for this site, in our surveys in 2018, 2022 and March of this year.

To meet these desires, we are proposing a permanent skatepark covering a space of 480 square metres, a large space for community events, small ‘pop-up’ retail units, a bouldering wall and a water-fountain/play area.

We have also included 36 further car park spaces, and four coach spaces to allow more daytrippers to be accommodated in the town centre.

After an initial phase, there is the potential for cover to be added to the event space, and a building which would provide space for cruise passengers arriving at the (renovated) pier, as well as retail/exhibition/café space for residents.

We have worked with other local community groups, including the Skatepark Project and the Pier Extension Project, and a raft of local and national experts to deliver our bid.

Thank you to our entire volunteer team for all their hard work.

We now look forward to working in partnership with Argyll and Bute Council to demonstrate that this proposal is deliverable, viable and the best option for the community on this site.

Pier proposal

In related news, we are working to coordinate an approach to ensure that Helensburgh Pier has a functional future and will get all interested parties together to make this happen. I hope to have more news in the New Year!

Winter Welcome

Well done to all of the community volunteers and businesses in the town for the festive spirit that has been sprinkled throughout the town centre. The lights and tree look great, the decorated shop windows are wonderful, and the weekend Winter Festivals have brought some much-needed cheer to businesses in the town.