East Ayrshire Forums

Tue, 06 Jul 2010

East Ayrshire Council has been given the green light by the Scottish Government to build six new council houses at Newlands Drive, Kilmarnock and four new council houses at Rosebank, Kilmarnock. These are in addition to the proposals listed in the post below.

ONTHANK Nursery is now home to a magical new garden thanks to a £10,000 grant and a generous sprinkling of community spirit. Youngsters at the nursery are delighted with the impressive creation, which includes flowers, sandpits, willow dens, a playhouse and the pupils’ very own art work.

Have you not seen the new garden yet? Pop over and have a look, it’s a fantastic place for the kids, well done to all concerned, it really is first class.

I have uploaded the plan for the Newlands Drive housing development. It also shows the Phase 3 site marked by a Blue border, please note that at this time no funding has been secured for this though the council have submitted an application to the Scottish Government. Building works are due to start by October 2010; however the outcome of the phase 3 bid will not be known until around mid July 2010. It looks like in total 26 homes will be built on the site (subject to a successful phase 3 bid) otherwise 16 have already been approved, subject to planning permission. I am wondering if time constraints allow scope for the outcome of the phase 3 bid to be known prior to the planning meeting or, will there be two planning applications? I am also concerned that no Environmental or transport impact statement has been sought in respect of this development. NO doubt EAC will argue that the development by its size does not require these, however the adjacent recreational ground does increase traffic within the area therefore road safety issues for the tenants children are in my view a material concern.

Link to view plan

First Minister Alex Salmond announced that his Cabinet would hold four meetings outside the usual venue of Edinburgh during the summer months. Ministers will spend two days on each tour stop, with events including an official meeting of the Cabinet, a public question and answer session and a reception to promote Scotland’s 2010 year of food and drink.

The date for the Kilmarnock venue is September 6th and 7th I look forward to the public session.

MSPs have rejected legislation to introduce mandatory six-month jail terms for anyone caught carrying a knife. Liberal Democrat justice spokesman Robert Brown argued the threat of prison would not act as a deterrent, saying the cost of jailing 1,345 people for six months would cost almost £321m. “The single thing which deters people from criminal behaviour is the likelihood of being caught,” he said, adding: “The stop-and-searches carried out by Strathclyde Police have been very effective.”

The above statement is lunacy, “the likelihood of being caught” but not going to jail is a recipe for disaster, what the SNP and Liberals have done today is to put out a clear message that if you carry a Knife, you don’t necessarily go straight to jail. So why do people walk out their front door with a knife in their pocket? To protect themselves, to threaten in the hope the big bad boy will walk away? This shows an amazing lack of understanding of youth culture where respect and the fact that to back down shows weakness, the outcome is obvious and sadly well documented, someone ends up dead. And it may be the knife carrier not the intended victim.
I would also have to question the statement that prison does not work particularly short sentences. If prison is not working then maybe we need to look at making life inside an unpleasant affair that the offender never wants to revisit.

Kimarnock Prison Video Link

From EAC website “Over 60 members of the local community attended the event to learn more about the future of housing in East Ayrshire. Delegates attended workshops on Homelessness, Housing Asset Services and Rent Setting and presentations were given by Elizabeth Morton, Depute Chief Executive/ Executive Director of Neighbourhood Services and Chris McAleavey, Head of Housing. As part of a packed programme delegates could also speak to representatives from a range of agencies and services including Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde Fire and Rescue, NHS and East Ayrshire Credit Union.”

I was sad to read that the attendance at the annual conference has taken a nose dive this year. As for the NHS, SF&R and the credit union, what have they got to do with housing policy? Looks like housing did it again, fill the day with useless nonsense; take up all the time with speeches from overpaid egotistical officials and limit any opportunity to voice dissent.

On other matters:
I am still waiting for Fiona Lees to contact me regarding the meeting she agreed to at the request of Willie Coffey. I know I said leave it till after Christmas but come on, we are into June!! Maybe the topic for discussion is not to your taste?

Newlands Drive Housing Phase 2;
I was surprised this week to find not one but three tenants did not have a clue what I was talking about. Strange as it seems, they did not know that 16 homes were being built outside their front door starting around October if planning permission is forthcoming. As a result, we plan to inform all tenants and get an idea if there are any objections over the next week. Personally my view is that Cllr Coffey has no qualms about the loss of recreational green space for the schemes children. And before I get emails about the title above asking what the phase 3 proposal is, could I suggest you ask Willie Coffey.

Interesting article on the BBC website, regarding local authority newspapers, or in East Ayrshire’s case newsletters. This got me thinking about the content and value for money for tenants. It could be argued that the newsletter is a waste of money, does not meet best value criteria, and is nothing more than “propaganda on the rates”.

Another area where best value is an issue is the annual “Tenants Conference” normally held in the Park Hotel. The rhetoric that precedes this event goes something like “Planned by Tenants” yet I am always amazed how effectively the housing dept can influence this agenda to avoid the hard questions. For example, two years ago after a particularly hard bruising by tenants on the council’s performance, I found in the following year, there was no part in the programme where tenants could voice an opinion using the electronic voting system that had been used in previous years?

Then there are the surveys, like the recent one to change the rent setting system. Now they think if a bus runs near your home of you are near shops you should be paying a higher rent. The actual choices presented in the survey could not be analyzed in any meaningful way. In the past I have been involved with North Ayrshire Council in designing and conducting a Community Survey and their interrogation by computer. I can assure you that this survey is nothing more than an amateurish attempt to find a new method to increase rents by the back door. Given that several of the amenities quoted are out with the control of the council, what right do they have to use them within the scope of a survey?

The chancellor said “decisive action” to raise VAT and cut spending would boost confidence in the economy.
He also said spending cuts might be reduced if more savings could be found in the welfare budget.

He further added;
“But by increasing the personal income tax allowance for people on the basic rate what I have done is tried to protect low and middle income earners, people who are in work, I wanted to reward work.”

So the dismantling of the welfare state is to continue, those less able to defend themselves are under a sustained Tory attack to support middle class families. Do you realise that someone earning over £30,000 a year, that’s around £600 a week are still getting Tax Credits from the state, while the unemployed and those on other benefits are to be subject to cuts! Hell even the yearly increase in benefits have been fiddled to ensure those on the breadline stay there, by changed from the RPI rate to the CPI which is the lower of the two.

The hidden agenda the Tory LibDEm coalition has is to punish the poor and those not in work, it’s almost like a return to the workhouse where conditions were intentionally made unbearable to dissuade the poor from seeking help.

What a mess, indirect price increases due to the VAT rise, more households will be plunged into fuel poverty, food prices will increase as manufacturers and supermarkets pass on the VAT increase to customers. No rise in fuel duty but VAT rise will add 2.5p to a litre of petrol. Changing from the RPI to CPI for benefits will see real cuts and increased poverty, this is a backward step. So much for a fair budget, and the poor are the second hardest hit. I just hope that all those councils who are doing deals with Tory Councillors like the SNP in East Ayrshire think again before it’s too late.