The week ahead...

Monday
At work until mid afternoon then down to Greenock for a briefing on the draft Local Development Plan. In the evening I will be attending a meeting of Kilmacolm Primary School Parent Partnership.
Tuesday
At work until late afternoon then heading to Greenock for a meeting at River Clyde Homes. Hoping to attend a meeting of Kilmacolm Community Council in the evening.
Wednesday
At work until mid-day. In the afternoon I have a Members' briefing followed by the weekly meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
At work until lunchtime before heading to Greenock for a Members' briefing, the Environment & Regeneration Committee and a meeting with the Leaders of Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire Councils and their Chief Executives.
Friday
A full day at work. In the evening I am heading out on patrol with the Community Policing Team to find out more about their work.

The week ahead...

Monday
A full day at work. In the evening I will be chairing a meeting of the Port Glasgow Community Campus Working Group.
Tuesday
At work until mid afternoon, then down to Greenock for a meeting with officers followed by a surgery in Kilmacolm.
Wednesday
At work in the morning. In the afternoon I have meetings with Riverside Inverclyde, the Chief Executive and the Labour Group. In the evening I have a meeting with Labour Party colleagues.
Thursday
At work until lunchtime then down to Greenock for a meeting with David Mundell MP on Welfare Reform and the 'Bedroom Tax'. This is followed by a meeting of the Community Health & Care Partnership, then back to Glasgow for an evening meeting at work.
Friday
Taken the day off work to attend the COSLA Leaders' Meeting in Edinburgh.

Double boost for Port Glasgow Town Centre...

The Council's Environment & Regeneration Committee will be asked to approve a double boost for Port Glasgow Town Centre when it meets on 2 May.

Officers are recommending that £143,000 is allocated from the Port Glasgow Regeneration Fund to provide a protective canopy for the replica of the historic steamship SV Comet, which was refurbished in 2010/11 as part of a training project.

They are also seeking funding of £95,000 from the Council's Common Good fund to upgrade commercial premises in the Town's John Wood Street and Bay Street. The works will involve the conversion of the former Chinese Restaurant at 4 John Wood Street into two smaller upgraded shop units and shop front improvements to the occupied premises at 6, 8, 17 and 21 John Wood Street and 10 Bay Street.

These investments are part of the Council's ongoing commitment to the regeneration of Port Glasgow Town Centre and our partnership with Port Glasgow Traders Association, who have been lobbying for improvements to the shops in John Wood Street and Bay Street. We are currently working with our urban regeneration company Riverside Inverclyde to develop a long-term plan to ensure that the Town Centre has a viable future.

The week ahead...

Monday
Taken a day's leave from work to head through to Edinburgh for as Labour Group Leaders' meeting with Scottish Labour Leader Johann Lamont. In the evening I have a surgery in Park Farm Community Hall followed by a meeting of the Kelburn Action Group.
Tuesday
At work until lunchtime then down to Greenock for meetings with Riverside Inverclyde and the Council's External Auditor followed by meetings of the Port Glasgow Town Centre Working Group and River Clyde Homes Board.
Wednesday
At work in the morning. In the afternoon I have the Chief Executive's annual appraisal interview and my weekly meetings with the Chief Executive and Labour Group. In the evening I am attending a meeting in Quarrier's Village.
Thursday
A full day at work. In the evening I will be attending the Slaemuir Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Friday
Another full day at work.

SNP oppose Labour motion on the 'bedroom tax'...

At today's full Council meeting the SNP Group voted against Labour's motion on the 'bedroom tax'.

The motion, which was moved by Labour Councillors Terry Loughran and James McColgan, was passed by 12 votes to 6. The SNP opposed the motion as it called on the SNP Government to take action now to mitigate the effects of this unfair and unworkable policy rather than wait until the holy grail of independence is achieved.  

It is well known that SNP Councillors are tightly controlled by party headquarters in Edinburgh so it came as no surprise when they opposed our motion. I have no doubts that new Leader Chris McEleny was acting under orders from central command.

The full text of Labour's motion is:

"This Council believes that the so-called ‘Bedroom Tax’ is both unfair and unworkable and calls on the UK Government to abolish it as soon as possible.

The Council also calls upon the Scottish Government to introduce emergency legislation to protect the tenants of Councils and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) from eviction for ‘Bedroom Tax’ arrears. In addition the Council calls upon the Scottish Government to provide financial assistance to Councils and RSLs to allow them to deliver a no evictions policy in relation to ‘Bedroom Tax’ arrears."

The SNP Group submitted a rather feeble motion to the same meeting, which sought to instruct the Chief Executive to write to the local housing associations to ask them to adopt a no evictions policy for arrears arising from the 'bedroom tax'. Like their colleagues in the Scottish Parliament the local SNP talk a good game but when it comes to taking action they are left wanting.

The Council decided to note the SNP motion by 12 votes to 7.

Congratulations to Chris...

Congratulations to Councillor Chris McEleny on his appointment as Leader of Inverclyde Council's SNP Group in succession to Councillor Keith Brooks.

Chris will be the fifth SNP Leader I will have faced across the Council Chamber since I was first appointed Council Leader in May 2007. The others are Keith Brooks (twice), Innes Nelson and Jim MacLeod. I'm sure that Jim Grieve and Math Campbell-Sturgess will get their turn at some point.

Disappointed by KFC decision...

I have to say that I am really disappointed by the the decision of KFC to pull out of a proposed restaurant on the site of the former Clydeport filling station in Port Glasgow, although not half as disappointed as my son Dylan who is a big KFC fan.

I wish that developers would do their homework before raising expectations among the local community, only to see them dashed a few weeks later.

Due to the prominence and condition of this site I have asked officers to look at how the Council could help promote its redevelopment in early course. Given the efforts we are making to regenerate Port Glasgow Town Centre it would be unacceptable if it was left derelict for years to come.

Meeting with Minister on 'Bedroom Tax' rearranged...

The Council's meeting with David Mundell MP, Under Secretary of State at the Scotland Office, has been rearranged for the afternoon of Thursday 25 April.

The meeting will give the Council the opportunity to brief the Minister on the impact of welfare reform on Inverclyde and in particular the impact of the 'bedroom tax'. We will also be pressing for changes to Government policy to lessen these impacts.

In the meantime my colleagues Terry Loughran and James McColgan have submitted the following motion to the Thursday's meeting of the full Council:

"This Council believes that the so-called ‘Bedroom Tax’ is both unfair and unworkable and calls on the UK Government to abolish it as soon as possible.

The Council also calls upon the Scottish Government to introduce emergency legislation to protect the tenants of Councils and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) from eviction for ‘Bedroom Tax’ arrears. In addition the Council calls upon the Scottish Government to provide financial assistance to Councils and RSLs to allow them to deliver a no evictions policy in relation to ‘Bedroom Tax’ arrears."

The SNP Group has submitted a rather feeble motion to the same meeting, which seeks to instruct the Chief Executive to write to the local housing associations to asking them to adopt a no evictions policy for arrears arising from the 'bedroom tax'. Like their colleagues in the Scottish Parliament the local SNP talk a good game but when it comes to taking action they are left wanting.

The week ahead...

Monday
Early morning meeting at Glasgow City Council with Clyde Vally Council Leaders then at work until mid afternoon. Late afternoon I have a pre-meeting for the Chief Executive's annual performance appraisal.
Tuesday
A full day at work.
Wednesday
At work in the morning. Attending the opening of the new £700,000 Park and Ride facility in Port Glasgow at lunch time. Following a visit to my dentist I have my weekly meetings with the Chief Executive and Labour Group. In the evening I will be attending a meeting of Port Glasgow East Community Council.
Thursday
At work in the morning. In the afternoon I will be a attending a briefing for Councillors by the Chief Executive of River Clyde Homes and then a full Council meeting.
Friday
Another full day at work.

The week ahead...

Monday
A day off.
Tuesday
Morning at work before heading down to Greenock for a meeting with David Mundell MP to discuss the impact of welfare reform on Inverclyde. Following this I have a meeting with officers and a pre-agenda for the next full Council meeting. In the evening I will be attending a meeting of the Park Farm Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Wednesday
Morning at work again. In the afternoon I have my weekly meetings with the Chief Executive and Labour Group.
Thursday
At work most of the day. In the late afternoon I have a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce.
Friday
A full day at work.