The main reason that I stand for Council is to serve the people of my constituency. For the Scottish Conservatives we want to be local champions who will put the needs of our community first. The things that interest Conservative Councillors are the bread and butter issues that the people of Stirling care about. Roads, waste collection, social care, regeneration, the local environment, parks, libraries, schools, youth services and so on are the things we are sent to Viewforth to deal with.

These are reflected in our approach to this first Council meeting. We have a number of matters on the agenda. We have a motion that will establish a review of the waste collection system that was cut by the previous SNP administration and to bring the views of the people of Stirling to this most vital issue. We have questions that deal with the flatted accommodation at MacDonald Drive, how our parks should be run, recycling and reuse.

When you look at what the SNP are bringing to the table, they have brought forward a motion about the UK Government’s policy on refugees and  a motion on nuclear disarmament.

Now, important as these matters are, Stirling Council has nothing to do with them.

I for one am glad that Stirling Council does not have nuclear weapons and would be content for that policy to continue. I am also glad that Stirling Councillors do not set immigration policy.

The idea that people have the slightest bit of interest in what Councillors think about these matters is slightly ridiculous. It speaks volumes about the ego of the Councillors who have proposed these motions that they think anyone gives two hots about their opinion.

I said this at the last Council meeting. Councillors aren’t MPs, nor are they MSPs. Councillors need to get over themselves and focus on the real issues that people care about. What they were elected to do and, fankly, what they are paid to do.

The SNP Councillors seem to think that dealing with bins, potholes, social care, education and so forth is entirely beneath them. They just want to make political points and have shown little interest in doing anything positive for the people of Stirling. But then we are used to that as the only reason that people join the SNP is because they want independence. They don’t really care about getting the roads repaired, they don’t really care about improving educational standards, they don’t really care about the local environment. All they really care about is independence.

And Stirling Council, alongside not having any power over nuclear weapons or immigration policy, has no power over the constitution.

Let’s see if the SNP Councillors get involved in anything positive, but going on past form and the five years of dither, delay and decline that we have lived through, I doubt it.