I see from tonight's Greenock Telegraph that SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod has congratulated the Scottish Government on providing funding towards the costs of new council houses in other council areas!
I would have thought that Jim's time might have been better spent writing to the Housing Minister asking him to honour the Government's commitment to provide funding to River Clyde Homes to build enough new houses in Woodhall to ensure that all our constituents there get a new house.
He might also want to ask the Minister when he is going to accept my invitation to come along to Clune Park.
Tuesday, 15 February 2011
Monday, 14 February 2011
Stepping down...
I feel deeply privileged to have held the position of Council Leader for nearly 4 years and would like to thank my colleagues in the Labour Group and the Administration for giving me this opportunity. I believe that we can be justifiably proud of what we have achieved in that time and the decisions we have taken for the benefit of future generations.
The role of Council Leader is demanding at the best of times. Trying to carry out the role while in full-time employment and with a young family to bring up has not been easy. I have had to make personal sacrifices and I feel that the time is now right for me take a step back, following approval of our two-year budget, to spend more time with my family.
I would like to thank the Council’s Chief Executive, John Mundell, and officers past and present for the support that they have given me during my time as Council Leader. They too can be proud of what we have achieved together.
The role of Council Leader is demanding at the best of times. Trying to carry out the role while in full-time employment and with a young family to bring up has not been easy. I have had to make personal sacrifices and I feel that the time is now right for me take a step back, following approval of our two-year budget, to spend more time with my family.
I would like to thank the Council’s Chief Executive, John Mundell, and officers past and present for the support that they have given me during my time as Council Leader. They too can be proud of what we have achieved together.
Sunday, 13 February 2011
The week ahead...
A quiet week ahead:
Monday
At work all day with no evening commitments
Tuesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
3.30 Inverclyde Council Pre-agenda
4.30 Meeting with a local businessman
Wednesday
Off work in the morning to look after the kids (it is an in service day)
3.00 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
Thursday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
3.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
4.00 Liaison meeting with SPT
Friday
At work all day with no evening commitments
Monday
At work all day with no evening commitments
Tuesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
3.30 Inverclyde Council Pre-agenda
4.30 Meeting with a local businessman
Wednesday
Off work in the morning to look after the kids (it is an in service day)
3.00 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
Thursday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
3.00 Leave work to travel to Greenock
4.00 Liaison meeting with SPT
Friday
At work all day with no evening commitments
Friday, 11 February 2011
Fighting for the Port...
At yesterday's special Council meeting I was delighted to propose funding of £1.5m for Port Glasgow - £1m for the regeneration of the town centre and £0.5m for the Clune Park Area.
I was disappointed then when I saw that self-proclaimed champion of Port Glasgow, SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod, vote against my proposals.
Instead Councillor MacLeod voted in favour of a motion by Inverkip Councillor Innes Nelson to allocate funding of £600,000 for a new community facility in that village.
So much for standing up for the Port, Jim?
While, unlike you, I might not still live in my home town I always have, and always will, fight its corner.
As an aside, I was a bit mystified by the SNP proposal to allocate £220,000 for the library book replacement fund over the next 2 years while proposing to cut the book fund by £47,000 a year, each and every year, from now on. Talk about giving with the one hand and taking away with the other.
I was disappointed then when I saw that self-proclaimed champion of Port Glasgow, SNP Councillor Jim MacLeod, vote against my proposals.
Instead Councillor MacLeod voted in favour of a motion by Inverkip Councillor Innes Nelson to allocate funding of £600,000 for a new community facility in that village.
So much for standing up for the Port, Jim?
While, unlike you, I might not still live in my home town I always have, and always will, fight its corner.
As an aside, I was a bit mystified by the SNP proposal to allocate £220,000 for the library book replacement fund over the next 2 years while proposing to cut the book fund by £47,000 a year, each and every year, from now on. Talk about giving with the one hand and taking away with the other.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
The week ahead...
A big week ahead, with the Council's budget meeting on Thursday:
Monday
At work all day, with a surgery at Boglestone Community Centre at 6.00 and a meeting of the Kilmacolm New Community Centre Company Board at 7.00
Tuesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
1.30 Leave work to travel to Greenock
3.00 Chairing a meeting of the Council's Policy & Resources Committee
7.00 Meeting of the Three Wards Community Council
Wednesday
Off work today as I am putting the car in for a service
2.30 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
6.45 Meeting of Newark Primary School Parent Council
Thursday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Briefing for Councillors on proposed Greenock Twon Centre Parking Strategy
4.00 Special meeting of the Council to agree the Budget for 2011-13
Friday
At work all day with no evening Council commitments
Monday
At work all day, with a surgery at Boglestone Community Centre at 6.00 and a meeting of the Kilmacolm New Community Centre Company Board at 7.00
Tuesday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
1.30 Leave work to travel to Greenock
3.00 Chairing a meeting of the Council's Policy & Resources Committee
7.00 Meeting of the Three Wards Community Council
Wednesday
Off work today as I am putting the car in for a service
2.30 Weekly meeting with the Chief Executive
4.30 Weekly meeting of the Administration Group
5.30 Weekly meeting of the Labour Group
6.45 Meeting of Newark Primary School Parent Council
Thursday
7.30 Start work in Glasgow
2.00 Briefing for Councillors on proposed Greenock Twon Centre Parking Strategy
4.00 Special meeting of the Council to agree the Budget for 2011-13
Friday
At work all day with no evening Council commitments
Thursday, 3 February 2011
Desperate Man (Part 2)...
I see from today's Greenock Telegraph that Stuart McMillan MSP is trying to take credit for the imminent Government U-turn over funding for Riverside Inverclyde, when only last week he was making excuses for the savage cut in RI's budget by laying the blame at the door of the current and previous Westminster Governments.
Our Stuart has clearly been tipped off by his Ministerial colleagues and told to get in first. There is must be an election in the offing?
The truth of course is that the Government has been forced into a change of heart by the fact that they entered into an agreement with local government to ring fence £12.5m for the four URCs and they now have to honour this. This will mean that an additional £5.7m will be allocated across the four URCs. Hopefully RI will receive a fair share of this funding.
Perhaps the bold Stuart can now turn his attention to the funding crisis at James Watt College. Surely a man with his influence can persuade his SNP colleagues to give the college some more money?
Our Stuart has clearly been tipped off by his Ministerial colleagues and told to get in first. There is must be an election in the offing?
The truth of course is that the Government has been forced into a change of heart by the fact that they entered into an agreement with local government to ring fence £12.5m for the four URCs and they now have to honour this. This will mean that an additional £5.7m will be allocated across the four URCs. Hopefully RI will receive a fair share of this funding.
Perhaps the bold Stuart can now turn his attention to the funding crisis at James Watt College. Surely a man with his influence can persuade his SNP colleagues to give the college some more money?
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
A desperate man...
They say that desperate men do desperate things: the SNP's Stuart McMillan is certainly a desperate man, judging by the following motion that he has just lodged in the Scottish Parliament:
Date of Lodging: 1 February 2011
Short Title: Public Money Wasted on Sports Centre U-turn
S3M-07836 Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern the announcement that Inverclyde Council has decided to scrap its plan to build a £10 million sports centre at Rankin Park, Greenock; notes that an estimated £338,000 of public money had already been spent on preparatory work for this project; further notes the local authority’s decision to instead go ahead with a number of smaller proposals; believes that such proposals should include a place for Belleaire Football Club, which has been established for over half a century and has made the grass pitch at Rankin Park its home ground; considers that, in the current economic climate, to have such a vast outlay of public monies on work on a project only for it to be scaled back is unacceptable, and hopes that the local authority will be more prudent in its future decision making.
A few points to consider:
The scaling back of the development at Rankin Park is directly related to savage cuts in the Council's capital funding by the SNP Government, which Mr McMillan supported.
Mr McMillan's SNP colleagues on the Council's Regeneration Committee supported the revised proposals for Rankin Park, full in the knowledge that these costs would be abortive.
The revised proposals will include a grass pitch.
The only way to avoid the costs being abortive would be to proceed with the original scheme, which would cost the Council an extra £2m.
The extent of the abortive costs for this project pale into insignificance when compared to the tens of millions of pounds of public money that was wasted when the SNP Government - backed by Mr McMillan - decided to abandon the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, on the grounds that they could not afford to proceed with the project!
People in glass houses...
Date of Lodging: 1 February 2011
Short Title: Public Money Wasted on Sports Centre U-turn
S3M-07836 Stuart McMillan (West of Scotland) (SNP): That the Parliament notes with concern the announcement that Inverclyde Council has decided to scrap its plan to build a £10 million sports centre at Rankin Park, Greenock; notes that an estimated £338,000 of public money had already been spent on preparatory work for this project; further notes the local authority’s decision to instead go ahead with a number of smaller proposals; believes that such proposals should include a place for Belleaire Football Club, which has been established for over half a century and has made the grass pitch at Rankin Park its home ground; considers that, in the current economic climate, to have such a vast outlay of public monies on work on a project only for it to be scaled back is unacceptable, and hopes that the local authority will be more prudent in its future decision making.
A few points to consider:
The scaling back of the development at Rankin Park is directly related to savage cuts in the Council's capital funding by the SNP Government, which Mr McMillan supported.
Mr McMillan's SNP colleagues on the Council's Regeneration Committee supported the revised proposals for Rankin Park, full in the knowledge that these costs would be abortive.
The revised proposals will include a grass pitch.
The only way to avoid the costs being abortive would be to proceed with the original scheme, which would cost the Council an extra £2m.
The extent of the abortive costs for this project pale into insignificance when compared to the tens of millions of pounds of public money that was wasted when the SNP Government - backed by Mr McMillan - decided to abandon the Glasgow Airport Rail Link, on the grounds that they could not afford to proceed with the project!
People in glass houses...
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