In her column this month, Vivien Dance welcomes new businesses to the town and hopes for a busy festive season encouraging residents to shop local.

First of all, I would like to welcome all new businesses and residents who have moved to our thriving and lively town and hope you enjoy your first Christmas with us.

We hope too that you will enjoy living and working in town that still has a spectacular Christmas Lights display which will be switched on tomorrow, November 23, all donated to the town by local volunteers and businesses.

We are hoping for a successful trading period for the next few weeks for all our local businesses and so we need everyone, new and long-standing members of our community, to show your support for our Shop Local initiative as you spend for the holiday season. You can make a big difference to the sustainability of our town centre if you do this.

Recently, I hosted a group of fellow Town Partnership colleagues as they wanted to glean an insight into why Helensburgh has so much to offer and still seems to remain vibrant.

They were particularly interested in our event calendar which they described as one of the busiest in the West of Scotland.

I gave a presentation entitled “The Perfect Community Circle” and used the activities of HEART to illustrate what gives Helensburgh its edge over many other places.

HEART volunteers organise a number of very successful and ambitious events in the town such as the Wine and Beer Festivals, the fireworks display and the Santa Dash all of which attract thousands of people to Helensburgh, but equally as important is that they generate community funds which are then distributed to fellow voluntary groups in the town.

Just two weeks ago HEART donated £9,400 to a number of organisations for reinvestment in the town. The Christmas Lights elves received £1,500 so when you see the town lit for the festive season you have a great example of the “The Perfect Community Circle” – money raised in the town by community volunteers, sponsored by local businesses and used for the good of the town by fellow volunteers.

Congratulations to all the team at HEART for this terrific initiative which I can now confirm is the envy of many other small towns in the West of Scotland.

So as we look forward to more successes and enjoyment in the town next year, I end by asking the chief executive of Argyll and Bute Council, Pippa Milne, to reflect on this question.

If the residents of Helensburgh can work together as a joined up community and bring about economic vibrancy which is desired by other towns, why am I leading my executive team to confrontation with this community and why am I spending taxpayer money fighting a bitter disagreement in the courts over the future of the biggest town in Arygll and Bute?

Your answer on my Christmas Card Pippa would be greatly appreciated especially if you decide that the lady is for turning and we can all work together in 2025 to sort out this stand off.