I READ with great interest in the Telegraph about the ambitions to bring life back to the former Glebe Sugar House, to turn it into a centre of artistic endeavour, a creative heritage hub.

Now we’ve heard all this before with people saying we should be doing this and doing that, sounding off their great ideas but not taking things an inch further, waiting for others to run with it, perhaps not knowing where to turn or who to turn to.

When you get three guys though like Bruce Newlands, Alec Galloway and Finlay Campbell coming together on a project like this then you just know that it’s got mileage.

If it can be done, then these are the chaps that will find a way.

Messrs Newlands, Galloway and Campbell are three impressive individuals all of whom I’ve had numerous dealings with, in various guises, since becoming provost. Three ‘can doers’ with pretty decent track records. Visionaries who will know which doors to knock and who I’m sure will gather great support and assistance from every quarter. Good people will come out of the woodwork. If anyone can make this happen it’s them.

This is the very type of initiative that will truly regenerate Inverclyde. A people-led regeneration. A regeneration led by the creative arts combined with a greater retail offering, an historic offering, a cultural offering, and you add these all together and you have an array of vibrant experiences to be enjoyed by locals and tourists alike. A people-led tidal wave of regeneration that nether local or central government can possibly ignore.

We will probably have around one hundred and twenty cruise ship visits into the Ocean Terminal this year. That’s a lot of people on our doorstep. A fair number of these visitors will disappear on pre-arranged excursions, others will be pointed to the bus stop or the train station to spend their day in Glasgow. It doesn’t have to be like that.

Before embarking on a cruise most people will look at their ports of call and see what they want to do, what’s on offer, what is there to see. They will Google away to their heart’s content. Then they’ll make a decision as to how they spend their time.

They basically have two choices. Go on one of those over-priced, tick box jaunts organised and encouraged by the cruise operators. Glasgow, tick. Stirling Castle, tick. Loch Lomond, tick. The Trossachs, tick.

Or they can stay local and interact with the natives, and that is exactly what most tourists want to do. When you go on holiday you want to get a real feel for a place. Talk with the folk that live there. Have a coffee with them. Share some food. Some of these people coming off those ships will never have tasted a slice roll or a can of Irn Bru. It’s time they did!

We really need to develop and grow our complete tourist offering. Then we must let the world know what’s available. There’s a lot of joined up thinking to be done. We already have a long established and enthusiastic tourist group but each and every one of us must play our part and that includes the council.

I sometimes see tourists wandering around Cathcart Square in a state of bewildered enjoyment. They want someone to talk to. Tell them a few stories. Let them know where they are.

There are numerous business opportunities just sitting there looking at us. All those people on our doorstep and we’re letting them get on a bus? It’s time we got a haud o’ them! It’s time we showed them around oor bit!

The Glebe would be a big step in the right direction! Good luck guys!