It's Time To Repair East Renfrewshire's Crumbling Roads Network

The last time the National Audit Office published statistics on the condition of Scotland's roads they proved what we all already knew, East Renfrewshire has the worst roads and pavements in Scotland! Given we also have the highest car ownership levels in Scotland, I think it is fair to assume things are only going to get worse given the lack of major action to tackle this issue by East Renfrewshire Council.

In February of this year East Renfrewshire's Conservative Councillors proposed a budget amendment that would added an additional 50% to the roads repair and renewal budget for this year. Pretty good given the limited resources of our local authority, but even this would not have been enough. The current roads budget of £667,000 per annum doesn't begin to touch what needs to be done and yet the administrations Councillors voted against our cost neutral proposal to increase this budget to £1,001,000.

That is why I believe it is time someone spoke up for the overwhelming majority of local people who want something done to repair and renew our roads and pavements. What we need is the largest local authority roads budget in Scotland and I have a radical solution to deliver this without increasing Council Tax.

East Renfrewshire Council are soon to announce the creation of a £12million college, to be based in Barrhead. This college, we are told, will provide practical training for the unemployed seeking to retrain for work. On closer examination, the courses the new East Renfrewshire College will provide duplicate many of those provided by nearby Reid Kerr and Cardonald Colleges, both of whom have spare capacity at the present time.

As £3million of the total spend is coming from a central government grant the remaining £9million will come from Council Tax revenues. I believe this £9million would be better spent renewing our crumbling roads and pavements network, a massive 1350% increase to our roads repair budget, and will campaign for Council Tax to be spent on a local priority rather than a pet political project!

Coming Soon: my solution to better, more cost effective road repair and renewal.

Glasgow East - A Battle For Hearts And Minds

Over the past week or so, Scotland's political elite have descended on the East end of Glasgow as never before. Having spent some considerable time there myself, I find myself contemplating all I have seen and heard in a by-election that could shape the country we live in forever.

If Glasgow East abandons the Labour Party and goes SNP it sounds as if it is highly likely Gordon Brown would be forced out of Downing Street. After all there are not too many Labour MP's with majorities of 13,500+ and given this basic arithmetic the Parliamentary Labour Party would surely rebel in fear for their own job prospects should Labour lose in the Prime Minister's own backyard.

Should the SNP win the Glasgow East By-Election I think this would also have a major impact on the mood and feeling in Scotland, with nowhere immune to the mantra of the separatist administration at Holyrood. David Cameron and the Conservative Party in England and Wales have shown that once you have positive momentum and an appetite for change amongst your electorate a lot of what you wish for becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Opinion polls move in your direction, your core vote become motivated to get out and vote and even people who traditionally vote for other Party's look to you as the place to lend your vote if you want to see change.

The truth in Glasgow East is that local people are looking for a candidate and a Party that can give them the one thing they believe they have been denied for generations - HOPE! They want to be able to drag themselves, and their area, up without government interference and they want to have a representative to the UK parliament who will be a positive force for change on the issues that really matter to them.

Unfortunately this is not the message our national media wants to portray. All they seem to want to talk about is independence, Iraq and Wendy Alexander. In contrast, the people of Glasgow East want to talk about their standard of living, jobs, tackling drug misuse in their communities and better policing of local streets to tackle crime and youth disorder.

I credit Annabel Goldie in particular for being one of a very few voices in this by-election campaign who is actually addressing the concerns of local people; and rightly so given her recent record at Holyrood.

After all it was Annabel, and her MSP group, who delivered a new drugs policy for Scotland based on abstinence, who delivered an additional 1,000 police officers and who ensured our small businesses benefited from lower Business Rates now, instead of at a much later date.

Annabel is leading from the front for the Scottish Conservatives at this by-election and is even phoning round Party activists to ensure every last door is canvassed. We have already delivered to every door in Glasgow East, at least once, and with twelve days left to campaign it is clear to me that it is the Scottish Conservatives who are speaking the same language as local people.

Politics is like football. It's a funny old game! On any given day anyone can beat a favourite and in Glasgow East it appears we still have no clear favourite. I never bet on politics, but if you asked me today for a prediction I would tip Labour to hold, despite an 8% swing to the SNP, and as I have yet to meet anyone who admits to voting Liberal I would make my bet a double predicting the loss of the Liberal deposit.

So on this occasion I am prepared to accept the reds will very probably beat the blues, (even though they don't deserve it). One thing is for sure, Annabel will come out of this by-election campaign with her reputation much enhanced having guided us through a difficult campaign with energy and determination!

"Extra" Crime Stats Show A Worrying Picture

When, week after week after week, the Eastwood and Southside Extra leads on violent crime in our local area it is clear we have a problem our political leaders need to do something about!

This week, (5th June 2008), the Extra's lead headline is "Park: Out Of Bounds", following the brutal murder of a local woman in Queen's Park, an area the Extra go on to describe as "still a no-go area a week after the discovery of (the victims) partially-clothed body". Last week, (29th May 2008), the lead headline was "Blade Terror", after an armed robbery at Harvie Avenue Post Office, and a couple of weeks earlier they led with "A Party To Trouble", with the story detailing four assaults on youngsters in Overlee Park, Clarkston.

I know that crime is a local priority because East Renfrewshire Council's own Citizens Panel, (made up of 1,000 local people), say that being free from crime in our communities should be East Renfrewshire's No.1 priority.

So why, you may ask, do so many people believe crime blights our local society when local crime statistics generally indicate a drop in crime? The simple truth is that low level crime, things like graffiti and loutish behaviour by local youths, now go unreported because we all believe our Police are overstretched and will be unable to do anything about it. Oh, and even if someone is actually caught in the act they will have been taught their rights under ECHR at school and will probably use this to get a simple caution and avoid prosecution.

So when it comes to a broken garage window or a scratched car door very few people now report any offence preferring instead to look for an easy life and avoid a whole load of paperwork and just repair any damage so they don't lose their no claims discount.

You can read about Labour's failure to tackle violent in our newspapers and you can see their failure to address low level crime on junction boxes, bus stops and shop fronts every day. Our own MP, Jim Murphy, is happy to be seen in the Extra at any event going, and those he creates to generate a photo opportunity, but where is he when we need a local champion against crime across East Renfrewshire?

Crime costs us all dear, whether this be in terms of increased insurance premiums or the increasing cost to our NHS of treating those injured by violent crime. So, like the good people of East Renfrewshire, crime is my No.1 Priority at every level. The difference is that crime is something I will actually do something about!

A Beautiful Day for an Action Day

Not a cloud in the sky and a full squad of Conservative leafleters hit the streets of Newton Mearns, in 70 degree plus heat, to spread the word. 'No complacency here' is today's mantra from my campaign team, so our leaflets are fronted by Councillor Barbara Grant and Councillor Jim Swift telling everyone what the Conservative Council Group proposed to do in its cost neutral budget amendment earlier this year.

Two new 'Campus Cops'; Four additional Police Officers on the beat patrolling trouble spots in the evening - 7 days a week, 52 weeks of the year; a 50% increase to the budget for resurfacing and patching of our crumbling roads and pavements network. Those are the priorities of the people of East Renfrewshire and those are the priorities of local Conservatives too.

For my part I am disgusted by the decision of the Community Health Care Partnership not to provide a Health Centre to Newton Mearns and the back page of our leaflet outlines my reasons in some detail. Newton Mearns is the largest commuter suburb in Scotland and the largest conurbation in East Renfrewshire and yet it is the most remote place in Scotland when it comes to accessing the NHS. Combine the lack of local NHS facility with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde's decision to move hospital services from the Victoria Infirmary to the Southern General and the people of Newton Mearns truly are the people who pay most and get least when it comes to the tax they pay providing them with an accessible NHS. Oh and when you get to a hospital now you also have to pay their 'car park tax'.

Finally, we are giving formal notice of my intention to launch a campaign to take graffiti "OFF THE WALL". Yet more survey returns this morning from the Clarkston area place 'Youth Disorder/Graffiti' as the number one priority of local people so it is vital we are proactive in improving our local area.

It's a beautiful day to have an Action Day and a great day to be a champion for East Renfrewshire! I really cannot thank all those who have turned out today enough for their loyal support and I look forward to repaying the trust they are showing in me as we campaign towards the next General Election.