Prestwick North Community Council organised a litter pick for last Saturday, 24th March.
This intiative was prompted by a desire not only to clean up the town, but to let the residents know that the community council did not just meet once a month to talk, but actually did take action where a need was identified, and it was identified that outwith the Main Street litter did accumulate and was not always quickly removed. Indeed, as there is no street sweeper at the weekend, often a Saturday morning sees the Main Street pretty untidy with the left overs from Friday night.
Prestwick North community council and Prestwick South communiy council both work very hard on behalf of Prestwick but because the work takes place, modestly, in the background it is not always recognised.
Anyway, last Saturday morning saw a bunch of us gathered at Sommefields car park ready to do business. We were each given a pair of gloves, a bright yellow jacket and a 'picker up' and sent on our way, after gettng our picture taken.
A Lady from Troon who cycles through Prestwick on her way to work each day had written to me complaining about the litter in the lane between Monkton Court and Prestwick Academy. She had also offered to help clean it up and true to her word she appeared on Saturday morning ready for action. So, after banging my head against the branch of a tree and drawing blood, she and I set off for the lane and filled five plastic bags of litter.
Once we had finished it was with some satisfaction that we surveyed the nice clean lane, congratulated one another and set off home after taking the litter to the recycling centre.
The one disappointment was the passers-by who remarked that the council should be doing the cleaning and not us as individuals. Well they may well be right but I believe that there is room for public spirited individuals to lend a hand when needed.
The big task is to persuade those who drop litter that it doesn't have to be like that and they are allowed to take it home with them.
Bye 'til next week.
Saturday 31 March 2007
Thursday 22 March 2007
Power to the People
This week saw the launch of an innovative policy by the conservative group on South Ayrshire council.
It has become clear that it was about time that local people had the opportunity decide on the projects that took place in their towns and villages instead of having bureaucrats and councillors deciding for them.
So we decided to allocate funding to community councils from the “civic pride” budget to allow them to develop projects for which they can then apply for funding. Provided that the project complies with the ethos of “civic pride” then it is most unlikely that the funding will be refused. This is not a competitive fund as every community council will be allocated funding in advance and their applications would be funded from that allocation.
I am confident that the enthusiastic community councillors of both Prestwick North Community Council and Prestwick South Community Council will consult with the local public and put their innovative hats on and come up with projects which will be a credit to them and boost the pride that we all feel in our town.
This is an initiative that excites me and I am looking forward to seeing the fruits of “civic pride” projects in Prestwick.
It has become clear that it was about time that local people had the opportunity decide on the projects that took place in their towns and villages instead of having bureaucrats and councillors deciding for them.
So we decided to allocate funding to community councils from the “civic pride” budget to allow them to develop projects for which they can then apply for funding. Provided that the project complies with the ethos of “civic pride” then it is most unlikely that the funding will be refused. This is not a competitive fund as every community council will be allocated funding in advance and their applications would be funded from that allocation.
I am confident that the enthusiastic community councillors of both Prestwick North Community Council and Prestwick South Community Council will consult with the local public and put their innovative hats on and come up with projects which will be a credit to them and boost the pride that we all feel in our town.
This is an initiative that excites me and I am looking forward to seeing the fruits of “civic pride” projects in Prestwick.
Thursday 15 March 2007
3.9% - The Case for the Defence
One of the issues which sometimes comes up on the doorstep, and indeed when meeting people on the street, is the latest council tax increase of 3.9% and the fact that is was the largest increase in Scotland.
Not surprisingly the question being posed is why the increase was not smaller and what is the money being used for?
Without exception, each time I have explained the reasons behind the increase and the necessity for them, the people that I have spoken to have accepted my explanation and although still not happy with the increase do understand that it was necessary for it to happen.
So, what were these reasons?
The bottom line is that the council had to face up to liabilities which the previous Labour administration had known about for up to five years yet had put not one penny aside in reserves to meet these liabilities. When the Conservative administration took over there were NO reserves whatsoever laid aside for future liabilities. The lack of prudent financial management was staggering.
South Ayrshire Trading Standards have an excellent ongoing initiative called “Don’t Bury Your Head in the Sand” which encourages people in debt to get help from our money advice centre not only to pay off their bills but to better manage their finances so that it doesn’t happen again. The Labour Party could do a lot worse than to make an appointment and go along and seek help.
There were three main reasons why we needed to set a realistic council tax rate.
1. The New Schools Project – We are building several new schools, one of which is Prestwick Academy. This project was started four years ago and a substantial reserve should have been built up to pay for the equivalent of a “deposit” on the project. Guess what? Not a penny put in reserve to meet this known liability. This year’s 3.9% increase includes 1% which is ring fenced to help pay for this “deposit” otherwise the rise would have been 2.9%.
2. Equal Pay – Several years ago the council agreed that where there was an inequality in pay between the sexes this would be addressed and compensation paid to employees, the vast majority of whom were women in relatively low paid jobs, who had suffered because of this. Shamefully Labour had done nothing about this. In it’s first Budget the Conservatives announced that we would right this wrong and so far we have paid out almost £6m in compensation. We were able to borrow this money and repayments of approx. £1.2m per year are being spread over 5 years. This £1.2m equates to just over 2% on the council tax.
3. Job Evaluation and Single Status – This is very similar to equal pay and addresses the inequities of two people doing very similar jobs but being paid at different rates. Once again, the previous Labour administration had known about this for several years but had put not one penny aside to pay for it. The cost of this will be several million pounds which cannot be borrowed and had to be included in this year’s budget.
I hope that although you do not like the 3.9% increase that you do agree that with the staggering debts that we inherited as a result of Labour’s disgraceful neglect of future known liabilities and lack financial management that we did pretty well to restrict the increase to 3.9%. To have gone any lower would have been irresponsible and would have been putting election success and self interest before integrity and responsibility. I for one could not have done that.
Not surprisingly the question being posed is why the increase was not smaller and what is the money being used for?
Without exception, each time I have explained the reasons behind the increase and the necessity for them, the people that I have spoken to have accepted my explanation and although still not happy with the increase do understand that it was necessary for it to happen.
So, what were these reasons?
The bottom line is that the council had to face up to liabilities which the previous Labour administration had known about for up to five years yet had put not one penny aside in reserves to meet these liabilities. When the Conservative administration took over there were NO reserves whatsoever laid aside for future liabilities. The lack of prudent financial management was staggering.
South Ayrshire Trading Standards have an excellent ongoing initiative called “Don’t Bury Your Head in the Sand” which encourages people in debt to get help from our money advice centre not only to pay off their bills but to better manage their finances so that it doesn’t happen again. The Labour Party could do a lot worse than to make an appointment and go along and seek help.
There were three main reasons why we needed to set a realistic council tax rate.
1. The New Schools Project – We are building several new schools, one of which is Prestwick Academy. This project was started four years ago and a substantial reserve should have been built up to pay for the equivalent of a “deposit” on the project. Guess what? Not a penny put in reserve to meet this known liability. This year’s 3.9% increase includes 1% which is ring fenced to help pay for this “deposit” otherwise the rise would have been 2.9%.
2. Equal Pay – Several years ago the council agreed that where there was an inequality in pay between the sexes this would be addressed and compensation paid to employees, the vast majority of whom were women in relatively low paid jobs, who had suffered because of this. Shamefully Labour had done nothing about this. In it’s first Budget the Conservatives announced that we would right this wrong and so far we have paid out almost £6m in compensation. We were able to borrow this money and repayments of approx. £1.2m per year are being spread over 5 years. This £1.2m equates to just over 2% on the council tax.
3. Job Evaluation and Single Status – This is very similar to equal pay and addresses the inequities of two people doing very similar jobs but being paid at different rates. Once again, the previous Labour administration had known about this for several years but had put not one penny aside to pay for it. The cost of this will be several million pounds which cannot be borrowed and had to be included in this year’s budget.
I hope that although you do not like the 3.9% increase that you do agree that with the staggering debts that we inherited as a result of Labour’s disgraceful neglect of future known liabilities and lack financial management that we did pretty well to restrict the increase to 3.9%. To have gone any lower would have been irresponsible and would have been putting election success and self interest before integrity and responsibility. I for one could not have done that.
Thursday 8 March 2007
Fairtrade Fortnight
Another busy week, canvassing in the late afternoons and early evenings followed by Community meetings and events later in the evenings.
Last Wednesday evening I attended the World Development Movement’s pub quiz in the West of the Moon pub in Ayr. This was part of the Fairtrade Fortnight programme. There were eighteen teams taking part and my team won the prize for finishing in eighteenth place. It was very kind of the MC not to describe our prize as the booby prize for finishing last. Our excuse is that we only had three team members and the other teams all had at least six members. Next year we will do better.
In my role as Council spokesperson for Fairtrade I presented the prizes and was privileged to do so.
The quiz had two rounds dedicated to Fairtrade and Poverty. Some of the statistics that emerged from these questions were both shocking and thought provoking.
This being Fairtrade Fortnight much of my time has been taken up by Fairtrade events. On Friday I attended a conference being held in Kilmarnock which focused on how the Fairtrade ethos could be expanded and developed and how Scotland could move forward to becoming a Fairtrade Nation. Oxfam have been charged with taking forward the Fairtrade agenda in Scotland’s quest to be become a Fairtrade Nation. They have met with some like minded organisations and taken a decision to set up a working group charged with creating a Fairtrade Forum to be held no later than September 2007.
Last night I attended the celebration of Ayr’s achievement in attaining Fairtrade Town status. It was heart-warming to hear from Mr Conrad James, a Fairtrade banana producer fro St Lucia, who gave a very humorous presentation telling us about difference that Fairtrade has made to his community. His farm produces high quality bananas and in return he gets a fair price for them. Over and above that his community gets a Fairtrade premium which is used to benefit the community. Each month all of the Fairtrade farmers gather to meet and discuss how they might spend this premium to best benefit their community. The projects range from building a fence around the local school to prevent children running on to the very busy road which passes the school through to providing equipment for the local hospital and many other diverse projects.
If anyone is interested in getting involved in making Prestwick a Fairtrade town then get in touch with me and if there is enough interest then we will meet and decide whether or not to take this forward.
That’s all for this week, there will be another update next week.
Last Wednesday evening I attended the World Development Movement’s pub quiz in the West of the Moon pub in Ayr. This was part of the Fairtrade Fortnight programme. There were eighteen teams taking part and my team won the prize for finishing in eighteenth place. It was very kind of the MC not to describe our prize as the booby prize for finishing last. Our excuse is that we only had three team members and the other teams all had at least six members. Next year we will do better.
In my role as Council spokesperson for Fairtrade I presented the prizes and was privileged to do so.
The quiz had two rounds dedicated to Fairtrade and Poverty. Some of the statistics that emerged from these questions were both shocking and thought provoking.
This being Fairtrade Fortnight much of my time has been taken up by Fairtrade events. On Friday I attended a conference being held in Kilmarnock which focused on how the Fairtrade ethos could be expanded and developed and how Scotland could move forward to becoming a Fairtrade Nation. Oxfam have been charged with taking forward the Fairtrade agenda in Scotland’s quest to be become a Fairtrade Nation. They have met with some like minded organisations and taken a decision to set up a working group charged with creating a Fairtrade Forum to be held no later than September 2007.
Last night I attended the celebration of Ayr’s achievement in attaining Fairtrade Town status. It was heart-warming to hear from Mr Conrad James, a Fairtrade banana producer fro St Lucia, who gave a very humorous presentation telling us about difference that Fairtrade has made to his community. His farm produces high quality bananas and in return he gets a fair price for them. Over and above that his community gets a Fairtrade premium which is used to benefit the community. Each month all of the Fairtrade farmers gather to meet and discuss how they might spend this premium to best benefit their community. The projects range from building a fence around the local school to prevent children running on to the very busy road which passes the school through to providing equipment for the local hospital and many other diverse projects.
If anyone is interested in getting involved in making Prestwick a Fairtrade town then get in touch with me and if there is enough interest then we will meet and decide whether or not to take this forward.
That’s all for this week, there will be another update next week.
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