Des Browne, Parking and the Seafront

Well, guess what?

Des Browne apologised but did not resign. No surprise there then?

The words of the old song that “saying sorry is the hardest thing” can be rewritten for Labour as “saying sorry is something that can be done at the drop of a hat without even thinking about it”. As well as Des Browne, Tony Blair and the potato famine come to mind, but acting sorry is something else altogether. There is no doubt that the old maxim of ignoring what people say and watching what they do is the best way to judge them. I have no doubt that watching the actions of Labour Ministers will make it very easy to determine their integrity.

Last Thursday I attended a presentation by Erskine the charity which provides specialist care for ex-servicemen and ex-servicewomen. When you hear about the work being done by this charity to care for those severely injured in the service of our country it is humbling.

Even more humbling is learning of the sacrifices made by servicemen and servicewomen in carrying out their duty. We should be eternally grateful and our politicians should be ensuring that no veteran has to plead for help. Help should be a matter of course and no barriers should be put in the way of the fullest recovery that veterans can make.

Another week of beautiful weather; which made walking the streets, delivering leaflets and talking to people an absolute pleasure. I reckon that I am lighter, thinner and fitter than I have been for years. Electioneering can be stressful but the exercise is wonderfully therapeutic.

Over the last four years I have published regular “In Touch” newsletters, three or four per year, with the intention of ensuring that constituents knew what I was up to on their behalf. If elected I propose to do the same for the next four years; it is not good enough to contact people only at the time of elections.

Despite the progress being made by the Conservative administration over the last sixteen months there is still disappointment that some things have not yet been fully tackled. And I acknowledge that we have only scratched the surface of what needs to be done.

Two specific concerns are parking and the seafront.

We have allocated additional funding from the civic pride fund for maintenance of the seafront, but the seasonal workers do not start until the beginning of May. This was a mistake which we must ensure does not happen again. Our seafronts should be cleaned in time for the Easter weekend. It was disgraceful that this did not happen and we will make sure that it does not happen again.

Car parking in Prestwick is a major concern. More and more residents are being inconvenienced by airport customers refusing to pay for parking at the airport and parking in residential streets in Prestwick. Up until now the council’s response is to put yellow lines down in the most vulnerable of places. While this helps those areas it has the effect of displacing the parking to streets further away from the airport. A full review of parking is needed in Prestwick to try and arrive at a plan which will prevent inconsiderate airport parking but will still allow shoppers to access the Main Street. Such a review should have been started by now, but re-organisation of the Roads Department and a lack of resources has prevented it. I will be pressing for this to be made a priority for the new council.

The coming week will be a busy one with many unresolved items being brought to committees to clear the decks for the new council. Business will effectively stop on Thursday 26th April when the final council meeting takes place. It will then be full speed ahead to try and persuade those wavering voters that the way forward is to vote Conservative and keep the good work of the past sixteen months moving forward.