Latest news just in is that Cllr. Jim Todd has been elected as the Provost of East Ayrshire Council.

The Leader of the council remains unchanged, Cllr. D. Reid. Many readers will be interested in finding out what the terms of the deal were for the SNP group to gain support of Tory councillors and run a minority administration on East Ayrshire Council.

However I would like to know how EX- Councillor John MacKay knew prior to any formal negotiations having taken place that the SNP would resume the administration of EAC as early as May 4th?

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The 17th May will be the first meeting of the new council. The meeting takes place at 10am in the headquarters, London Road Kilmarnock. There will be a report on the 3rd May council elections followed by the election of Provost/Depute Provost, thereafter election of the Leader/Depute Leader of the council. Apart from the election of the usual members to various committees, there is a proposal to move to a single planning committee.

Seems my comments on crime in Onthank were well founded. Yesterday the language from the football match in Newlands Drive was atrocious. Several supporters were observed standing in a public place swilling Buckfast and cursing at the top of their voices. It was however the unprovoked assault and theft from an 11 year old child in the presence of other local children by a teenage drunken supporter that caused several parents and grandparents to take to the streets looking for the thug.

The police were duly called when no sign of the scumbag could be found. This is not the first time amateur matches have caused problems in Newlands Drive. East Ayrshire Council must accept some responsibility for what takes place, it is after all, they who facilitate and gain financial benefit from these pitches. The police must also bear responsibility for the safety of local children and enforce local by-laws with reference to consuming alcohol in public.

This has been rumoured for a good few days now, so the story today in the Sun was no surprise. However locals are asking; “Why is he coming”? Another not so charitable comment was “what good work”? The fact that the place is being spruced up for the visit is proof enough that nothing has changed and those that live within their own little bubble seem to be turning a blind eye to everything that goes on around them. If the Prince’s Trust is going to put their hand in their pocket and fund part of the local Youth project good and well, but if it’s nothing more than an opportunity to gloat, than that is an insult to the area, we have had enough Scheme tourists to last a lifetime.

COMMENTS from the SUN:
So, a publicity stunt for the show or a publicity stunt for a future monarch who nobody really likes or knows anything about. When was the last time Charlie actually done anything of merit? This is not it.

Highlighting the bad area of the town once again! The Scheme has done enough damage to the town & ruined Kilmarnock for good. A small minority in a big town which every town has somewhere…

This gets me riled up…if you gonna do a visit then show the place as it is without the ‘face lift’…they did this in Easterhouse Glasgow about 15 years ago..the main rd leading from edinburgh rd up to easterhouse shopping center was all done up either side…houses looked lovely..go one street behind them and it looked like bosnia

Whats the point of an official visit to a poverty struck area if its all tarted up to look nice sickens me..

Read more: The Sun

Action is needed to tackle “shameful” levels of child poverty in parts of Scotland, campaigners have urged. It comes as figures suggest 13 Scottish councils have wards where more than 30% of children live in pockets of severe poverty.

Aberdeen City

Northfield

35%

Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen

31%

Dundee City

Lochee

31%

Coldside

31%

Maryfield

30%

East End

36%

North East 3

32%

East Ayrshire

Kilmarnock South

35%

Edinburgh City

Forth

30%

Sighthill/Gorgie

36%

Portobello/Craigmillar

30%

Fife

The Lochs

33%

Kirkcaldy East

32%

Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages

40%

Glasgow City

Linn

32%

Greater Pollok

30%

Craigton

31%

Govan

38%

Southside Central

40%

Calton

50%

Anderston/City

37%

Garscadden/Scotstounhill

36%

Drumchapel/Anniesland

41%

Maryhill/Kelvin

31%

Canal

43%

Springburn

52%

East Centre

44%

Shettleston

31%

North East 4

38%

Inverclyde

Inverclyde East Central

31%

North Ayrshire

Irvine West

33%

Saltcoats and Stevenston

35%

North Lanarkshire

Airdrie Central

30%

Renfrewshire

Paisley North West

33%

South Ayrshire

Ayr North

35%

Stirling

Castle

31%

West Dunbartonshire

Clydebank Central

32%

Burned out Car at Newlands Football Pitch

This is the last thing we want to see re-appearing on our streets again. I awoke on Friday morning to see the remains of what is probably a stolen car, burned out on the edge of the football pitch in Newlands Drive. These sights used to be common in this area over a decade ago, stolen and burned out cars were a regular weekend event. On Friday evening around 7pm I also noted a lot of police activity around the Tourhill shops, obviously looking for someone. Only the other morning around 8am I caught part of a conversation from two police officers in the Tourhill shop asking about something or other around 7ish that morning, I never heard much as I was leaving the shop at the time the officers came in.
There are also the usual problem areas around Tourhill, let’s just hope that we are not entering a new phase of increasing incidents locally.

No party has overall control of East Ayrshire Council. The results are;

15 SNP; 14 LAB; 2 CON; 1 IND.

The full list of candidates with the final results in Bold is as follows:

Ward 1, Annick
Rose-Ann Cuninghame, Conservative; Greg Foster, Liberal Democrat; Ellen Freel, Independent; Eòghann MacColl, SNP; John MacKay, SNP; John McGhee, Labour.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Annick:
Ellen Freel – Independent
Eoghann MacColl – SNP
John McGhee – Scottish Labour Party

Ward 2, Kilmarnock North
Helen Coffey, SNP; Ian Grant, Conservative; Andrew Hershaw, SNP; Maureen McKay, Labour.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Kilmarnock North:
Helen Coffey, SNP
Andrew Hershaw, SNP
Maureen McKay, Labour

Ward 3, Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse
Tom Cook, Conservative; Lillian Jones, Labour; Iain Linton, SNP; Andi McCann, Independent; Dave Meechan, Labour; Douglas Reid, SNP.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse:
Tom Cook, Conservative
Lillian Jones, Labour
Iain Linton, SNP
Douglas Reid, SNP

Ward 4, Kilmarnock East and Hurlford
James Buchanan, SNP; John Campbell, SNP; Gordon Cree, Labour; Drew MacIntyre, Labour; Rob Murray, Conservative.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Kilmarnock East and Hurlford:
James Buchanan, SNP
John Campbell, SNP
Gordon Cree, Scottish Labour Party
Drew McIntyre, Scottish Labour Party

Ward 5, Kilmarnock South
Alyson Holden, Conservative; John Knapp, Labour; Hugh Ross, SNP; Ronnie Scott, Labour; Jim Todd, SNP.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Kilmarnock South:
John Knapp, Scottish Labour
Hugh Ross, SNP
Jim Todd, SNP

Ward 6, Irvine Valley
May Anderson, Independent; Alan Brown, SNP; George Mair, Labour; Bobby McDill, SNP; John McFadzean, Conservative.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Irvine Valley:
Alan Brown – SNP
George Mair – Scottish Labour Party
Bobby McDill – SNP
John McFadzean – Conservative

Ward 7, Ballochmyle
Nick Martin, Conservative; Neil McGhee, Labour; Neil Murray, Labour; Stephanie Primrose, SNP; Jim Roberts, SNP; David Shaw, Labour.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Ballochmyle:
Neil McGhee – Scottish Labour Party
Stephanie Primrose – SNP
Jim Roberts – SNP
David Shaw – Scottish Labour Party

Ward 8, Cumnock and New Cumnock
Ian Allan, Independent; James Boswell, Conservative; Billy Crawford, Labour; David Fraser, Independent; Barney Menzies, Labour; Kathy Morrice, SNP; Craig Murray, SNP; Eric Ross, Labour;

The following candidates have been elected to represent Cumnock and New Cumnock:
Billy Crawford – Scottish Labour Party
Barney Menzies – Scottish Labour Party
Kathy Morrice – SNP
Eric Ross – Scottish Labour Party

Ward 9, Doon Valley
John Bell, SNP, Ian Borthwick, Independent; Elaine Dinwoodie, Labour; Drew Filson, Independent; Irene Grant, Conservative; Moira Pirie, Labour.

The following candidates have been elected to represent Doon valley:
John Bell – SNP
Elaine Dinwoodie – Scottish Labour Party
Moira Pirie – Scottish Labour Party

Best of luck to all Labour & Co-operative candidates tomorrow in East Ayrshire, I will post the results as soon as they become known.

The 2012 Scottish local elections will be held on 3 May, in all 32 Scottish Local Authorities. The election was due to be held on 5 May 2011, but Scottish Ministers heeded the advice of the Gould Report and split the Holyrood and local elections – in order to avoid a repeat of the 2007 fiasco. These local elections will be the second since the Single Transferable Vote (STV) was first introduced for the 2007 local government elections.

In East Ayrshire, we have a minority administration. The SNP are in power by gaining the support of the 3 Tory councillors. I well remember the first meeting 5 years ago where Cllr Kelly commented on the SNP doing a deal with the Tories, strange bedfellows indeed were his very words.

On that day I was excited to say the least; at long last we might see the kind of change that my community development background cried out for. Well I got change, but instead of a more democratic council their first action was to undermine elected councillors and move to a cabinet system. Gone were the old Planning, Housing, Social work committees that were the learning grounds for new councillors, what we got was nothing less than a Clique.

It crossed my mind that the dead hand of Cllr Reid had played the starring role in this pantomime. If the cabinet system was their first mistake, there was worse to come. I won’t bore you with the long drawn out details over the years, simply to say that the SNP councillors lack of experience shone bright in what was to become a tenure dictated more from Holyrood than based on local needs and aspirations.
Consultations were manipulated by officers and the SNP turned a blind eye to it all. Over the years discussions I had with SNP councillors resulted in every excuse in the book to justify their lacklustre performance.

It was no surprise to me to note that there were few community or trade union activists in their number. They may have experienced party politics with a small P, yet community politics was an alien concept whey would never come to terms with over their time in office.

There were other issues, such as “Right to Repair” and undermining a local tenants association, again the SNP members not only stood back but Willie Coffey even refused to attend a meeting between its Chairman and the Chief Executive to sort the mess out. The Chief Executive was let’s say, less than enthusiastic as it challenged her view that the authority should be micromanaged by a select few.

So the 3rd of May fast approaches, its decision time, the only time when politicians are at the mercy of the electors. I know from conversations with many individuals who read this blog that you firmly believe that I am an SNP supporter, past member and candidate and related to 3 serving SNP councillors, four if you count Cousin Danny Coffey who in my opinion was the best councillor ever to sit on EAC. Well this may come as a shock to many but I am a card carrying member of the Labour Party. Have been for some time, though not as active as I had wished to be due to family issues and poor health recently.

No I do not agree with everything that Labour proposes, hell I never agreed with everything Salmond spouted and I always said what I thought , probably made me a few enemies over the years but that is the way within any democratic party, we have disagreements but at the end of the day, the majority dictate policy.

It took me well over a year to finally decide to join the Labour Party; it was no sudden decision, no act of retribution that “made” me join. In my view only the Local Labour candidates in this election have the experience, drive and passion that is so sadly lacking in the SNP ranks. And believe me, over the next few years we will call on this experience time and time again as the draconian policies of this Coalition Government kick in.

On May 3rd I am endorsing Councillor Maureen McKay. Someone who I have much respect for as a hard working councillor. Based on personal experience, and also on my knowledge of her commitment in dealing with issues for many of my neighbours and other local people. That is the kind of councillor I want representing me, what kind of councillor do you want???

Welfare reforms will cut the amount of benefit that people can get if they are deemed to have a spare bedroom in their council or housing association home – find out how this will affect people.

The Government has said that it will introduce new size criteria for housing benefit claims in social housing. This will apply from April 2013 to tenants of working age.

The power to do this is contained in the Welfare Reform Act, which received Royal Assent on 8th March 2012.
What do the changes mean?

The size criteria in the social rented sector will restrict housing benefit to allow for one bedroom for each person or couple living as part of the household, with the following exceptions:

Children under 16 of same gender expected to share
Children under 10 expected to share regardless of gender
Disabled tenant or partner who needs non resident overnight carer will be allowed an extra bedroom

Who will be affected?

All claimants who are deemed to have at least one spare bedroom will be affected. This includes:

Separated parents who share the care of their children and who may have been allocated an extra bedroom to reflect this. Benefit rules mean that there must be a designated ‘main carer’ for children (who receives the extra benefit)
Couples who use their ‘spare’ bedroom when recovering from an illness or operation
Foster carers because foster children are not counted as part of the household for benefit purposes
Parents whose children visit but are not part of the household
Families with disabled children
Disabled people including people living in adapted or specially designed properties.

How much will people lose?

The cut will be a fixed percentage of the Housing Benefit eligible rent. The Government has said that this will be set at 14% for one extra bedroom and 25% for two or more extra bedrooms.

The Government’s impact assessment shows that those affected will lose an average of £13 a week. Housing association tenants are expected to lose £14 a week on average.
How many people will see their benefit cut?

The proposal will affect an estimated 670,000 working-age social tenants – 32% of existing working-age housing benefit claimants in the social sector. The majority of these people have only one extra bedroom.

Source: National Housing Federation.

Has EAC done a detailed assessment of their stock and how the new law will affect tenants, NOPE, has EAC contacted tenants who are at risk of losing financial support to explain what under-occupation will mean to them?

Consultations are frankly not the mechanism by which you find out the balance of public opinion in Scotland – because there is no guarantee at all, for either consultation, that the people who are responding are representative.

The aim of a consultation is not to find out the balance of opinion among the public, but to quire the wisdom of the crowd.

Political parties are their own worst enemies – virtually all of the political parties have been putting things on their website, giving people a standard text to send.

In truth – that completely contradicts the purpose of a consultation.

If loads of people all go and say the same thing, we learn nothing new.