East Ayrshire Forums

ALEX Salmond’s support is slumping ahead of the UK general election and he faces being defeated at Holyrood in just over a year’s time, according to a major new poll published by Scotland on Sunday.  The SNP has fallen a full 17 percentage points behind Labour on Scottish voting intentions for the Westminster election and is now just a single point ahead of the Conservatives.

And the party is five points behind Labour on voting intentions for the Holyrood constituency vote, dropping below 30 per cent for the first time in its three years in power.  Analysts forecast that if the voting intentions are carried through to the next Scottish parliamentary elections in May next year, Labour will be propelled back to power. Source: Scotsman.

Only the other day I predicted that the Tories would win the GE, and the SNP would fail to stay in power in both Hollyrood and East Ayrshire Council.  The question I would ask every voter to consider is this, ” What had changed under the SNP in EA?  The answer from where I am sitting is nothing!

That was the headline in the Kilmarnock Standard, seems even the local rag is clueless as to the methods employed by these companies, so why they give over space to announce this is beyond me.  To keep this short, here are a few pointers based on my experience with clients when I was employed with Strathclyde Regional Council.

When contacted by this company by phone, never agree to discuss the matter over the phone NEVER. Ask for all correspondence to be  in writing,  by letter only. If you receive a formal threatening letter that you owe a debt, seek the assistance of the Citizens Advice office immediately.  If you are threatened by this company, go to your local Consumer and Trading Standards office and submit a complaint.  Also visit the website at the link below. REMEMBER: NEVER discuss the matter by phone, NEVER agree to anything until you have sought advice.

Click to visit for more info

The number of children living in poverty in Scotland remains at an “unacceptably high” level, a leading charity has said.

Save the Children found 90,000 young people, almost 10% of all children in Scotland, were living with families that had less than £33-a-day to spend. It also warned that the recession was likely to make the situation worse.

240,000 children in Scotland live in poverty — that’s one in four young people whose parents struggle to get by every day.  90,000 of these children live in the most severe poverty when there simply isn’t enough money to pay for essential items. Families that we work with tell us that this is impossible and that even the basics — winter coats, decent food and back-to-school costs – can be crippling for families on such a low income. SOURCE: Safe the Children Report.

Seems to be a SNP trademark, this time it was a priority report of play parks throughout East Ayrshire that caused issues with several local councillors. The original Cabinet decision was remitted to the Governance and Scrutiny Committee after objections that local knowledge, residents views had not been taken into account when the list was drawn up.

“Having considered the written and verbal submissions made and following discussion, the Governance and Scrutiny Committee agreed to refer the matter back to Cabinet with a recommendation that consultation be carried out on the location and usage of play park facilities and the type of equipment to be provided, involving the respective local Members, residents in the immediate vicinity, Community Councils and such other community groups as considered appropriate by officers, and thereafter to determine a new priority list for park installations.” Source: EAC.

Well if consultation is important regarding play parks, what about the 13 houses in Newlands Drive, no consultation again, you would have thought that this would be all the more important given that the area has no Community Council representation, or any other for that matter.

Well well, the SNP lead administration has yet again done the dirty on residents within EA.  Targeting, schools the elderly, community wardens, school and community centre cleaners, overtime budgets, increasing school meals by 10%, way above inflation, and re-writing the rules regarding rent increases for this year. Then we have tenants paying around 22p a week extra (and possibly more) in rent for the 30 new houses to be built. Any shortfall in the debt on these homes in future years and yes the tenants foot the bill yet again. Yet the savings in management are still to be announced, a bit like putting the cart before the horse. Surely any management savings should have been worked out prior to staff redundancies being proposed. And will there be a public meeting ???????????????

An investigation by Scotland on Sunday compared the salaries offered to the board members in health boards from 2007-08 to those in 2008-09, including chief executives, medical directors and directors of public health, HR, finance, nursing and performance. Health boards have just published figures for 2008-09.  The best-rewarded executives in the country were at NHS Ayrshire and Arran, where the seven board members earned £1,040,000 in pay. There are also large discrepancies in the pay awards to individual boards, with Ayrshire and Arran paying its own director of public health £35,000 more than the same post in Lothian. NHS boards insisted the salaries were all paid in accordance with “national agreed pay ranges”.

This is an average rise of 6 per cent, which compares to the 2.75 per cent given to nurses. Given the reduced budget in coming years, these increses can only mean a reduction in front-line services, in fact many wards are running with reduced staffing levels. My question is;  what are our political representatives doing when these increases are agreed?

A row had broke out in the Scottish Government around the next census regarding the question of “ethnic group” The SNP are reported in the Scotsman as wishing to ask individuels whether they are Scottish, English, Welsh or British. Only one answer is allowed under the rules of the census to be held next year.

From a family history perspective, the question “Place of Birth” would be advantageous,  Scottish, English, Irish, Welsh or Other. As for ethnic group, British or Other is the logical way to go.

The writing was on the wall when Tony Blair came into office, the Chancellor Gordon Brown brought in a complex welfare benefits system where he gave with one hand and took away with the other. In effect, the working class became poorer under Labour in the last decade.  Now Gordon Brown states that he would create “more middle class jobs than ever before” But was it not Gordon Brown who destroyed their pensions, and increased their taxes. His strategy for the coming election is as deceptive as his budget day speeches.

He intends to say;  “A fair society is one where everyone who works hard and plays by the rules has a chance to fulfil their dreams whether that’s owning a bigger house, taking a holiday abroad, buying a new car or starting a small business. What planet is the man on? The working class can hardly afford to pay their council tax, heat their homes or put clothes on their children’s back. So is Labour to abandon its core vote, seems so yet not surprising, he will do, and has done, everything he can to stay in power, that is the priority for labour not the working class.

With the thaw upon us, many pavements are now more than ever like glass. Newlands Drive, Tourhill Road, all around both primary schools are a danger to our children and elderly alike.  Jim Buchanan as usual, defends a workforce that has been the main problem with everything that is wrong in EA.

Look at some facts, how many men does it take to empty dog litter bins? I will tell you 4!  Last Tuesday a JCB was in Crofthead Ave clearing the ice from the road, the reason was to clear the way for refuge collection on the Wednesday. Also with the JCB was a grit lorry with 3 men in the cab. Not once did they get out of the lorry to shovel the ice barrier across runways caused by the JCB, they just sat there.  And bear in mind this was no act of kindness toward tenants, this was done to assist council workers.

And what a short memory he has, was it not the council workforce that were involved in the recent “homers” fiasco? Was it not Donald Dewar who threatened to close down the DLO many years ago as it was not fit for purpose?  Today I saw a pensioner stranded on the pavement outside Morrison’s, terrified to move as she was slipping all over the place. Many elderly in Newlands drive cannot go out on the street to shops as the pavements are lethal. And today we learn of the tragic death of an 11 year old as she apparently slipped on ice outside her primary school in Lancashire. It is not good enough to say pavements are not a priority, the council has a duty of care to residents and so far they have failed miserably.

“Schools in the area are due to open tomorrow, Wednesday 6th January. At present snow clearing teams are ensuring safe pedestrian access to every school and nursery in the area, with numerous JCBs and 50 tonnes of salt and grit being used in this process. Car parks and paths will be icy and care should be taken when parking and walking in these areas. Head Teachers should also risk assess whether the playground can be used by children during the day and if necessary ‘wet weather’ arrangements may have to be used.”

So what does ’safe pedestrian access to every school’ mean, I will tell you, grit being spread from the school gate to the front door, there is no safe access from homes to school, no playgrounds have been done when I last checked around 3.45pm this evening.  Too little, too late. It would have been better to keep kids off school till Monday and give workmen the 4 days to do a proper job.  EAC say they have grit available so why not use it?