Parklea Phase 3 Underway

Driving by Parklea over the past few days I noticed that work is now underway on phase 3 of the redevelopment - the upgrading of the drainage at four of the eight grass pitches. This work should be completed by September but the pitches will be out of use until next season. To minimise the disruption to users work on the remaining four grass pitches (phase 4 of the project) will not start until the first four are back in use.

Work is also progressing well on the upgrade of the access road to two-way and the existing car park.

Lib Dem arrogance, yet again!

I see that our esteemed Deputy Prime Minister, Lib Dem Leader, Nick Clegg, continues to reject calls from across the political spectrum to hold the referendum on the proposed new voting system for the Westminster Parliament on a different day from the next Scottish Parliament Election.

I also read that Lib Dem Scottish Secretary, Michael Moore, has suggested that the 2015 Scottish Parliament Election could be brought forward by 6 months to avoid a clash with the proposed date for the next Westminster Parliament Election should the Coalition's proposal for five year fixed term parliaments be approved.

This is the height of arrogance.

Surely it should be for the Westminster Parliament to adjust its timetable to avoid a clash of dates?

A great night for the whole family

Just back from the Circus in Kilmacolm's Birkmyre Park. It was a great show enjoyed by the whole family.

The Circus is in Kilmacolm for the next two days (Tuesday and Wednesday) with shows at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. each day. It is well worth a visit.

The week ahead...

Another relatively quiet week ahead:

Monday
At work all day with no evening Council commitments. I hope to fit in a visit to the Circus in Kilmacolm with my kids.
Tuesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
3.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
4.00 Attending the regular liaison meeting between the Council and the Chairman of Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board, Andrew Roberson
Wednesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
4.00 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
Thursday
At work all day with no evening Council commitments.
Friday
At work all day with no evening Council commitments. I will however be attending the selection meeting to decide the Labour candidate to fight the new Scottish Parliamentary seat of Renfrewshire North and West, which covers Kilmacolm and Quarrier's Village.

On the road to recovery?

I see that the Con Dem Coalition is trying to take credit for the higher than expected economic growth for the UK in the last quarter, despite the fact that they have only been in power for 5 minutes!

The BBC's Business Editor, Robert Peston, described the 1.1% growth rate as "stunningly good" on tonight's Newsnight.

The danger now of course is that the policies of the Coalition - cutting public expenditure quicker and by a higher level than planned by Labour - will send us back into recession.

I doubt very much if the Coalition will be as quick to take the blame for that if it happens!

The Circus is coming to town

Excitement is growing in Kilmacolm - well certainly among my children - about the visit of Gerry Cottle's Circus to Birkmyre Park next week. The promoters tell us that this is the first time a circus has visited Kilmacolm for over 30 years.

I am aware that there are some concerns about parking problems in the vicinity of the park when the circus is on but hopefully these can be managed without too much disruption to local residents.

Performances are scheduled for Monday 27 (7pm), Tuesday 28 (3pm & 7pm) and Wednesday 28 July (3pm & 7pm). See www.gerry-cottles-circus.co.uk for more details.

Work on new housing developments progressing well

I was pleased when I returned from holiday at the weekend to see that the first kits had been erected at the new River Clyde Homes housing development off Oronsay Avenue in my ward. The other sites at Parkhill Avenue and Moray Road, which are also in my ward, are equally progressing well.

Across these three developments RCH are providing 195 new houses at a cost of £26m. This is the biggest investment in social housing in Port Glasgow in generations.

Phase 2 of Parklea Development Underway

I had a trip down to Parklea Playing Fields tonight, where my son's football team was training on the new £690,000 3G pitch.

I was delighted to see that work in well underway on phase 2 of the redevelopment - the widening of the access road and upgrading of the car park at a cost of £350,000.

It is pleasing when you see a project that you have been working on for some time finally coming to fruition. I would hope that the doubters are now starting to believe that we are going to deliver on our promise to make Parklea a centre of excellence for football.

Clegg under fire over voting reform referendum

I see that Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem Leader Nick Clegg has come under fire for proposing to hold a UK wide referendum on voting reform on 5 May 2011, the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly, Northern Ireland Assembly and local elections in England and Northern Ireland. Defending his proposal Mr Clegg argues that as voters will be faced with a simple yes or no vote the referendum on the Alternative Vote System should not overshadow the other elections.

Mr Clegg is also proposing the introduction of five-year fixed term UK Parliaments, with the next UK General Election taking place on 7 May 2015, again on the same day as these other elections.

I simply do not accept the argument that the referendum will not overshadow the other elections. If we are going to have a genuine public debate on a fundamental change to our voting system political activists will want to be fully engaged on both sides. How can they do this if they are fighting elections at the same time?

Of greater concern is the thought of a UK General Election on the same day as the 2015 Scottish Parliament Election. This would be nothing short of an affront to democracy.

I wonder what the local Lib Dems think of these proposals?

The week ahead...

With the Council still in recess, it is a relatively quiet week as far as Council duties go.

Monday
On public holiday from work as it is the Glasgow Fair Weekend. In the evening I am due to chair a meeting of the Clune Park Task Group.
Tuesday
At work all day with no Council duties in the evening.
Wednesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
1.30 Leave work to travel to Greenock
2.30 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
4.00 Meeting with officers
Thursday
At work all day with no Council duties in the evening.
Friday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
3.00 Meeting with officers

Normal Service Resumed

Following a break for my annual family holiday, I am now ready to resume normal service.

In these days of satellite television and the Internet it is possible to keep reasonably up to date with national and local developments while on holiday. Inverclyde Now and The Greenock Telegraph websites are very useful for the latter.

One of the first things I do however when I get home - after opening my mountain of mail - is to read the back issues of the Telegraph, which my mother always keeps for me.

The news over the last few days has been dominated by the tragic deaths of the two young Greenock women killed in the car crash in Ayrshire. I can only imagine how their families are feeling.

It has been interesting following the debate about the positions adopted by Regional List MSPs Stuart McMillan and Ross Finnie on the proposal to introduce mandatory prison sentences for knife carriers. I suspect that this issue will feature prominently during next year's Scottish Parliament Election.

On the regeneration front, I was pleased to see the announcement of 72 new jobs with the opening of a new Wilkinson store in Greenock's Oak Mall. I was also delighted to see the planning application for 100 new houses at Kingston by Persimmon Homes. These are positive signs for the local economy, although we should not get carried away as the national economic recovery is still very fragile and is being put at risk by the policies of our new Con Dem Coalition.

I was also pleased to see my own coalition partner David Wilson up to his not inconsiderable waist in weeds to highlight the disgraceful state of the carriageway verges on the A8 at the Gallagher development at Port Glasgow. Like David I have been pushing for this matter to be resolved for longer than I care to remember. It would appear that the various bodies involved are close to a resolution. Not before time I say.

On a less positive note, I was disgusted to see the vandalism to the picnic and play area at Lilybank School. Such behaviour is totally unacceptable.

I was cheered up a bit however when I read about the achievement of the UNICEF Level 2 Rights Respecting Schools Award by Glenburn School. Well done to the pupils and staff at the school on this prestigious award.

More locally, I see that my Ward 1 colleague, SNP Group Leader Jim MacLeod, is disappointed that the popular Pods - temporary community facilities in converted storage containers - are being moved from Slaemuir to Larkfield. Jim mentioned the fact that the SNP put forward money in their budget proposals for additional pods. What he failed to mention was that his Group was not prepared to discuss their budget proposals in advance with my Administration and as a result we were not able to consider this particular proposal. If they had shown a bit more maturity we may well have agreed to this proposal.

In any event, we did set aside £750,000 for new community facilities and there is no reason why local groups could not submit bids for funding towards the cost of a pod.

Voluntary organisations benefit from Council grants...but only just!

A range of voluntary groups across Inverclyde received funding totalling nearly £93,000 from the Council's Grants Committee Sub-Committee this afternoon, which is on top of over £180,000 already awarded since the new financial year began on 1 April to a number of other groups who benefit from a 3 year funding commitment.

I am told however that the Sub-Committee meeting nearly never took place. With 10 minutes to go before the meeting started it was looking like it would be inquorate. Fortunately SNP Councillor Chris Osborne turned up to join the three Labour Members on the Sub-Committee - Jim Clocherty, Terry Loughran and Iain McKenzie - to make the quorum. There was no sign of Lib Dem Alan Blair and Independent Charlie McCallum, and no nominated substitutes.

Just as well the other members take their duties more seriously and understand the importance of these grants to the many volunteers who give so much to our community.