PORT Glasgow people have a voice again thanks to the revival of the town’s west community council.

The town went from having two groups to none and an emergency community association was launched to bridge the gap.

All the hard work behind the scenes by campaigners has now paid off, resulting in a new committee to take the community council forward.

Tommy Rodger, secretary, said: “There were nine successful nominations and on February 15 the Port Glasgow West Community Council was reconstituted after a year and a half.

“We are very pleased and we will continue to represent the whole of Port Glasgow.

“Everyone from the whole of the town will be welcome to come to our meetings.”

Port Glasgow Community Association will also continue as a development organisation to drive towards getting the former Port Glasgow East CC up and running again.

Tommy said: “If we hadn’t had the community association, the interest would have just died away. This has helped to keep the spirit alive. A community council is the second tier of local government and has more authority than an association.”

Tommy is joined by Anne Ross, both pictured, the former manager of the Marie Curie shop in Princes Street, as chairperson.
She is delighted the group is up and running again.

Anne said: “I am very happy, I’ve been fighting for this for a long time.

“The community council was established in the 1970s and I joined 13 years ago, and I’ve learned a lot.

“It’s an exciting time just now with all this regeneration in the town.

“There’s the new retail park, we’ve got our own out-of-town shopping with Marks and Spencer and Boots.

“This means people don’t have to travel to Braehead and Glasgow.”

The first meeting will be held in Port Glasgow Town Hall on Monday at 7.30pm.

Anne hopes there will be a good turnout.

She said: “Councillors appreciate positive feedback from what’s going on in their wards.

“It’s a positive thing and we have new members coming along.”