Milngavie Councillor Jim Gibbons joined in the call for an explanation as to why the town centre meeting scheduled for Tuesday of this week was called off.

It was hoped that traders would have the opportunity to get some answers to their questions over a variety of matters, not the least of them being why the job is taking so long and why it was given the go-ahead for the peak of the tourist season in the village.

Councillor Gibbons, who has heard the concerns of traders and the public, told the Herald: "I have been trying to be positive about the West Highland archway and I am sure that when the work is finished it will be an improvement on what was there. Many projects can run into snags, but this messy project isn't making anyone look good. The inconvenience for shoppers, walkers and traders must come to an end soon.

"There has been inadequate explanation as to why the meeting was postponed."

The Herald was first told the meeting was cancelled because of Wednesday's industrial action, but a statement later revised the position to state that: "The meeting was cancelled because of operational issues and will be rearranged within the next couple of weeks."

The spokesman was unable to reveal the nature of the "operation issues" which led to calling off the town centre meeting and Councillor Gibbons reacted: "Given the current state of the precinct, this should be given a high priority, but the Conservative/Labour administration has been noticeably silent for a change. Milngavie deserves better."

Councillor Gibbons believed the town centre steering meeting would have been the ideal platform to discuss matters such as the possibility of taking the opportunity to improve the walking surface of the ramp from the Precinct to the Way start while it is closed.

He also welcomed a recent Scottish Government £75,000 cash injection for Milngavie town centre under the Cities Growth Fund, aimed at regenerating tourism Infrastructure.

Convener of the council's development and environment committee Councillor Billy Hendry, also welcomed the funding boost saying: "The council has already named Milngavie as one of its top priorities for town centre investment and when the council set its budget earlier this year, £100,000 was earmarked to be targeted specifically at the town centre area — this additional £75,000 will enable us to deliver further on our commitments."