the3towns-archive

SSP challenge Cameron to 'visit scene of his crimes'

2012-03-03T09:40:00.000Z

The Scottish Socialist Party has challenged Prime Minister David Cameron to “visit the scene of his crimes”.

Campbell Martin, the SSP’s Council candidate for Ardrossan & Arran, has written to the Tory leader, challenging him to come to North Ayrshire when he is in Scotland next month. Mr Martin said, “Cameron will be in Ayrshire to attend the Spring Conference of the Scottish Tories, which is being held in Troon. So, I’ve written to him and challenged him to drive the few miles up the road to North Ayrshire, where we have Scotland’s highest unemployment.”

The former MSP continued, “In North Ayrshire there are over 5,000 adults without work, and we have the absolute disgrace of over 1,500 young people with no job. We have the country’s second-highest level of children growing up in severe poverty, and some of Scotland’s worst levels of deprivation. Cameron likes to talk tough about how his party’s austerity measures are necessary to tackle the UK’s economic problems, but his policies are actually devastating lives and whole communities here in North Ayrshire.

“I’ve written to him and issued a challenge: let’s see how tough you really are Mr Cameron. Come to North Ayrshire and face-up to what you are doing to local people. Come to North Ayrshire and I’ll show you the scene of your crimes. Come to North Ayrshire and explain why some of the poorest members of society are paying the price of refloating the corrupt capitalist economic system.”

Mr Martin, also a former councillor in North Ayrshire, concluded, “The Tories have no mandate in Scotland, but that hasn’t stopped them imposing savage cuts to public spending north of the border. To add insult to injury, David Cameron has the bare-faced cheek to breeze into Ayrshire for a party get-together. So while he is in the area, let’s see if he has the bottle to face-up to the damage he and his UK Government are doing to towns and people in North Ayrshire.”

Members of the Scottish Socialist Party have been campaigning on local streets, including Saltcoats town centre, voicing opposition to cuts being imposed in North Ayrshire but to pay for debts run-up by bankers in the City of London. The party has also actively campaigned for action to tackle the area’s soaring unemployment. On February 1, the SSP presented a petition to the budget meeting of North Ayrshire Council, demanding councillors set a ‘no cuts’ budget and instead deliver a financial package to meet the needs of local communities. Despite the petition containing the signatures of 1,178 local people, councillors of all parties ignored its demands and passed a budget containing further cuts totalling £23m.

Scandal hit NHS bosses pocketed massive salaries

2012-03-03T09:38:00.000Z

Two senior executives of NHS Ayrshire & Arran pocketed £400,000 between them in salaries while the organisation was actively withholding more than 50 reports on serious incidents at hospitals and clinics.

The health board’s former Chief Executive, Ms Wai-yin Hatton, was paid £155,000 a year, while Medical Director Bob Masterton took home the highest salary of any official in NHS Scotland, a staggering £245,000.

Under the stewardship of Hatton and Masterton, NHS Ayrshire and Arran refused to release critical incident and adverse event reports, following a Freedom of Information request submitted by Rab Wilson, a nurse employed by the health board who was, himself, involved in a critical incident but never received a copy of the findings that emerged from an enquiry. The health body even went as far as claiming Mr Wilson’s FoI request was “vexatious”. However, NHS Ayrshire & Arran was finally forced to release the documents following an investigation by Scotland’s Information Commissioner, Mr Kevin Dunnion.

Included in the files the health board tried to keep secret were reports on serious incidents, such as three missed chances to diagnose cancers, the death of a patient who was trapped in a faulty lift, a death which followed inadequate treatment of a leg wound, and two cases where psychiatric patients murdered or attempted to murder a relative.

Critical incident and significant adverse event reports are compiled whenever anything goes wrong in the health service, and are supposed to establish exactly what happened and what could be done to prevent mistakes from being repeated. The files finally released by NHS Ayrshire & Arran had been withheld for five years, even from members of the health board’s staff.

Rab Wilson said, “These action plans and reports pertain to issues of patient safety, staff safety and were the worst events that happened there over the last five years - some really horrendous events.

“It appeared to me that the learning experience from these events was not being made available. I believe that in the new Scotland, which is a place of justice and fair play and compassion, workers should not be afraid to speak out - especially about serious, serious issues like this that impinge on patient safety, patient care and staff safety as well.”

Kevin Dunnion branded the handling of the matter by NHS Ayrshire & Arran as a “catalogue of failings”, which he described as possibly the most serious breach of FoI laws he had ever dealt with.

Mr Dunion added, “Claims made to Mr Wilson turned out to be wrong and prior assurances given to me and my staff turned out to be unjustified. At the very least, this constitutes a significant failure of records management, but, given the nature of the information which was the subject of the request, the failings may point to wider governance issues which have to be addressed.

“Mr Wilson's persistence was characterised by the board as being vexatious, but perhaps instead should have raised concerns that records concerning critical incidents which should have been held were missing, policies regarding action plans were not being adhered to and public confidence that plans had been drawn up and acted upon could be affected.”

The Information Commissioner concluded, “Certainly I found it so difficult to believe that such documents could be unaccounted for in terms of whether they had been created, acted upon or destroyed, that it caused me to continue with my investigation despite the board's protestations.”

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has ordered an enquiry into NHS Ayrshire & Arran’s handling of the matter.

Dr Wai-yin Hatton retired last month from her position as Chief Executive of the local health board. This was two months before her due retiral date, which a spokesperson for NHS Ayrshire & Arran said was a coincidence. Dr Bob Masterton is still in place as Medical Director.

Saltcoats Community Council debates town centre methadone problem

2012-03-03T09:36:00.000Z

Last week’s meeting of Saltcoats Community Council saw a wide-ranging discussion on problems associated with methadone use and the dispensing of the heroin-substitute at town centre pharmacies.

the3towns has previously reported on the numbers of methadone users who can gather outside chemist shops in Saltcoats’ Dockhead Street, with a number of local people voicing concerns over the behaviour of the groups and the intimidating presence of bull terrier-type dogs. Similar issues have been raised by shopkeepers who fear customers are staying away from the town centre because of methadone users.

In light of concerns raised with the Community Council, members of the Ayrshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership were invited to last week’s meeting, where they gave a presentation in relation to their work, and took questions from Community Councillors and members of the public. In attendance for the partnership were Linda Sturgeon, a manager from NHS Addiction Services, Stephen Brown, senior manager with North Ayrshire Council’s Field Work Specialist Support Team, and Pat Kelly of the Council’s Anti-Social Behaviour Investigations Team.

The Community Council was told the Scottish Government’s targets regarding the treatment of drug addiction were “very challenging,” but that “recovery is possible”.

Responding to a question from a member of the public, the professionals indicated it was “more difficult for people to come off methadone the longer they had been on it”. Another member of the public, who stated they had experience in dealing with addicts and the consequences of addiction, said that since the inception of the methadone programme in the 1980s, “recovery has been very limited,” adding that “methadone has often been used as an additional drug rather than a cure.”

It was revealed there had been 2,000 North Ayrshire referrals for help with addiction, and that funding had been secured to allow continued treatment programmes.

Concern was expressed for the children of addicts, with one person noting they had witnessed adults taking methadone in front of their kids in local chemists. In response, the multi-agency group indicated they “try to assess parenting and provide a menu of comprehensive services offering formal and informal networks and resources to support long-term recovery of individuals and their families.”

Saltcoats & Stevenston North Ayrshire councillor Ronnie McNicol raised the specific issue of methadone users in Saltcoats town centre, indicating his belief that the problem there was greater than in other main shopping districts across the local authority area.

Cllr McNicol’s point was echoed by Cunninghame North MSP Kenneth Gibson, who voiced concerns over attracting people back to the town centre “while this problem persists”. The SNP MSP stated his belief that, “Methadone should be dispensed in a designated centre, perhaps with a drop-in cafe and facilities to help recovery programmes.”

Members of the Saltcoats public present at the meeting appeared to agree that methadone should not be dispensed within the town centre, with one person saying they felt their “human rights were not being recognised”.

While acknowledging “the problem is increasing,” the Addiction teams stated their belief that the current programme “will help more addicts to stop using and, in turn, will help those who still have problems.”

Trial date for Lennon bomb accused

2012-03-03T09:35:00.000Z

The trial of two North Ayrshire men accused of attempting to kill Celtic manager Neil Lennon and two other high-profile supporters of the club is set to begin this week, after two delays.

Saltcoats man Neil Mckenzie, 42, and Treveor Muirhead, 43, from Kilwinning are alleged to have sent suspected parcel bombs to Mr Lennon, QC Paul McBride and former Labour MSP Trish Godman. The packages are said to have contained nails and an explosive substance or petrol.

The men originally appeared in court last October, where it was confirmed they would be represented by senior Queen’s Counsel Donald Findlay and Gordon Jackson. Mr Jackson, originally from Saltcoats, is a former Labour MSP, while Donald Findlay was once vice-chairman of Rangers Football Club.

It is alleged by the prosecution that both men planned to "assault and murder" their three intended victims between March 1 and April 15 last year as part of a sectarian conspiracy. Prosecutors also claim that McKenzie and Muirhead bought nails, envelopes, travel bottles, digital sports watches and other items at two shops in Stevenston, while it is alleged another person was induced by a female relative of Muirhead to acquire cream peroxide.

The men are accused of then posting a package to Neil Lennon at Celtic's training complex in Lennoxtown. A plastic bottle with wires attached was said to have contained Triacetone Triperoxide, a plastic bag holding nails and a watch component. The prosecution claims the accused believed it to have been an improvised explosive device capable of causing "severe injury and death".

Similar packages are alleged to have been sent to Neil Lennon's QC, Paul McBride, at the Advocates' Library in Parliament House, Edinburgh, and to former politician Trish Godman at an address in Bridge of Weir.

The charge claims the accused sent another suspected bomb to the offices of Cairde Na h'Éireann (Friends of Ireland) in Gallowgate, Glasgow.

All accusations are said to have been aggravated by religious prejudice.

Both men are further accused that on May 9 in Kilwinning, they threatened to plant an improvised explosive device outside a police station knowing the bomb allegations were being investigated.

They are then charged with attempting to defeat the ends of justice by disposing of a quantity of cream peroxide and wiring.

The accused are finally alleged to have made and possessed Triacetone Triperoxide with the intent to endanger life.

McKenzie and Muirhead deny the charges.

Council pass 'living wage' Motion

2012-03-03T09:33:00.000Z

A Motion before last Wednesday’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council, which called for parity of payment between Council-employed cleaners and those working for a private contractor in four local schools, was passed without dissent...despite Labour councillors declining to sign a petition calling for the workers to receive a living wage of £7.20 an hour.

As the3towns revealed last week, the Motion by SNP councillor Tony Gurney, seconded by Independent John Hunter, called on the Council, “using all means available to it, to encourage all suppliers and local employers to adopt the living wage as a matter of urgency and instructs officers to investigate and implement those means immediately.”

Presently, all staff employed directly by North Ayrshire Council receive a recognised ‘living wage’ of at least £7.20. However, when the Labour administration of the local authority signed-up to its controversial Schools PPP Project, staff at four schools, including St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats and Stanley Primary in Ardrossan, were transferred into the employment of private facilities management company MITIE, which refuses to pay the ‘living wage’.
The petition backing parity for Council cleaners and those employed by MITIE was initiated by the GMB trade union.

Following discussion of the Motion at the Council meeting, Labour Group Leader David O’Neill indicated his members could not sign the petition as doing so could, he argued, compromise future tender or contract negotiations with private contractors. However, Cllr O’Neill and other Labour councillors did not block the Motion and agreed to an officer investigation into contractors employed by the Council paying less than the local authority’s own staff.

Commenting on the success of his Motion, Cllr Tony Gurney said, “I am happy and relieved that it was agreed by the Council.

“The idea of the Council supporting companies that post huge profits on the back of paying cleaners such a pittance is abhorrent. I look forward to reading the officers' report and hope that it keeps the pressure on the big companies who can easily afford to pay their workers a proper wage.”

Cllr Gurney was backed by his SNP colleague, MSP Margaret Burgess, who said, “The SNP Government and its agencies already pay employees a living wage, as does North Ayrshire Council. It is right that the Council should encourage partners and other Scottish employers to do likewise.”

Mrs Burgess, who represents Cunninghame South, which includes Stevenston, continued, “More people than ever are now benefitting from the living wage and I would encourage the remaining Scottish councils to implement this.

“Trade unions, churches, charities and political correspondents all support the living wage, which is helping to improve the standard of living for people across Scotland. The policy supports lower-paid workers, giving them a fairer wage they are able to live on and not just simply survive.”

Margaret Burgess, herself a former SNP councillor in North Ayrshire, added, “There is cross-party support for the living wage and it is encouraging that more and more councils are adopting this policy.”

Katy's fears over tax credit changes

2012-03-03T09:32:00.000Z

Over 200 local couples with children could lose in the region of £4,000 a year from this April, following a change to tax credit rules being introduced by the Tory-Lib Dem UK Government.

Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, revealed the shocking figure this week and urged the Conservative-led government to reconsider what she described as “a little-noticed change to tax credit rules that mean thousands of families will lose all of their working tax credits unless they can significantly increase their working hours.”

The change means couples with children, earning less than £17,700, will have to increase the number of hours they work from a minimum of 16 to 24 per week or they will lose all of their working tax credit of £3,870 a year.

UK Government figures contained in answers to parliamentary questions showed 220 households in North Ayrshire and Arran - 212,000 households across the country - could lose out. In addition, a recent survey by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development found that, as a result of the current economic downturn, one-in-five organisations have cut back on the number of hours offered to part-time staff, with only 6 per cent recording an increase.

Katy Clark said, “This is a deeply unfair change from a government that is increasingly out of touch with parents who are feeling the squeeze and struggling to juggle work and family life.

“Raising taxes and cutting spending has seen unemployment rise and the economy go into reverse, with many employers cutting people’s hours. In this climate, very few people in part-time work will be able to increase their hours by up to 50 per cent at the moment. For a couple with children, losing around £4,000 a year - or £75.00 a week - could mean that going out to work no longer makes sense.”

Ms Clark said the proposed change tells us “everything you need to know about David Cameron and George Osborne, that while the banks are getting a tax cut this year, they are making life harder for parents who are working and trying to do the right thing.”

Warning the potential tax bombshell was just a few weeks away, Katy Clark said, “For many families here in North Ayrshire and Arran, it means going out to work won’t pay and they’ll be better off on benefits. That makes no economic sense at all. The government urgently needs to think again.”

Mixed reaction to North Ayrshire 'teacher training' school

2012-03-03T09:30:00.000Z

A North Ayrshire secondary school has been chosen as a ‘partner’ for Glasgow University’s student teachers.

Irvine Royal Academy will now see student teachers and academics based full-time at the school, where they will combine their studies with teaching. However, the initiative has come in for criticism from Scotland’s largest teachers’ union. Larry Flanagan of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) said, “We have a number of concerns, partly to do with a narrowing of resources available to individual schools, partly to do with the impact on pupils at a training school of seeing a succession of student teachers.” Mr Flanagan also said the move would see the school forced to take-on some of the university’s workload without receiving extra resources, which could mean an added burden for Council Tax-payers in North Ayrshire.

Irvine Royal Academy was unveiled as Glasgow University’s partner school at a ceremony last week, attended by the Scottish Government’s Cabinet Secretary for Education, Mike Russell MSP, Professor Anton Muscatelli of Glasgow University and the school’s Headteacher, Stirling Mackie.

Professor Muscatelli, Principal and Vice Chancellor of Glasgow University said, “This is an excellent example of innovation in practice. The project will benefit our students and staff, the teaching community within the schools and, most importantly, the young people who attend Irvine Royal Academy.”

Up until now, student teachers received the bulk of their training through classroom study within the university, followed by blocks of time on secondment at different schools.

More concerns over lack of harbour maintenance

2012-02-25T09:48:00.000Z

New concerns were raised this week over the lack of maintenance at Ardrossan Harbour.

The fresh issues relate to a prominent area of the ‘regenerated’ marina development and to the zone marked for expansion of the yachting enterprise. Previously, the3towns has highlighted serious concerns over a breach in the seawall and a gaping hole in the breakwater.

The above photos show serious damage to what was formerly the ‘tanker berth’ at Ardrossan Harbour, and a patch-up job to repair damaged paving at a landscaped part of the marina. The tanker berth is earmarked as the next phase for an expansion of the marina and additional housing. North Ayrshire Council is currently considering a planning application from the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company in relation to this area of the harbour. However, the extent of damage to sea defences at this point suggests major works will be required to prevent further erosion prior to any development.

In addition, two areas of block-paving on the pier next to housing in Mariners View, which were damaged during storms that lashed the Ayrshire coast last December, have been filled with loose stones, rather than being properly repaired. An Ardrossan man who spoke to the3towns at the time the above photos were taken said, “It’s just par for the course. It’s make do and mend here. Clydeport [owners of the harbour] is only interested in making money. If it involves them spending money, they don’t want to know.”

The man continued, “Look at the state of the block-paving. This is supposed to be the jewel in Ardrossan’s crown – the yachting marina and luxury housing – but they just dump a load of stones into the holes and leave it. What does that say to visitors?”

Last week the3towns reported the concerns of Ardrossan’s Independent councillor John Hunter in relation to the nearby site of the former Shell refinery. Cllr Hunter branded the area the Three Towns’ biggest “derelict site”, adding that recent works to decontaminate the soil had left it “looking like a wasteland.”

John Hunter indicated he hoped to organise a meeting of local residents once he had taken-up their concerns with the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company. “Local people are right to be concerned about the site,” said the councillor. “I intend to find out from Irvine Bay why the area has been left in its current condition, and what the company intends to do with it now. We know the long-term plan involves a housing development, but how long do Irvine Bay think it’s appropriate to leave a massive derelict site on Ardrossan’s shorefront?”

Labour councillors refuse to back 'living wage' for school cleaners

2012-02-25T09:47:00.000Z

Two local councillors will this week present a Motion to North Ayrshire Council backing a trade union’s call for school cleaners to receive the same ‘living wage’ as Council employees.

The Motion by SNP councillor Tony Gurney, seconded by Independent John Hunter, calls on the Council, “using all means available to it, to encourage all suppliers and local employers to adopt the living wage as a matter of urgency and instructs officers to investigate and implement those means immediately.”

Presently, all staff employed directly by North Ayrshire Council receive a recognised ‘living wage’ of at least £7.20 per hour. However, when the Labour administration of the local authority signed-up to its controversial Schools PPP Project, staff at four schools, including St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats and Stanley Primary in Ardrossan, were transferred into the employment of private facilities management company MITIE. As the3towns has previously reported, MITIE refuses to pay the ‘living wage’, which has resulted in cleaners receiving just £6.10 an hour.

The GMB trade union has called for wage parity between Council-employed cleaners and those doing the same job in schools now run by MITIE. Paul Arkison, a full-time official with the union, said, “It is time for this company to start investing. I believe MITIE are making significant profit from this contract and it is shameful they are failing to pay their staff the living wage of £7.20 an hour. They are more interested in profiteering than making an investment in their workforce.”

The GMB has asked politicians to sign a petition backing cleaners at St Matthews, Stanley and the other two schools built under the PPP contract, Arran High School and Greenwood Academy in Dreghorn. the3towns understands seven of the SNP’s eight councillors have signed the petition – one member, Largs councillor Bobby Rae, is on long-term sick leave – but so far no Labour councillors have supported the call for MITIE to pay the living wage.

Commenting, Cllr Tony Gurney told the3towns, “I was proud to sign the GMB's petition and not a little shocked to find that no one from the Labour Party on the council supported this campaign. People should be paid a wage that allows them to create a sustainable life for themselves and their families, and it is unfortunate that not all councillors support this basic human right.”

Cllr Gurney indicated his Motion to Wednesday’s (February 22) Council meeting would provide Labour councillors with another opportunity to support cleaners in MITIE-run schools. However, a source within the Council’s Labour Group told the3towns his party would not sign the GMB petition or support Cllr Gurney’s Motion because doing so could impact on any future contracts or tenders entered into by the Labour administration.

The full text of the Motion by Tony Gurney, seconded by John Hunter, reads:

North Ayrshire Council has rightly implemented the living wage for all its employees. This decision was taken to ensure that all employees have a chance at creating a sustainable life for themselves and their families. Indeed North Ayrshire Council's written evidence to a parliamentary committee states: "The council's decision to introduce the Living Wage is to both help stimulate the local economy, and to be in a position to lead by example in order to influence the larger employers within the area to follow suit to also implement the Living Wage concept.
It is time to stand by those words.

Many employers used by the council, including those employed to run the four PPP schools, have refused to implement the living wage for their employees. This is an invidious position and one which this Council cannot tolerate without challenge.

This Council therefore resolves, using all means available to it, to encourage all suppliers and local employers to adopt the living wage as a matter of urgency and instructs officers to investigate and implement those means immediately.

John Hunter to seek re-election

2012-02-25T09:45:00.000Z

One of North Ayrshire’s hardest-working councillors has confirmed he will seek re-election in May.

Independent John Hunter will again contest the Ardrossan & Arran seat. Cllr Hunter told the3towns, “It has been a great honour to serve the people of Ardrossan and Arran over the past five years. I believe that I have served with diligence and always with the best interests of both communities at heart.”

Mr Hunter, a retired university lecturer, acknowledged much remained to be done in both Ardrossan and Arran, which was partly why he had decided to seek a second term in elected office. “There have also been some significant achievements over the past five years,” said Cllr Hunter. “I helped repatriate money from Ardrossan Windfarm, securing funding for Ardrossan that the Council’s Labour administration wanted to spend elsewhere in the district. More recently, I proposed and secured a commitment to extend the Community Warden service to the south of the town, and also backed the removal of charges imposed by the Council for special uplifts of household items.”

In addition to representing his constituents, John Hunter has also served as Convener of the Council’s influential Scrutiny Committee, which has initiated a number of investigations into decisions taken by the ruling Labour Executive. Said Cllr Hunter, “As the record will show, I have been relentless in holding the administration to account, with many questions and motions to the Executive and relevant portfolio holders. It is also the case that the actions of officers need to be scrutinised and challenged on occasion, and I have done so when that is necessary.”

At John Hunter’s instigation the Scrutiny Committee has recently agreed to launch a far-reaching investigation into ‘rogue landlords’ responsible for poorly-maintained properties in local towns. The probe is also expected to look at property developers who do nothing to clean up undeveloped sites and derelict properties.

John Hunter said, “The regeneration of Ardrossan is obviously something I care passionately about and I have worked through the North Ayrshire Ventures Trust and North Ayrshire Ventures Limited to ensure that investment and jobs come to the ward. In addition, I have been vigilant with respect to Irvine Bay’s regeneration plans to ensure that developments in the town are appropriate and help to bring jobs and prosperity.

“I am particularly pleased that after long, and at times difficult, negotiations the long-awaited new health centre for Ardrossan is at the final stages of approval. I will be exerting pressure for the launch of a new development to incorporate the old Customs House facade. This will enhance the location around the new health centre, while preserving some vestige of the town’s industrial past.”

Cllr Hunter concluded, “The greatest satisfaction I have had over the past five years is helping the public by working to resolve a broad range of issues. I would like to thank all those who have given me support and encouragement and if I am re-elected I can assure them and all constituents that I will continue to fight on their behalf.”

Ardrossan meeting for SSP youth employment campaign

2012-02-25T09:44:00.000Z

The Scottish Socialist Party is to hold a public meeting in Ardrossan as part of its campaign demanding government action to tackle youth unemployment.

The meeting, to be held in the town’s Civic Centre on Tuesday, February 28, will be addressed by former MSP Campbell Martin, a young employee of North Ayrshire Council, and one of the many young people struggling to find work in the local area.

The SSP intends to mount a demonstration, on the subject of tackling youth unemployment in North Ayrshire, when Prime Minister David Cameron arrives in Troon on March 24 for the Scottish Tories’ Spring Conference. Commenting, Campbell Martin said, “Thatcher wasted the lives of an entire generation of young people by introducing policies that decimated entire industries and led to mass unemployment in the 1980s. Now, the Tories are back and the savage cuts they and the Lib Dems are imposing on public spending are resulting in young people again facing a bleak future.”

Mr Martin continued, “The SSP is saying there must not be another wasted generation. We, as a society, owe it to our children and grandchildren to provide hope and opportunity for the future, but right now, for so many young people, all they can see is the dole queue and eking out an existence on inadequate state benefits.

“No-one grows up wanting to waste their lives on the buroo, but with thousands of jobs being lost across the country and the SNP Scottish Government reducing funding for college courses, that’s exactly the life to which politicians are condemning our young people.”

Latest UK Government figures show there are now 105,000 young people (aged 18-24) without work in Scotland. In North Ayrshire the figure stands at 1,570. Campbell Martin, who will contest the Ardrossan & Arran seat for the SSP at May’s North Ayrshire Council Election, believes the true figure will be even higher. “The official figures don’t include young people shunted onto courses with no vocational or educational outcome. Hundreds, probably thousands of young people are removed from unemployment figures through this method. They are forced onto ‘work experience’ where, in many cases, no learning is provided and they find themselves used as cheap labour.”

Of the Prime Minister’s forthcoming visit, Mr Martin said, “He has the barefaced cheek to breeze into Ayrshire, where his government of millionaires has helped create the worst levels of poverty and unemployment in Scotland – with over 1,500 North Ayrshire young people currently thrown onto the scrapheap. Well, the SSP intends to give Mr Cameron a very, very warm welcome.”

The Scottish Socialist Party’s policy is for all young Scots to have access to a well-paid job, productive training or an education grant. Said Campbell Martin, “A modest 10 per cent wealth tax on just the richest 1,000 fat-cats would fund 1.4million new jobs – paying a salary of £25,000 a year. Also, if workers weren’t bullied and terrified into working unpaid overtime, at least another million jobs could be created.

“It’s time to fight back for our children’s future. I would urge everyone to come along to the public meeting on February 28 and to join the fight against the Tories’ plans for another wasted generation.”

The SSP public meeting on February 28 begins at 7:30pm.

North Ayrshire: still Scotland's highest unemployment

2012-02-25T09:42:00.000Z

North Ayrshire has retained its unwanted title as Scotland’s worst unemployment black spot.

Figures for January, issued by the Office for National Statistics, show the number of local people out of work and claiming Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) now stands at 6.3 per cent, compared with 4.1 per cent for Scotland as a whole. The North Ayrshire total has reached 5,368 – with 1,110 people having been out of work for over a year.

Worryingly, there are now 1,570 local young people (between the ages of 18 and 24) without work and claiming JSA.

Other areas of the country blighted by soaring unemployment are also located in west-central Scotland: West Dunbartonhire – 6.2 per cent; East Ayrshire – 6 per cent; Glasgow 5.7 per cent; North Lanarkshire 5.5 per cent. The lowest unemployment is in Aberdeenshire, which has a rate of 1.4 per cent.

Other figures released last week show North Ayrshire is lagging behind in terms of wage levels. The median hourly pay for full-time male staff in the local area is £12.34, while the figure for Scotland is £12.44 and for the UK it is £13.32. The median pay for full-time female staff in North Ayrshire comes in at £11.34, compared with £11.88 for Scotland and £11.95 for the UK.

According to the official unemployment figures, there are now 231,000 people without work in Scotland.

Scotland Office Minister David Mundell, the only Tory MP in Scotland, described the figures as “disappointing”.

Murder investigation: police search West Kilbride field

2012-02-25T09:40:00.000Z

Police investigating the abduction and murder of financial adviser Lynda Spence have carried out a search of a field and a disused well in the area of West Kilbride’s Law Hill.

Ms Spence, 28, has not been seen since April of last year when she left her parents' house in Glasgow Harbour.

Last November the3towns reported a sense of shock gripping local communities after four men were arrested following a police search of a property in Meadowfoot Road, West Kilbride. The men - Paul Smith, 45, from Largs, Colin Coates, 41, from Glasgow, Philip Wade, 40, from Glengarnock, and David Parker, 36, from West Kilbride - were charged with abduction, assault, murder and attempting to defeat the ends of justice. All four subsequently appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, where it was alleged that, over a two-week period, they assaulted Ms Spence by cutting off her fingers and a thumb, striking her with a golf club, scalding her with an iron and failed to seek medical attention before killing her and disposing of the body. None of the four made any plea or declaration and all were remanded in custody.

A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police this week confirmed the force was searching a field in the Law Hill area of West Kilbride as part of the Lynda Spence murder inquiry, but indicated, “As proceedings are live in this case no further comment will be made.”

Council opposes boundary changes

2012-02-25T09:39:00.000Z

A report going before this week’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council reveals the local authority is opposed to boundary changes proposed for the Westminster parliamentary constituencies of North Ayrshire & Arran and Central Ayrshire.

Following consideration of the Boundary Commission’s proposals, councillors agreed to “support the retention of the existing Ayrshire constituencies, with such minor revisions to boundaries as are required to bring the existing Central Ayrshire constituency up to the minimum electorate threshold”. On behalf of elected members, Council Chief Executive Elma Murray also invited East and South Ayrshire Councils to support the terms of North Ayrshire’s response.

As revealed by the3towns last October, the Boundary Commission for Scotland proposed major changes to the North Ayrshire & Arran constituency, currently represented by Labour’s Katy Clark. In the proposals, Irvine and Kilwinning would be added to the present seat – Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston and the Isle of Arran would remain – but West Kilbride, Fairlie, Largs, Skelmorlie, Dalry, Beith and Kilbirnie would be transferred into a new constituency to be called Renfrewshire South & Largs. Local towns moving out of the North Ayrshire & Arran constituency would find themselves sharing an MP with Renfrewshire’s Elderslie, Kilbarchan, Bridge of Weir, Lochwinnoch, Howwood and Linwood.

With the Boundary Commission’s initial consultation period now closed, North Ayrshire’s councillors will this week hear that around 500 comments and representations were submitted to the regulatory body. The Commission will now embark on a second consultation period, during which it will use its web site to publish all initial representations, as well as transcripts of five Public Hearings held around Scotland during November 2011. Interested parties will be able to submit remarks, which will also be considered in relation to proposed changes.

The second consultation period will run for four weeks, between March 1 and March 28. Following this, revised proposals may be published and these would be open to another consultation period of eight weeks. The Boundary Commission expects to announce its final recommendations by October 2013. Proposals would then go before the Westminster Parliament for consideration.

Burgess backs Tourism Week

2012-02-25T09:37:00.000Z

“Local tourism is about much more than golf.” That was the view of MSP Margaret Burgess as she signed-up to Scottish Tourism week.

The SNP MSP for Cunninghame South said, “Scottish Tourism Week is now in its seventh year. It provides an opportunity to showcase the importance of the industry to Scotland but also for us to highlight what North Ayrshire has to offer.”

Mrs Burgess reflected on the high number of visitors who come to Ayrshire for golf, saying, “Yes, we have some of the best courses in world with first class facilities offering great value for money, but we also have so much more.

“We have the Scottish Maritime Museum, Eglinton Park, and in terms of heritage and cultural tourism, Irvine, Kilwinning and Stevenston can also boast powerful Robert Burns’ connections.”

Margaret Burgess signed-up to Tourism Week during a reception at the Scottish Parliament. The MSP noted, “Across Scotland, tourism contributes £11billion to the Scottish economy and employs over 220,000 people – it is a vital industry in my constituency.”

Scottish Tourism Week was initiated by the Scottish Tourism Forum in 2006 to raise the profile of the industry's importance to the Scottish economy, to encourage business networking and to bring together the public, private and elected sector towards a positive single agenda. This year’s Tourism Week will run from March 6 to 13.

Regeneration area branded 'derelict site'

2012-02-18T12:16:00.000Z

The former Shell refinery in Ardrossan has been branded “the Three Towns’ biggest derelict site” by a local councillor.

Independent John Hunter spoke out after residents who live close to the shorefront site raised concerns over the way the land has been left after the conclusion of an eleven-month ‘decontamination’ project. Cllr Hunter said, “Understandably, local people want to know what is going on with the former Shell site. The land is supposed to have been decontaminated but the boundary fence has new signs fixed to it warning of contaminated land.”

John Hunter met last week with residents of the North Shore area of Ardrossan, and has promised to raise their concerns with the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company, the organisation behind the regeneration project that includes the Shell site. “Decontamination work seems to have come to a halt,” said Cllr Hunter, “but the site has been left looking like a wasteland.”

The Ardrossan & Arran councillor continued, “Irvine Bay has been tasked with regenerating the area, but in the land at the Shell they are currently sitting on the Three Towns’ biggest derelict site.” Cllr Hunter indicated to the3towns that he hopes to be able to organise a meeting of local residents once he has taken-up their concerns with Irvine Bay. “Local people are right to be concerned about the Shell site,” said the councillor, adding, “I intend to find out from Irvine Bay why the area has been left in its current condition, and what the company intends to do with it now. We know the long-term plan involves a housing development, but how long do Irvine Bay think it’s appropriate to leave a massive derelict site on Ardrossan’s shorefront?”

As previously reported by the3towns, the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company - a private enterprise funded by public money – revealed plans for the shell site to form part of “a major project...to create new commercial space, develop new homes and extend the existing successful marina.” The company indicated the full project would cost in the region of £70million.

the3towns understands Irvine Bay forked-out more than £6million of public money to acquire the site, and agreed to take on liability for the clean up, which is believed to have cost a further £2.6million.

Documents obtained under Freedom of Information legislation show that Irvine Bay received £17.4million of public funding between 2006, when it was created, and 2010. In those four years the company generated just £1.4million of private investment, despite having a target of £80million.

Of the public money spent by Irvine Bay, around £900,000 went on renovating and extending the former Royal Bank of Scotland building in Ardrossan’s Princes Street. This was on top of the £50,000 spent to buy the property.

Irvine Bay has also spent more than £6million of public money acquiring derelict buildings and land, including £543,000 to buy the former Grange Bingo in Stevenston, which is now a supermarket.

In addition, the documents secured under Freedom of Information legislation show that, in the four years since its creation in 2006, Irvine Bay had created just 46 jobs, barely 2 per cent of its target of 2,640 by 2020. Around 120 construction jobs have been generated against a target of 2,790.

SSP condemn joint Labour-SNP cuts plan

2012-02-18T12:14:00.000Z

Just days after councillors from all parties on North Ayrshire Council passed a budget that will slash £23million from services to local communities, the leaders of Labour and the SNP on the Council have united to call for help in implementing a restructuring exercise designed to produce more ‘efficiency savings’ or cuts.

Cllr David O’Neill, Labour Leader of the Council, and his SNP counterpart, Cllr Matthew Brown, were jointly quoted in the national media asking the SNP Scottish Government to take a lead and show them how to amalgamate services across local authority boundaries, a move that, when implemented elsewhere, has led to staff redundancies and cuts to services.

The SNP’s Cllr Brown said, “If we wait for things to happen organically we'll be dead. The Scottish Government needs to publish a set of principles in terms of how and where reform should take place. They will have to be in contact with local government to see progress one way or another.”

Labour’s Cllr O’Neill was even clearer about what was being proposed, saying, “I'll not be surprised if after May's election there will be no more 'softly softly'. Any change is going to require courage to deliver because people will have things taken away from them.”

Reacting to Labour and the SNP joining forces for more cuts, the Scottish Socialist Party’s Campbell Martin said, “Everyone who attended last week’s Council budget meeting saw there was little difference between Labour and the SNP, they both supported cuts to services and jobs. Now they are not even pretending to be different. The united comments from David O’Neill and Matthew Brown show that if local people vote for Labour or the SNP at May’s Council Election, both parties will slash services even more.”

Mr Martin, who will contest the Ardrossan & Arran seat for the SSP at the Council Election, added, “Amalgamating services across Council boundaries and taking them even further away from North Ayrshire communities will not improve the actual service received by local people. Like the Tory-Lib Dem Government in London, Labour and the SNP on North Ayrshire Council are content to punish local communities by reducing the funding needed to provide quality services, and all to pay for bailing-out the spivs and speculators of the City of London.”

The Scottish Socialist Party lobbied and petitioned last week’s Council budget meeting, demanding councillors put first the interests of local people and refuse to implement more savage cuts to public spending and services. Commenting on the latest cuts agenda of Labour and SNP councillors, Campbell Martin said, “The ‘United Front For More Cuts’ shown by North Ayrshire Council’s Labour and SNP leaders should be taken as a warning by local people. Vote for either of these parties in May and they are determined to slash services even further.

“At last week’s Council budget meeting, the SSP was the only party standing shoulder-to-shoulder with local people and opposing cuts to jobs and services. At May’s Council Election we will also stand on a platform of ‘No Cuts’, unlike Labour, SNP, the Tories and Liberal Democrats whose only answer is to cut services more and more, and to punish local people in order to pay the debts of multi-millionaire bankers. It’s the bankers who should be paying the debts, not the people of North Ayrshire.”

McNicol secures review of 'special uplift' charges

2012-02-18T12:13:00.000Z

Saltcoats & Stevenston Independent councillor Ronnie McNicol has secured a review of Council charges for ‘special uplifts’.

In 2010 the Labour-run local authority began charging householders £12.00 for uplifts of up to five items, with additional fees applied for collecting larger quantities. However, as the3towns subsequently revealed, a Council report on the charges for special uplifts of household items, such as furniture and fridges, confirmed “the reduction in the number of service requests [for special uplifts] was significantly greater than anticipated”. In the report, North Ayrshire’s Corporate Director (Finance and Infrastructure), Ms Laura Friel, said, “the introduction of charges was anticipated to realise annual income of £215,000,” but the actual amount raised was just £76,185.

At last week’s Council budget meeting, Ronnie McNicol said the introduction of charges had led to a noticeable increase in fly-tipping in the Three Towns, and revealed it was costing the local authority more to remove items illegally dumped than they were taking-in from charges for special uplifts. Said Cllr McNicol, “Since it is apparent we are spending more cleaning up than we recover from special uplift charges, I propose the charges are removed.”

In response, Cllr David O’Neill, the Labour Leader of the Council, agreed to a review. While falling short of the requested removal of charges, Ronnie McNicol indicated he would agree to the review, provided it was carried out soon.

Saltcoats & Stevenston SNP councillor Willie Gibson then asked that the review should also look at the local authority’s recently-introduced policy requiring local residents to be in possession of a ‘Waste Permit’ to use amenity sites, in certain circumstances. Cllr Gibson raised concerns that the introduction of permits had also contributed to the increase in illegal dumping around the Three Towns.

For the Labour administration, Cllr O’Neill agreed the review should include the changes regarding dumping at Council-run amenity sites.

Gurney reveals multi-billion pound cost of PFI-PPP

2012-02-18T12:11:00.000Z

Ardrossan & Arran SNP councillor Tony Gurney has revealed taxpayers are being forced to pay a total of £131.5billion for schools and hospitals worth barely a quarter of the sum.

The buildings, including four schools in North Ayrshire, were built using the discredited Public Finance Initiative (PFI), latterly known as Public Private Partnerships (PPP). PFI schemes were introduced by the Conservative Government led by John Major and involved private consortia building and maintaining public facilities. Once constructed, the buildings were leased to local authorities and health boards, with the public purse ending up paying over the odds for often poorly-built facilities. Although the Labour Party opposed PFI while it was in opposition, once elected to government in 1997 the party rebranded the scheme as PPP and expanded the building programme, a move that has now led to taxpayers having to pay £131.5billion to a handful of large private companies. Contracts oblige councils and health boards to pay PFI/PPP bills before committing funding to public services or staff costs.

Tony Gurney said, “For years governments and councils have been attempting to pass off these deals as being good for the public. It is now clear they were good for nothing, except lining the pockets of companies lucky enough to be awarded the contracts.

“In North Ayrshire, Labour councillors were warned the costs were astronomical and that the assets did not justify the prices paid. It is like taking out a mortgage and not getting your house at the end. These warnings were ignored and the price is now being paid, in-part, by the massive service cuts being imposed by this Labour administration.”

the3towns recently reported the true cost of North Ayrshire Council’s Schools PPP Project could reach more than half-a-billion pounds for just four schools.

Initially, Labour councillors stated the North Ayrshire contract to employ a private developer to build and maintain four new schools would cost £80million. The schools, including St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats and Stanley Primary in Ardrossan, were duly built, but the contract finally signed by NAC was for £380million.

At last week’s Council budget meeting, Ardrossan & Arran Independent councillor John Hunter revealed the cost of the PPP project is set to rise annually until its projected end in 2036-37, by which time the public purse will have paid around £548million.

De-selection of Labour councillor confirmed

2012-02-18T12:09:00.000Z

A re-run candidate selection meeting has confirmed the decision to dump a long-serving Labour councillor.

Tom Barr, who currently represents the Irvine East ward and is the ruling Labour Executive’s Environment portfolio-holder, has now been officially de-selected and will not be a Labour candidate at May’s Council Election.

At the party’s original selection meeting, members chose three candidates for the Irvine East seat – former MSP Irene Oldfather, her former election agent John Easdale and David Logan, a former shop steward’s convener at the GlaxoSmithKline chemical plant. However, sitting councillor Tom Barr appealed the decision on the basis that Mrs Oldfather, having already been selected, then took part in the vote that de-selected Mr Barr, a move that contravened Labour Party rules.

Tom Barr’s appeal was upheld by the party, but the3towns understands that at a second selection meeting, held last week, the same decision was reached, confirming the three Labour candidates for Irvine East as Mrs Oldfather, Mr Easdale and Mr Logan.

A source close to Tom Barr told the3towns the long-serving councillor may now consider standing as an Independent in May. Mr Barr was first elected in 1992 and was returned by his constituents at every Council Election since.

The decision to ditch Tom Barr comes in the week when a number of sitting but de-selected Labour councillors in Glasgow announced their resignations from the party and their intention to stand as Independents on May 3^rd. One other Glasgow Labour councillor dumped by the party has joined the SNP.

The Irvine East seat will also be contested by Denise Morton of the Scottish Socialist Party.

North Ayrshire road link to be upgraded

2012-02-18T12:08:00.000Z

Cunninghame South MSP Margaret Burgess has welcomed the Scottish budget passed last week by the SNP Government.

In particular, Mrs Burgess flagged-up an investment of £72million in roads projects that will see commencement of the long-awaited Dalry by-pass on the A737. The local MSP said, “After many years of Labour Party inaction, followed by doom-laden scaremongering, it’s an SNP Government that has given the go-ahead for the Dalry by-pass.”

Mrs Burgess continued, “The A737 has been seen as the key infrastructure project to open up job-creating investment and development opportunities in North Ayrshire – and this SNP Government has made a start on it.”

Addressing comments to political opponents in the Labour Party, Margaret Burgess said, “Maybe Labour will praise the announcement – although they’ve never found it hard to sprinkle some misery and moaning into any good news story.” The previous Labour-led Scottish Government had promised to upgrade the A737 around Dalry to make it easier for North Ayrshire residents to connect with the M8 and the national motorway system, but the party failed to deliver in its eight years in power.

Mrs Burgess highlighted how a North Ayrshire-based Labour MSP, Mrs Margaret McDougall, had called for the upgrading of the A737, but voted against the budget containing funding for the project. “Labour conjures up a wish-list,” said Margaret Burgess, “but when the SNP Scottish Government delivers, they still contrive to vote against the Budget. It’s time to commend what this Scottish Government is doing for North Ayrshire and the rest of Scotland.”

MP condemns bankers' bonuses

2012-02-18T12:07:00.000Z

Katy Clark, MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, has called on the UK Government to curb the bonus payments of executives and senior figures within the banking industry. The Labour MP has also urged the Clydesdale Bank to protect jobs after the company’s Australian owners announced a strategic review of its UK operations.

Ms Clark’s comments came as Barclays Bank announced it was providing senior staff with a bonus pot of over £2billion this year. Royal Bank of Scotland Chief Executive Stephen Hester recently came under intense pressure to decline a bonus of £963,000.

Katy Clark said, “Since taking office, the Tory-Lib Dem Government has repeatedly said it intends to take tough action against the banking industry. Unfortunately, it has failed to act at every opportunity. At a time when unemployment is rising and many are struggling financially, people are understandably angry that executives of banks are receiving bonuses of this kind.”

Ms Clark said the government should take a more interventionist approach to the banks, adding, “Legislation should be introduced that places significant restrictions on bonuses in the banking industry and ensures any remuneration is based on clear long-term achievements.”

With regard to the announcement by the Australian National Bank in relation to a strategic review of its Clydesdale Bank operations, Katy Clark said, “I am disappointed at the decision. Staff at Clydesdale branches in my constituency will understandably be concerned for their futures. I very much hope that when undertaking its review, Australian National Bank will prioritise the jobs of employees.”

Ms Clark concluded, “This is just the latest example of jobs being put at risk by the reckless economic course being pursued by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Government should immediately enter into discussions with Australian National Bank and do everything it can to protect the jobs of workers in the UK.”

Three Towns to benefit from broadband initiative

2012-02-18T12:05:00.000Z

The Three Towns will benefit from a ‘broadband action plan’ announced by the SNP Scottish Government.

‘Scotland’s Digital Future’ aims to deliver a world-class and future-proof digital infrastructure by 2020, with what is described as ‘a step change’ in 2015.

Local MSP Margaret Burgess welcomed the initiative, saying, “This plan also sets out the SNP Scottish Government’s intention to move forward at a rapid pace and to deliver a transformational change in the quality and coverage of internet and mobile access across Scotland.”

Reflecting on what this will mean for areas like the Three Towns, Mrs Burgess said, “It will enable more people to connect from their homes, at work and while on the move.

“It is important to increase digital participation rates, both for individuals and businesses. Increasing take-up is fundamental to the plan and to Scotland’s future. If local government and the rest of the public sector take full advantage of the digital age, it will lead to productivity gains through more efficient and lower-cost provision of services.”

The SNP MSP for Cunninghame South concluded, “Overall, the plan is comprehensive, ambitious and realistic.”

Libyan war casualties in Saltcoats care home

2012-02-10T20:21:00.000Z

the3towns can reveal Libyan nationals injured in the recent war that saw the overthrow of Colonel Gaddafi are currently housed in a Saltcoats care home.

Arran View in Burns Avenue, which normally looks after elderly residents of local towns, is providing beds and recuperation facilities to ten Libyans. Mr Kenny Valentine, a director of Bupa, which owns Arran View, told the3towns, “We are working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to look after ten people from Libya who were injured during the recent conflict there. Their treatment and care is being paid for by the Libyan Government and has been arranged by the Scottish Government.”

Mr Valentine said Bupa was proud to have been chosen to help with the rehabilitation and recovery of the Libyans, adding, “We wish them a speedy recovery so they can return to their families.”

The new residents of Arran View were brought to Scotland to receive specialist treatment from the NHS. They were fitted with prosthetics after losing limbs during the recent armed conflict in Libya, in which Britain provided military support to rebels fighting forces of the Gaddafi regime.

For the SNP Scottish Government, Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said, “It is right that we play our part in the UK effort by helping innocent casualties from the war in Libya where we can.

“Scotland offers excellent prosthetics care and we can now offer this quality of care to others who urgently need it. All of the patients have suffered lower limb amputations and one is a bilateral amputee.”

It is understood the Libyan Embassy in London is funding the care of the ten people currently recuperating at Arran View.

Council passes £23m budget cuts

2012-02-10T20:20:00.000Z

North Ayrshire Council has agreed a budget that will see £23million of cuts implemented over the next three years, with 167 staff losing their jobs. The reduced expenditure and redundancies come on top of multi-million pound cuts already made in previous years, which resulted in 400 Council workers being paid off.

The local authority’s 30 councillors thrashed out the financial figures during a two-hour meeting last Wednesday, where genuine concern over the impact cuts would have on local services gave way to party-political point-scoring ahead of May’s Council Election.

The Council Leader, Labour’s David O’Neill, opened the meeting by reflecting on “global financial challenges” that continue to impact on resources made available to local authorities. Against that background, Cllr O’Neill said NAC faced “two major challenges – reduced funding and increased demand for services.” The Labour man then went on to describe how his administration intended to proceed, which included slashing spending by £23million over three years, reducing the number of staff delivering services to local communities, and continuing to impose pay restraint on Council workers, in effect pay cuts over the next few years.

In response, Cllr Matthew Brown, Leader of the principal opposition group, the SNP, said Labour’s budget proposals were “Much ado about nothing...and lacked innovation and imagination”.

On behalf of the Three Towns Independent Group, Cllr John Hunter stated, “The budget may be well presented, but Cllr McNicol and I are not happy with the contents.”

However, Kilbirnie & Beith Independent Jean Highgate said the financial proposals were “the best we could manage in difficult times,” adding that, in the future, “decisions will have to be taken, even if they are unpopular.” Cllr Highgate, who along with other Independents Margie Currie and Elizabeth McLardy normally supports the Labour administration, concluded by saying, “Times of plenty have well and truly gone.”

Ardrossan & Arran Independent John Hunter, seconded by the SNP’s Tony Gurney (also Ardrossan & Arran) successfully moved a Motion that secured an expanded Community Warden service for Ardrossan (reported separately).

Ronnie McNicol (Independent) , seconded by Willie Gibson (SNP) managed to rescue Saltcoats Town Hall, with the Labour administration agreeing to commit an indicative sum of £1.9million to a refurbishment of the building, which the same Labour councillors closed in 2009 (also reported separately).

In addition, the SNP’s Willie Gibson led amendments to Labour proposals to slash the Education budget. According to the SNP, “The Scottish Government gave North Ayrshire £906,000 for teachers, but Labour wanted to use this to repair a roof in Saltcoats, build a slipway in Largs and buy land in Irvine.” The Nationalists argued this was a completely inappropriate use of funding and demanded the money be reinstated to provide “teachers [and] raise educational attainment.”

For the Labour administration, Cllr David O’Neill accepted the amendments moved by Cllr Gibson and agreed to return £147,000 to the schools budget. Labour’s plan to cut £20,000 from the budget for special needs purchases was also dropped.

Cllr O’Neill concluded proceedings by thanking all councillors for their co-operation in setting and passing the budget. However, Independent John Hunter later commented, “I don’t want his thanks. Ronnie McNicol and I know this budget will cause real difficulty for some of the most vulnerable people in North Ayrshire. I don’t see any grounds for councillors to be patting themselves on the back.”

Ahead of the budget meeting, activists from the North Ayrshire Branch of the Scottish Socialist Party lobbied the Council headquarters in Irvine, demanding councillors refuse to implement multi-million pound cuts that will inevitably have a further negative impact on services and jobs in local communities.

The SSP also presented a petition to the budget meeting, containing the signatures of 1,178 residents of North Ayrshire and demanding councillors set a ‘No Cuts’ defiance budget to fully meet the needs of local people. However, the party was refused permission to address the meeting in support of the people and the petition’s aims.

Speaking after the meeting, Campbell Martin, SSP candidate for Ardrossan & Arran said, “The decisions taken by councillors will have devastating consequences for people and communities in North Ayrshire. We already have the highest level of unemployment in Scotland, and the second-highest level of children growing up in severe poverty, yet councillors from all parties have decided to implement further cuts to jobs and services.”

Mr Martin added, “The SSP is the only political party on the side of the people. We were at the budget meeting to argue the case for demanding central government in London and Edinburgh returns to North Ayrshire the millions of pounds they have stolen from budgets over recent years. We asked councillors to put local people first and to set a budget that meets the needs of North Ayrshire communities, but they weren’t even prepared to listen. They couldn’t care less about how people are suffering.”

Concluding, the former MSP said, “The councillors who voted to implement another £23million of cuts have turned their backs on the people that elected them. They’ve put implementing Tory-Lib Dem and SNP cuts before the needs and interests of local communities.”

McNicol secures £1.9m Town Hall refurbishment

2012-02-10T20:18:00.000Z

Amid terse exchanges across the Council chamber, Independent councillor Ronnie McNicol, seconded by the SNP’s Willie Gibson, was able to secure a commitment – and an indicative sum of £1.9million – to refurbish Saltcoats Town Hall.

During discussion of a Motion to last Wednesday’s budget meeting, both Cllr McNicol and Cllr Gibson questioned the content of a press statement issued by Labour’s Jim Montgomerie on the subject of the Town Hall. It appeared Cllr Montgomerie claimed he, alone, had secured funding of £300,000 to ‘save’ Saltcoats Town Hall, when in fact the money had been provided by the local authority to simply make the structure wind and watertight. It was also alleged that Cllr Montgomerie’s statement had been issued prior to ratification of the decision by the ruling Executive.

In comparison, Ronnie McNicol’s Motion really was a proposal to save and refurbish the Town Hall in Countess Street, allowing it to once again be used by Saltcoats community groups and residents.

Addressing the budget meeting, Cllr McNicol said, “At the budget seminar on 2nd February, 2012 it was stated that there is an unallocated funding of £3.9 million pounds of Capital Resources in the capital plan for 2012/2016.

“In the Capital Investment Programme in 2006/07 to 2011/12 £3.1million was allocated by the Labour Administration for the refurbishment of Saltcoats Town Hall, then in September 2006 a report to the Three Towns Area Committee indicated a need to consider how best to utilise the capital funding of £3 million. The report notes that a scheme had been developed to improve the facilities for community use. Why was the identified scheme never progressed, and what happened to the £3million allocated for it?”

The Independent councillor continued, “In 2007, after the Council Elections, I attended a meeting with the Finance Director, Mr Herbert, Mr Leckie from Education and the former councillor for Saltcoats and Stevenston, David Munn. We were shown two sets of plans of the refurbishment of Saltcoats Town Hall. We were also informed that a business case had been drawn up showing two retail units, two offices,and function rooms within the town hall.

“At a meeting of the Three Towns area committee in April 2008, it was reported that a review of community halls and centres was carried out in 2001/02 and 2004. This included Saltcoats Town Hall. The report indicated that Education Services was successful in obtaining capital funding, in particular in respect of the Town Hall. The report also notes that a more modest restoration project could be carried out at a cost of £1.95 million. Where are the reviews and how much capital funding was received?”

Explaining the matter further, Ronnie McNicol added, “In December 2011 a report was prepared by external consultants on the essential repairs required to keep the Town Hall wind and watertight, the cost being £300,000. Provision has been made from the 2011/12 Education and Skills revenue budget underspend to fund this essential work on a part Listed Building, but why has the administration allowed a situation to develop where they are now forced to spend hundreds-of-thousands of pounds 'fire-fighting', carrying out 'essential repairs', when if they had not reneged on their pre-election promise of 2007 Saltcoats Town Hall would by now be fully refurbished and an asset for the community? Also, why has the allocation of £300,000 been kept so quiet, and why has one councillor been claiming to have 'secured' funding for Saltcoats Town Hall when, in fact, the money must be spent simply to keep the structure wind and water-tight? I hope this promise of money is not another political exercise pre the May Local Elections.”

Mr McNicol continued, “Saltcoats Town Hall is an integral part of the regeneration of the town centre. Several businesses have recently stopped trading due to lack of people shopping locally, whereby jobs are lost in an already high unemployment area.

“I welcome the £300,000 allocated by the Executive, even if it comes very late in the day - just before another election - and even if it will do no more than safeguard the integrity of the structure. Once the building is made wind and water-tight, the £1.9million in our Motion will allow a substantial refurbishment to begin, which in turn will help to encourage businesses and jobs back to Saltcoats.

“Previously, the Leader of the Council stated that the Town Hall was structurally sound and the only issues related to toilet facilities and disabled access to the upper floor, therefore £1.9 million and £300,000, a total of £2.2 million, should be sufficient to deliver a refurbished Town Hall.”

Prior to the last Council Election in 2007, Labour councillors promised a £3.1million refurbishment of Saltcoats Town Hall. That sum was reduced in 2008 to £1.9million, and then to zero. Labour closed the facility in 2009. However, responding to Ronnie McNicol’s speech, Council Leader David O’Neill gave a commitment that a refurbishment would now be carried out, and agreed to set-aside the £1.9million requested by Cllr McNicol.

Success for Hunter on Ardrossan Wardens

2012-02-10T20:16:00.000Z

Independent councillor John Hunter won a major victory at last Wednesday’s budget meeting, when the Labour Leader of North Ayrshire Council agreed to set-aside a sum in the region of £145,000 to fund an expansion of the Community Warden service in Ardrossan.

Cllr Hunter had tabled an amendment to the budget, seconded by SNP councillor Tony Gurney, which called for Wardens to patrol in the south of Ardrossan. Presently, the community service is only available north of the Parkhouse Road/Eglinton Road ‘dividing line’.

Addressing the meeting, John Hunter said, “As members know, I have for some time been keen to extend the scope of the Community Warden cover in Ardrossan. I proposed this at the last budget meeting but was unsuccessful on that occasion. Since then, at meetings of the Three Towns and Arran Area Committee, and at meetings of other community groups, it has become very clear that all parties would like to see this happen, including, I should add, the local police.”

Cllr Hunter then proposed, “an enhanced Community Warden provision...with extra staff to cover the area south of Parkhouse Road/Eglinton Road in Ardrossan down as far as the harbour area”.

After Chief Executive Elma Murray outlined three staffing options and associated funding requirements, Cllr David O’Neill indicated the Labour administration was prepared to set-aside around £145,000 – enough for three Wardens and one supervisor. However, the Council Leader also asked officials to provide further information in a report for a future meeting of the ruling Labour Executive.

Speaking after the Budget meeting, Cllr Tony Gurney said, “I am relieved to have finally secured this service expansion for Ardrossan. The artificial barriers that had been put in place barring the Wardens from providing a service to the whole town were hugely detrimental to Ardrossan.”

The SNP councillor added, “As we all work hard to secure more investment, including bringing more businesses and their associated jobs, I am comforted to know that we will also have the backup of the Warden service to ensure the town centre can once more be a bustling focus for Ardrossan's residents.”

Gurney calls for Campbeltown-Ardrossan ferry

2012-02-10T20:14:00.000Z

Ardrossan and Arran councillor Tony Gurney has called on local people to get involved in a Scottish Government review of ferry services that could see a new link created between Argyll and Ayrshire.

Cllr Gurney told the3towns, “The current Government proposals include linking Campbeltown and Ayrshire. For me, it is clear this should go ahead and that the Ayrshire port should be Ardrossan.”

The SNP councillor continued, “Given the current berthing facilities, as well as road, rail and bus connections that already exist, Ardrossan should be in pole position to host any new service.”

Cllr Gurney is encouraging everyone with an interest in a possible link between Campbeltown and Ardrossan to make their own response to the Scottish Government review. Current proposals can be found on the Scottish Government web site: www.scotland.gov.uk

Tony Gurney’s SNP colleague, Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP indicated the ferries review will run until the end of March 2012, adding, “The long term future of ferry services in Scotland is vital not only for Scotland's economic wellbeing but also for the people in our island and remote communities. As a Government we are absolutely determined and committed over the next decade to delivering on a progressive basis improved ferry services, and the draft Ferries Plan focuses on the things that we know matter most to our communities.

“We want to make a difference to people who contribute so much to the fabric of Scottish life and the proposals we have laid out are aimed at taking our ferry services forward with purpose and with those communities' interests at heart.”

Mr Brown concluded, “The future of our ferries is being shaped now and we would ask that those who cherish Scotland's ferry services and want the very best for the provision of ferry services over the coming decade, let us hear their views now.”

MP's opposition to Welfare Reform Bill

2012-02-10T20:12:00.000Z

Katy Clark, MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, has vowed to continue fighting Tory-Lib Dem welfare proposals, which she believes will harm the most vulnerable in society.

The Welfare Reform Bill has recently been debated in the House of Lords, with the Government suffering defeats on a number of its proposals, such as attempting to limit the amount of time individuals can remain on Employment and Support Allowance (ESA), and charging lone-parents to use the Child Support Agency. Members of the House of Lords also voted to exempt Child Benefit from the proposed £26,000 benefit cap. However, Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs simply overturned the Lords’ decision when the Bill returned last week to the House of Commons.

Katy Clark told the3towns, “The Welfare Reform Bill contains a number of proposals that will hit the most vulnerable hardest. The recent Spartacus Report has highlighted that the Government has misrepresented the evidence in relation to its proposals on Disability Living Allowance. Unfortunately, I believe the motivation for these changes appears to be cost-cutting rather than providing disabled people with the support they require. Time-limiting Employment and Support Allowance also threatens to place further hardship on disabled people, particularly as it is being made at a time when the unemployment rate is at its highest level for over 14 years.”

Ms Clark revealed she had been contacted by a number of her North Ayrshire constituents regarding the impact government proposals could have on their lives. Said the Labour MP, “I will oppose any change that I believe will harm disabled and vulnerable people.”

Katy Clark has previously voted against the Welfare Reform Bill when it has been presented to parliament.

Independent councillor helped Vics return home

2012-02-10T20:11:00.000Z

Last week’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council’s Three Towns and Arran Area Committee heard a representative of the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company explain that the return of Saltcoats Victoria to Campbell Park would not have been possible without the intervention of local Independent councillor Ronnie McNicol.

The regeneration company’s James Ledgerwood told the meeting how Cllr McNicol had brought together Irvine Bay and Saltcoats Vics secretary Gordon Hunter, a meeting that ultimately led to the securing of £55,000 to purchase new dressing rooms for the junior football club.

The length of time the Seasiders had to play home games at the Ardeer Stadium in Stevenston remains a major sore point, with some fans taking to online forums to vent their anger at those the believe are to blame, principally club president Raymond Montgomerie and his brother, Labour councillor Jim Montgomerie.

As previously reported by the3towns, one poster to a junior football site wrote, “From what I hear, it was not the Council who were the problem about Saltcoats getting back to Campbell Park. There was a slight hiccup over the power supply, but the main problem is Saltcoats signing the lease from the Council over the demands of a certain office bearer, whose brother is vice president and has just been elected a councillor for the ruling Labour Party. One would have thought he would have been able to smooth things over. Who would have believed a politician not delivering on promises a few weeks after being elected?”

Another Saltcoats fan added, “My finger points at the chairman, that bloke Raymond Montgomerie, who only appears at games when the success starts to show...even though I've noticed the same bloke in every picture in the paper and websites representing the development of Campbell Park. I'm aware it was the committee and volunteers down at the park with paintbrushes - I never once saw Montgomerie. He has torn apart a strong management/playing team and solid club.”

Government economy failure condemned

2012-02-10T20:06:00.000Z

Local MP Katy Clark has strongly criticised the UK Government over the latest economic statistics.

Figures produced by the Office for National Statistics show that the UK economy shrank by 0.2% in the period from October to December 2011. The news comes a week after the Labour Market Statistics indicated levels of unemployment in the UK are higher than at any time since 1996.

Ms Clark, MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, said, “The Tory-Lib Dem Government have been warned repeatedly of the consequences of their economic policies. Unfortunately, we are now seeing the full extent of the damage they are doing.

“In his first Budget the Chancellor announced the UK economy would grow by 2.3% in 2011, following the decisions which he has taken that figure was just 0.9%.”

The Labour MP concluded, “The Government cannot continue to ignore the evidence that its economic policies are failing. The latest unemployment figures show the human cost of this failure.”

Ms Clark indicated she would continue to do everything she can to urge the Chancellor to change economic course.

PPP schools bill soars to half-a-billion pounds

2012-02-04T13:02:00.000Z

Ardrossan & Arran Independent councillor John Hunter has revealed the true cost of North Ayrshire Council’s Schools PPP Project could reach more than half-a-billion pounds...for just four schools.

Cllr Hunter has campaigned for a number of years to secure answers over the Public Private Partnership entered into by the Labour administration of the local authority. Initially, Labour councillors stated the contract to employ a private developer to build and maintain four new schools would cost £80million. The schools, including St Matthews Academy in Saltcoats and Stanley Primary in Ardrossan, were duly built, but the contract finally signed by NAC was for £380million.

Now, John Hunter is to ask the Council’s Education portfolio-holder, Labour councillor John Bell, to confirm that the cost for the PPP project is set to rise annually until its projected end in 2036-37, by which time the public purse will have paid around £548million.

Said Cllr Hunter, “Due to indexation, the cost for the PPP schools project will rise annually, from the 2011-2012 figure of approximately £10.34million to the estimated 2036-2037 figure of £15.66million, and that when the non-indexed contribution from the Scottish Government Support grant of £5.86million per annum is factored in, it will bring the whole-life cost to over half-a-billion pounds - £548million or thereabouts.”

John Hunter will pose the question to Cllr Bell at Wednesday’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council. In addition, the Ardrossan & Arran councillor will also ask the Education spokesperson to explain why the Non Domestic Rates bill for the PPP schools has risen from £494,500 per annum in Year 1 to the current figure of £950,000 per annum and whether or not the cost is borne by the Contractor or the Council.

The North Ayrshire Schools PPP contract became notorious in local government circles after the Council’s Labour members pushed ahead with the project despite only receiving one credible and viable bid. A second bid was lodged with NAC but came from a company that had just been registered, had no office, no accounts, no experience in building or maintaining schools, and share capital of just £2.00. Documents submitted by the second bidder contained a series of lies regarding claimed experience and business partners. North Ayrshire Council maintained, and still maintains, that the second bid provided ‘genuine competition’ for the contract that it now appears will cost taxpayers over half-a-billion pounds.

New inspections at damaged Saltcoats prom

2012-02-04T13:01:00.000Z

Following our report of last week, which revealed the extent of damage caused to Saltcoats’ East Promenade during storms that battered the Ayrshire coast last December, inspections have been carried out on site by Network Rail and a range of contractors.

A source told the3towns that the rail company had “called in designers, and were hoping to put more divers in to check the level of damage to the prom.” It is understood previous inspections since the storm on December 28 had identified a number of voids, where seawater had breached the structure and scoured-out backfill material.

As previously reported, a joint decision by North Ayrshire Council and Network Rail led to the promenade being closed to the public on December 29. Prior to this, North Ayrshire Council had set-aside £50,000 for repairs to the prom after it became clear surface maintenance of the road and walkway was the responsibility of the local authority – the seawall and sub-surface structure of the prom belongs to Network Rail. However, with the further significant damage caused in the December storm, the Council and the rail infrastructure company are now working together to co-ordinate repairs.

In the meantime, Independent councillor Ronnie McNicol has asked that signage is erected showing alternative routes for walkers and cyclists: the East Promenade forms part of the local Coastal and Cycle paths.

As far back as May 2008 Saltcoats Community Council raised with North Ayrshire Council concerns over a lack of general maintenance at the promenade, even going as far as asking the local authority if the area would “benefit from more sea defences being put in place to break up the tidal force.”

Last week the Office of the Rail Regulator told a worried Saltcoats resident that it was “not in a position to comment” on whether or not the damage evident at the East Promenade “may ultimately pose a threat to the safety of the operational railway.”

Move to secure Town Hall funding

2012-02-04T12:59:00.000Z

Despite bringing forward a budget that projects a £23million deficit over the next three years, North Ayrshire Council’s Labour administration has also flagged-up £3.9million in this financial year, which it describes as “uncommitted resources”.

In light of this, two councillors for Saltcoats & Stevenston have tabled a Motion, to be heard at this week’s Council meeting, which proposes that £1.9million of the funding be allocated to refurbish Saltcoats Town Hall.

The Motion, proposed by Independent Ronnie McNicol and seconded by the SNP’s Willie Gibson, seeks to force Labour councillors to reinstate the sum previously set aside for refurbishment works. In fact, prior to the last Council Election in 2007, Labour councillors promised a £3.1million upgrade of the Town Hall. In 2008 that figure was scaled-back to £1.9million, before Labour councillors completely withdrew funding and closed the facility.

Cllr Ronnie McNicol has since relentlessly pursued answers over what happened to the money originally allocated for works to the Town Hall, and why Labour councillors subsequently left the building to deteriorate.

At the February 2011 meeting of the Council, Ronnie McNicol asked Labour Leader, Cllr David O’Neill, “Between April 2008, when the Executive said there was still £1.9million available for the Town Hall refurbishment, and December 2010, when the Leader admitted the Council did not have adequate money to carry out the work, where did the £1.9million go?”

In response, and despite the question relating to what appeared to be the disappearance of almost £2million of public money, Cllr O’Neill simply retorted, “The paper-trail for the decision-making process is clear, it is there for people to see.” However, the Labour councillor failed to actually explain where the money to renovate Saltcoats Town Hall had gone.

Cllr McNicol has since questioned why the keys of the Town Hall, a publicly-owned facility, have been handed over to the Irvine Bay Regeneration Company. In response, Cllr O’Neill indicated Irvine Bay had been given the keys to carry out a survey of the building. In a previous answer, though, the Council leader had told Cllr McNicol the Town Hall was structurally sound and the only issues related to toilet facilities and disabled access to the upper floor.

SSP to submit 'No Cuts' petition to budget meeting

2012-02-04T12:57:00.000Z

The Scottish Socialist Party will petition this week’s meeting of North Ayrshire Council, at which councillors will set the local authority’s budget.

As revealed last week by the3towns, NAC’s Labour administration intends to present financial projections for the next three years, with a small surplus showing this year as we approach May’s election, but a whopping overall deficit of £23million in the period after the local public elects a new Council. The Labour-run authority has already unleashed savage cuts to local services, with 400 staff made redundant as it tries to balance the books following substantial cuts from the Tory-Lib Dem Government in London, passed to Councils by the SNP Government in Edinburgh. With a £23million deficit projected over the next three years, it is feared the Council will attempt to make further devastating cuts to jobs and services.

In line with North Ayrshire Council’s Standing Orders, the rules governing meetings of the local authority, the SSP requested permission to submit a ‘No Cuts’ petition and to address the budget meeting in support of the document’s aims. However, following consultation with the district’s Provost, Cllr Pat McPhee, Council Chief Executive Elma Murray decided the Socialists could submit the petition but not speak at the meeting.

Commenting, the SSP’s Campbell Martin said, “It’s disappointing that we will not be allowed to address councillors, but we welcome the decision to accept the ‘No Cuts’ petition at the budget meeting.”

Mr Martin continued, “Hundreds of local people have signed the petition, demanding no more cuts in North Ayrshire. We’ve already seen communities hammered by devastating cuts, with some of our most vulnerable citizens seeing services reduced or completely removed. Those cuts were unacceptable and the last thing we need is for North Ayrshire Council to impose even more in this year’s budget.”

The former councillor and MSP highlighted how members of the public had queued to sign the SSP’s petition at regular stalls in Saltcoats and Irvine, adding, “Local people are very angry. They know the line that ‘we are all in this together’ is absolute rubbish. Communities across North Ayrshire are being devastated to produce financial savings that are then re-directed by central government to help refloat banks where directors are taking home multi-million-pound salaries and bonuses.

“Over the past few weeks, we have gathered hundreds of signatures from people demanding councillors stand up for local communities, set a ‘no-cuts’ defiance budget, and support a campaign to demand back the millions of pounds governments in London and Edinburgh have slashed from funds that should have come to North Ayrshire. The petition we present to the Council at its meeting on Wednesday (February 1) will make those demands. If councillors subsequently choose to ignore the voice of the people, and go on to set a budget that will result in at least another £23million-worth of cuts, then they will have to face the consequences at May’s Council Election.”

The SSP intends to continue gathering signatures at street stalls in local towns ahead of the Council’s budget meeting. The party has also written to trade unions representing local authority workers, inviting them to join with SSP members to lobby the Council at Cunninghame House in Irvine from 12:30pm on Wednesday, the day of the budget meeting.

Labour selects Council candidates

2012-02-04T12:56:00.000Z

The Labour Party has announced its candidates to fight the North Ayrshire Council Election in May.

All three current Labour councillors in the Three Towns have been re-selected, including Alan Munro, who is still the subject of an investigation by the Standards Commissioner over mileage claims submitted for meetings he did not attend.

Looking to the election on May 3, a spokesperson for the Labour Party said, “We are proud of our achievements and are continuing to take North Ayrshire forward. Despite Tory and SNP cuts we have implemented the Scottish Living Wage for Council employees, set aside money for 500 new council houses and started our £4.2m investment in new sheltered housing for our elderly.”

The party activist concluded, “Only one party has a record to be proud of in North Ayrshire - Labour.”

In the Ardrossan and Arran seat Labour has re-selected Peter McNamara and has teamed him with Loretta Gardener. Ms Gardner is understood to have recently become involved in community activities in Ardrossan. Previously, the3towns has reported that Mr McNamara has consistently been the Three Towns’ most expensive councillor. Over the last three financial years for which figures are available, Peter McNamara has pocketed a total of £70,996 from the public purse. Last year the Labour councillor was paid a salary of £20,294 and charged the public a further £3,259 in expenses, which included £2,243 for travel, £801 to cover phone and IT bills, £90.83 for accommodation, and £32.83 for meals.

The Ardrossan and Arran Ward elects four councillors, with Labour securing one (Mr McNamara) at the last election in 2007. The other current councillors are Tony Gurney (SNP), John Hunter (Independent) and Arran-based Independent Margie Currie.

Labour’s most controversial decision is its re-selection of Alan Munro to fight the Saltcoats and Stevenston Ward.

In June of last year, the3towns revealed Mr Munro submitted mileage claims – and was paid by the Council – for five return journeys between his home in Stevenston and North Ayrshire Council headquarters in Irvine, but that official Council minutes show the Labour man did not attend the five meetings to which he claimed his journeys related. The information came to light after the3towns submitted a Freedom of Information request to North Ayrshire Council and secured copies of expenses claim forms submitted by councillors. Cllr Munro’s claims were subsequently reported to Strathclyde Police and the Standards Commissioner for Scotland.

Also re-selected by Labour is Jim Montgomerie, who was elected last August following a by-election caused after veteran councillor David Munn stood down because of poor health.

The Saltcoats and Stevenston Ward also elects four councillors. In 2007, Independent Ronnie McNicol and the SNP’s Willie Gibson were returned alongside Labour’s Alan Munro and Mr Munn.

Elsewhere, the Labour Party has confirmed former MSP Allan Wilson will stand for the Council in the Kilbrinie and Beith seat. At the last election Labour secured one councillor in a Ward that returns just three members. Therefore, unless the party manages to substantially increase its vote this time, current councillor John Bell could be fighting it out with Mr Wilson for the one seat.

Saltcoats man helps lead fight against benefit cuts

2012-02-04T12:54:00.000Z

A Glasgow City councillor who grew up in Saltcoats is helping to lead the fight against UK Government reforms to the benefit system.

Matt Kerr, Labour councillor for Craigton, is chair of the Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty, which has just produced a report that found Tory-Lib Dem plans will remove a safety net for taxpayers and their families. The document was compiled jointly with Rights Advice Scotland.

Cllr Kerr told the3towns that the UK Government’s Welfare Reform Bill would result in “hard-working taxpayers being abandoned when they fall ill.”

The former pupil of Ardrossan Academy continued, “It beggars belief that any person could work for 40 years, paying tax and National Insurance, yet find themselves stripped of any income as they approach retirement age despite being found by the Government to be unfit for work. Yet this is exactly what the outcome of this change will be. The UK Government stands accused of the biggest insurance scam in history – mis-selling National Insurance on a grand scale.”

The report, Breaking the Social Contract, adds to increasing criticisms of the reforms, claiming they will hit the most vulnerable. In relation to the proposal to ‘time limit’ claims, Breaking the Social Contract states, “between £83million and £278million will be lost to 67,969 current claimants in Scotland as they reach the end of their entitlement.” It goes on to point out the Tory-Lib Dem plan is to make the legislation retrospective, which could result in as many as 25,000 former workers across Scotland sharing an annual loss of more than £1.9million.

The report says the removal of long-term sickness provision was likely to lead to increased fear and uncertainty about future family income, forcing people to turn to private health-protection insurance, which they may find unaffordable or unobtainable because of their health.

Matt Kerr said, “The effects on many existing contributions-based benefit recipients will be devastating, with almost all seeing their income reduce or completely disappear.”

Richard Gass, chairman of Rights Advice Scotland, added, “A worker’s right to support when sick has been fundamental since the creation of the Welfare State in 1947. Removing that right is a hammer blow, which is far from a fair deal for taxpayers who have to give up work due to unfortunate circumstances that can affect anyone.”

MSP backs Young Scot Awards

2012-02-04T12:52:00.000Z

Cunninghame South MSP Margaret Burgess is encouraging her constituents to nominate a young person, aged between 11 and 26, who has made a positive difference to people’s lives in the local area.

Mrs Burgess was referring to the Young Scot Awards 2012, which are being run by the Sunday Mail newspaper in association with The Co-operative Foundation. Organisers want to hear inspirational stories that “truly reflect Scotland's outstanding young people.”

Margaret Burgess said, “Over the last year or so, I have met inspirational Cunninghame South young people who dedicate themselves to helping others in one way or another.

“I would urge people to submit a nomination to the Young Scot Awards if they know someone or a group project that deserves recognition at national level. The more local nominations the better.”

Award categories include: Sport, Volunteering, the Arts, ‘Truth About Youth’, Health and Enterprise.

Mrs Burgess concluded, “This is a great opportunity to flag-up the good work going on in the local area, and to get young people the credit they deserve.”

Three finalists in each of categories will be invited to a glittering awards ceremony in Glasgow's Hilton Hotel on April 26th, where they will mix with celebrities, politicians and other guests.

Nominations should be submitted to www.youngscotawards.co.uk before Friday, February 26th.

'Rail should be publicly owned' - Katy Clark MP

2012-02-04T12:50:00.002Z

Local MP Katy Clark has sought a guarantee from the UK Government that the recently-agreed high-speed rail line will remain in public ownership.

Although only one stretch of high-speed rail is to be commissioned under current plans – linking London and Birmingham - the Tory-Lib Dem administration has held out the hope of further routes in the future.

Katy Clark said, “I welcome the Government’s announcement that the high-speed rail network will be going ahead, and I very much hope that plans are brought forward in the near future to reduce journey times from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh.”

The MP for North Ayrshire & Arran continued, “For high-speed rail to be a success, it is essential it remains affordable to ordinary people. Across Europe this has been achieved by keeping it in the public sector.

“Earlier this month we saw the privatised train-operating companies increase fare prices by up to 11 per cent, with regulated fares increasing by 6 per cent. This is just the latest example of the failure of rail privatisation in the United Kingdom.

“I urge the Government not to repeat the mistakes of the past and, instead, to ensure that any future high-speed rail network remains in public ownership.”

However, in response to a Parliamentary Question from Katy Clark, Tory Transport Secretary Justine Greening said she could not give such a commitment, adding, “We are just at the business of assessing what the line route is, and will continue to develop the phase 2 route. I think decisions about how the train service will be operated are ones for further in the future.”

Ms Greening further stated she did not anticipate high-speed rail travel would reach Scotland until around 2026.

Have your say on independence referendum

2012-02-04T12:49:00.000Z

Margaret Burgess, MSP for Cunninghame South, which includes Stevenston, is calling on everyone to play their part in shaping the referendum on Scottish independence.

First Minister Alex Salmond last week used the anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns to launch the Scottish Government’s consultation on its referendum proposals. Margaret Burgess said, “A decision as important as the independence referendum clearly needs to involve and engage everyone in Scotland.

“The referendum should be built in Scotland, by the people of Scotland, rather than limited by the strings and conditions of Westminster. So, I am asking my constituents to play their part. That is why I want to see as many people as possible take part in the Scottish Government’s consultation and help to shape the way the referendum in 2014 will be held.”

Mrs Burgess said the consultation presented an opportunity for everyone to “have a huge impact on the most important decision that Scotland has faced for 300 years”.

The SNP MSP added, “To improve Scotland more and build a better country we need the full range of powers available to an independent country. Nobody cares more about making Scotland a success than people in Scotland, and independence will give us the ability to meet the aspirations we all hold for this country.”

A copy of the Scottish Government’s independence referendum consultation can be found at http://www.scotreferendum.com/consultation along with details of how to respond.

Shocking prom damage raises rail safety fears

2012-01-28T10:26:00.000Z

the3towns this week reveals the shocking level of damage caused to Saltcoats’ East Promenade during the storms that battered the Ayrshire coast last December 28.

The following day, North Ayrshire Council closed the prom in the interests of public safety. However, the3towns understands a Saltcoats resident has now raised concerns with Network Rail in relation to the integrity of the main Glasgow-Largs railway line, which runs adjacent to the promenade, immediately behind the wall in the two photographs, above.

In response, Network Rail state, “As with many other assets the maintenance regime is fit for purpose, within the constraints of our funding determination. Site investigation is underway including underwater inspections which unfortunately have also been hampered by the severe weather conditions but are now being concluded. We have a team of engineers and designers working on repair solutions and site work will commence in the coming weeks. However, repairs will depend on a number of factors including results from our site investigation and access in any further inclement weather. In the meantime the promenade will remain closed for safety reasons.”

In October last year, the3towns revealed North Ayrshire Council had set-aside £50,000 for repairs to the East Promenade after it became clear surface maintenance of the road and walkway was the responsibility of the local authority. Prior to this, the Council had believed Network Rail was responsible for all aspects of the sea wall and promenade. At the time, NAC’s Corporate Director (Education & Skills), Ms Carol Kirk, said “the damaged surfacing presents a considerable risk to public safety,” and stated repairs were required “as a matter of urgency.”

With the further significant damage caused in the December storm, the Council and Network Rail will now have to liaise to co-ordinate repairs.

Saltcoats & Stevenston Independent councillor Ronnie McNicol told the3towns, “The decision to close the prom in December was taken jointly by the Council and Network Rail. The Council is only responsible for the surface of the prom, but clearly the entire structure needs rebuilt in certain areas before surface repairs can be carried out.”

Cllr McNicol has asked NAC officials to ensure Network Rail is made aware of the urgent need for infrastructure repairs, so that the period of closure at the promenade is kept as short as possible. Ronnie McNicol added, “As the prom forms part of the Coastal and Cycle paths, I’ve also asked that signs are erected showing an alternative route.”

Concerns were also expressed this week that a lack of general maintenance may have exacerbated the damage caused last month. the3towns has seen copies of minutes from meetings of Saltcoats Community Council, dating from May 2008, where it is recorded that a Community Councillor raised with North Ayrshire Council “the poor state of the promenade between Saltcoats Harbour and Stevenston Shore.” the3towns understands the Community Council were advised there were “two main problems to upgrading,” namely a lack of money and the fact the prom is owned jointly by North Ayrshire Council and Network Rail.

At a subsequent meeting of Saltcoats Community Council, in September 2008, members again highlighted concerns over the condition of the East Promenade, with minutes recording the view that, “the close proximity of the railway to the sea mean that passing trains could become even more susceptible to the force from strong waves,” and posing the question, “Would this area benefit from more sea defences being put in place to break up the tidal force?”

In a response to concerns raised by a Saltcoats resident, the Office of the Rail Regulator this week stated they were “not in a position to comment” on whether or not the damage evident at the East Promenade “may ultimately pose a threat to the safety of the operational railway.”

Council budget plans schedule cuts for AFTER election

2012-01-28T10:24:00.000Z

Figures seen by the3towns suggest North Ayrshire Council’s Labour administration is hoping to go into May’s election on the back of a budget showing a surplus, but with subsequent years requiring multi-million pound cuts to balance the books.

Councillors are due to set the local authority’s budget for the financial year 2012-2013 at a meeting on February 1, with the ruling Labour Executive expected to present figures showing that, with identified ‘efficiency savings’, the Council could operate a surplus of £137,000. However, documents prepared by officers within NAC’s Finance Department indicate the total projected deficit covering the next three financial years (2012/13-2014/15) runs to over £23million.

A Council insider who spoke to the3towns on condition of anonymity said, “This is a brazen attempt to buy the election on the part of Labour councillors. What they are doing is pushing cuts into the distance, hoping they can get re-elected and then slash services after that. Of course, if Labour doesn’t get re-elected to run the Council, then it would be another party or parties that have to deal with the multi-million pound deficit in 2013/14 and 2014/15.”

Meanwhile, the Scottish Socialist Party is demanding North Ayrshire’s councillors refuse to implement any cuts in February’s budget or in subsequent years of the next administration. Instead, the party insists councillors should set budgets to meet the identified needs of local communities.

The SSP began its ‘Defiance Campaign’ in Saltcoats last Saturday, where members of the public queued to sign a petition calling on councillors to stand up for local people and refuse to implement cuts to jobs and services.

Campbell Martin, the SSP’s candidate for the Ardrossan & Arran seat said, “The strength of support for our Defiance Campaign has been great. Hundreds of local people have signed our petition and made clear they will not tolerate councillors imposing savage spending cuts.”

Mr Martin added, “Councillors are elected to represent local people, not to punish them by meekly accepting reduced funding from central government.”

Reacting to the news that the Labour administration could be planning a relatively neutral budget with cuts to follow in subsequent years, Campbell Martin said, “On the back of last year’s Scottish Parliament Election, where Labour was hammered at the polls, the party’s councillors are facing a potential wipe-out. This attempt to fool the public by kicking savage cuts into the distance won’t work.”

The former Councillor and MSP continued, “The SSP is calling on councillors to set ‘no cuts’ defiance budgets and to demand that governments in London and Edinburgh return to us the money they have slashed from budgets to bail-out failed private banks and financial institutions.”

The SSP ‘Defiance Campaign’ is set to continue, with street stalls in local towns over the next few weeks in the lead-up to North Ayrshire Council setting its budget. Campbell Martin said, “We will continue collecting the signatures of local people demanding there should be no more cuts in this or subsequent years, and we will present the completed petition to North Ayrshire Council ahead of its budget meeting in February. If councillors then ignore the voice of the people and pass a budget with cuts planned for 2012/13 and 2013/14, then they will have to face the consequences at the Council Election.”

In recent years, only local Independent councillors John Hunter and Ronnie McNicol have refused to back the Council’s spending cuts. Both councillors recorded their dissent from budgets that have imposed spending and service cuts.

Unemployment rises - again

2012-01-28T10:22:00.000Z

Unemployment in North Ayrshire is now so bad that official government figures show there are almost 32 local Jobseekers chasing every vacancy – the ninth-highest ratio in the UK.

The latest Labour Market analysis, published by the Office for National Statistics, reveals North Ayrshire continues to have the highest unemployment in Scotland, with 3,643 people on Jobseekers Allowance in December, a rise of 5.5 per cent in twelve months. The number of local people unemployed for more than a year has increased by 35 per cent, with the figure for young people out of work rising by 10.7 per cent over the same period.

Local MP Katy Clark said the latest revelations show “just how much the Government’s cuts are hurting the people of North Ayrshire.”

Ms Clark continued, “For the vast majority of people out of work there are simply no jobs available. Unfortunately, the damage being done appears to be long term with a frightening increase in the number of people out of work for over a year. I have been warning the Government of the impact its economic policies will have for some time. Unfortunately, we are now seeing the human cost.”

Last week, Katy Clark raised the issue of North Ayrshire’s soaring unemployment during Questions to the Secretary of State for Scotland in the House of Commons. With 1,060 young people (18-24 year-olds) out of work in the area, Ms Clark asked Michael Moore MP what steps he has taken to address youth unemployment in Scotland.

In response, the Minister said, “The Government have committed £1billion over the next three years to implement the youth contract. Our package of support includes wage incentives for employers to recruit 18 to 24-year-olds from the Work Programme and increased work experience opportunities for that age group. Other support is also available.”

In a follow-up question, Katy Clark said, “The Secretary of State is well aware of the rising levels of youth unemployment in North Ayrshire. What more does he think this Government can do at Westminster to increase public and private investment in North Ayrshire?”

Mr Moore replied, “I acknowledge the work that the Honourable Lady has done and the fact that we recently met to discuss this very serious issue. It is important that the youth contract, which my Right-Honourable Friend the Deputy Prime Minister visited Scotland to discuss on Friday, is taken advantage of by people across the country. I look forward to coming to the Honourable Lady’s constituency in the near future to meet those very people so that we can discuss how to implement it most effectively”

Katy Clark confirmed the Secretary of State for Scotland will visit North Ayrshire in February, following her request for a meeting to discuss unemployment in the area. Ms Clark indicated she hoped to “persuade the Westminster Government that they need to do more to address the rising levels of unemployment in North Ayrshire.”

North Ayrshire location for Life Sciences Enterprise Area

2012-01-28T10:21:00.000Z

John Swinney MSP, Scottish Government Finance Secretary, has announced North Ayrshire is to be the home of a Life Sciences Enterprise Area, part of four national Enterprise Zones created in an attempt to use Scotland’s “most dynamic industries to create new employment opportunities, stimulate private investment and boost economic growth.”

Mr Swinney made the announcement while visiting the Irvine base of pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline. The Cabinet Secretary was accompanied by local SNP MSP Margaret Burgess.

Scotland’s Life Sciences industries have an annual turnover of £3billion, and the North Ayrshire venture will be joined by sites in Moray, the Highlands, Edinburgh and Midlothian to make up the Life Sciences Enterprise Zone. John Swinney said, “As a Government we are doing all we can to support jobs and create the best possible business conditions to achieve sustainable economic growth for Scotland. Enterprise Areas are another means to help us achieve this and form a key part of our Government Economic Strategy.”

The Finance Secretary explained the reason for taking a sectoral approach was “to make better use of resources and target investment where it will be most effective.” Mr Swinney added, “The aim is to have Scotland’s Enterprise Areas operational from April. Scottish Enterprise will work closely with local authorities, as well as with the business community, to maximise the economic value derived from each.”

Cunninghame South MSP Margaret Burgess was delighted with the announcement, saying, “This is fantastic news that will bring real economic benefits to both local communities and Scotland as a whole.

“I am looking forward to seeing the impact the investment in Life Sciences will bring to Irvine and the surrounding area – bringing jobs, skills and putting it on the map as being at the forefront of developments in this important employment sector.”

MP condemns 'legal loan-sharks'

2012-01-28T10:19:00.000Z

Katy Clark, MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, has warned locals against using what she described as “legal loan-sharks”.

The Labour MP spoke-out after a company offering ‘payday loans’ opened a shop in Saltcoats. Outlets offering short-term loans at sky-high interest rates are springing up in areas badly hit by the economic recession, such as North Ayrshire. People struggling to make ends meet are encouraged to borrow money to see them through to their next payday. However, if the full amount borrowed, plus interest, is not repaid immediately, the amount rolls-over and the extremely high interest rates – ranging between 1,000 and 4,000 per cent – continue to be applied.

Katy Clark is a member of the Westminster Parliament’s Business Innovation and Skills Select Committee, which is currently investigating issue relating to payday loans as part of its inquiry into the debt industry.

Ms Clark said, “I am very worried that the opening of a payday lender in Saltcoats is an attempt to take advantage of the high unemployment and levels of deprivation that we have here in North Ayrshire.

“The majority of people who use ‘legal loan-sharks’ are those who are struggling financially and feel they have no alternative. Recent figures showed that last year one-million people across the UK used payday loans to meet their housing costs. This is very worrying, and the biggest concern is that people end up in a cycle of debt, not being able to meet their repayments and taking out further loans to cover them.”

Katy Clark criticised the Tory-led Government, which she said was ignoring pleas for action from worried Labour MPs. In addition, Ms Clark pointed to local Credit Unions as an alternative source of funding for families who might be struggling financially. “Not only would I urge my constituents not to use ‘legal loan-sharks’ to make ends meet,” said the local MP, “I would encourage them to become a member of the local Credit Union.

“Credit Unions do amazing work and I am very lucky to have one in my constituency, which is staffed by passionate and dedicated workers. Credit Unions are owned by members and provide great help to those who are so often ignored by the traditional banking sector. Their interest rate on loans is very competitive, they offer Christmas and Summer savings clubs and a fully functioning Current Account with no hidden charges.”

Ms Clark continued, “1^st Alliance (Ayrshire) offers a great alternative to payday lenders and I would urge any of my constituents who need financial advice or assistance to go along to the Credit Union.”

Mary Ann Robertson, a Director of 1^st Alliance (Ayrshire), added, “If people need a quick loan then we are a real alternative. Our rate of interest is more affordable at 26.8 per cent and members get to save as well. As a Credit Union we have settled payday loan accounts, resulting in savings in terms of interest and weekly repayments.”

The 1^st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union is based at 147 Main Street, Kilwinning, but staff also visit Saltcoats Library every Tuesday from 10am till 11.45am.

Students' mental health drama wins praise

2012-01-28T10:17:00.000Z

Health professionals have praised a play that tackles the stigma associated with mental illness.

The drama, Inside Out, was written and performed by students from Ayr College and recently drew audiences to shows at the Harbour Arts Centre in Irvine. Support for the work was provided by the Ayrshire Anti-Stigma Group and the Ayrshire Panel of Reference, a group comprised of mental health service users and carers. The national mental health campaign group, See Me, helped fund the project.

The young writers, studying for HNC and HND qualifications, put together five short acts, which were described by NHS Ayrshire & Arran as “powerfully illustrating the experience of what it is like to live with mental illness and the stigma that many people may suffer”. While working on the play, students met with service users, carers and mental health-related organisations in order to put together the scenes.

In addition to the run at the Harbour Arts Centre, the play has also been performed in schools across Ayrshire, receiving positive responses and feedback.

Commenting on the work, Lindsay Thorburn, Lecturer in Performing Arts at Ayr College, said, “Inside Out has proved itself to be a useful product and an excellent way of educating people in a non-traditional way.”

The gritty portrayal of living with mental illness and the struggle to challenge the associated stigma has been supported by NHS Ayrshire & Arran, with the organisation’s Health Promotion Officer, Maggie Dhinsa, saying, “We need people to be able to talk about these issues and their experiences, to tackle the misconceptions and myths and support the road to recovery. We must tackle this issue directly and this play is a starting point for an open and honest discussion.”

Katy meets with Palestinian leader

2012-01-28T10:15:00.000Z

North Ayrshire & Arran’s Katy Clark was part of a group of MPs that last week met with Mr Mahmoud Abbas, President of the National Palestinian Authority.

Mr Abbas’ visit was part of a tour of UN Security Council countries as Palestine pursues membership of the United Nations. Also on the agenda was a possible resumption of ‘official’ peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel, which currently occupies much of Palestine. Previous high-level discussions were halted almost a year ago after Israel sanctioned further Jewish settlements on Palestinian land. At the time, most members of the UN Security Council backed a resolution condemning Israel’s actions, but the motion was vetoed by the United States.

Speaking after the meeting at the House of Commons, Katy Clark told the3towns. “It was interesting to hear what Mr Abbas had to say on the prospects of peace in the Middle East. Unfortunately, I fear that no lasting agreement can be found until all settlement building stops in the West Bank and Israel lifts its blockade of Gaza.”

Labour MP Ms Clark continued, “I believe the United Kingdom and the wider international community have a duty to speak up for the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, a historic opportunity appears to be slipping away as the Government continues to refuse to back the Palestinian statehood bid at the United Nations.”

However, Katy Clark believes a change of approach by the UK is still possible, including “tough measures to emphasise opposition to violations of international law by the Israeli Government.” The change in Britain’s actions, said Ms Clark, should also include “an end to all preferential trade agreements with Israel and an immediate suspension of the sale of weapons to the Israeli Government.”

Difference of opinion on independence referendum

2012-01-21T19:31:00.000Z

The political divide between Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and UK Prime Minister David Cameron over the proposed referendum on Scottish independence has a local dimension, with the SNP’s Margaret Burgess and Labour’s Katy Clark backing different options.

Ms Clark, MP for North Ayrshire & Arran, has urged her constituents to respond to the consultation published last week by the UK Tory-Lib Dem Government, which seeks views on the nature and timing of a referendum, what question or questions should be asked, who should be eligible to vote and which body should oversee the poll. Meanwhile, Mrs Burgess, MSP for Cunninghame South, has welcomed the announcement by the SNP Scottish Government that the referendum will be held in the autumn of 2014, and has urged her constituents to join the debate on Scotland’s future.

Of the referendum, Mrs Burgess said, “This is a great opportunity to ensure the decisions about Scotland are taken by the people of Scotland.

“The last few days have seen the Tories, the Lib-Dems and Labour all try to muscle in on the referendum, so I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to a referendum made in Scotland by the Scottish people and Scottish Parliament.”

The former leader of the SNP Council Group in North Ayrshire added, “It is also right that 16 and 17 year-olds should be allowed to vote in the referendum. I have long shared the SNP belief that people who are entitled by law to work full-time, get married and pay taxes should have a say in how their country is run and in the future of their country.

“Our 16 and 17 year-olds should have a say in the biggest single decision for Scotland in 300 years. Our young people are our future, and they have a right to express their view at the ballot box.”

Concluding, Margaret Burgess said, “Above all, this is a matter for Scotland. The people gave the SNP a mandate to run this referendum. The Tories, Lib-Dems and Labour would do well to come to terms with that fact and respect the people’s decision.”

However, Labour’s Katy Clark believes local people should make their views known on a range of issues relating to the proposed referendum by responding to the consultation launched by the UK Government, which has legal responsibility for matters affecting the constitution.

Said Ms Clark, “The question of whether or not Scotland remains in the United Kingdom is one of the utmost importance. The outcome of any referendum will have a lasting impact on every single person living in Scotland. It is therefore vital that everyone is able to voice their opinion on exactly how any referendum is carried out.

“I would urge anyone living in North Ayrshire and Arran who has strong feelings on this matter to respond to the Government’s consultation so that their views can be taken into account when decisions about how the referendum is to be conducted are made.”

The UK Government consultation will run until March 9^th. Anyone wishing to submit views can do so by visiting the Scotland Office web site at http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/scotlandoffice/16424.html

Controversy over Labour candidate selection

2012-01-21T19:29:00.000Z

the3towns understands the Labour Party’s selection process for May’s North Ayrshire Council Election could be thrown into disarray after allegations that one selected candidate subsequently voted to de-select a sitting councillor.

A Labour insider has confirmed that former MSP Irene Oldfather took part in the vote that effectively de-selected Cllr Tom Barr. Mrs Oldfather had already been selected as one of the Labour candidates to contest the Irvine East seat currently represented by Cllr Barr.

Speculation that the long-standing councillor might consider contesting the election as an Independent were dismissed at the time, with Cllr Barr publicly stating he would support those chosen to represent the party in his place.

However, the new revelations regarding Mrs Oldfather’s part in de-selecting Cllr Barr appear to open up an avenue of appeal for the man who is currently North Ayrshire Council’s Environment portfolio-holder on the ruling Labour Executive. The party activist who spoke to the3towns said, “There is no dispute that Irene Oldfather’s selection was legitimate, but once she was chosen as a candidate she should not have had anything to do with selecting further candidates.

“This is a matter of party rules and Tom has a very strong case for the vote that de-selected him to be re-run.”

Following the meeting that de-selected Tom Barr, the Labour Party announced it would field three candidates in the Irvine East seat which returns four councillors. In addition to Irene Oldfather, the party also selected John Easdale, formerly Mrs Oldfather’s agent, and David Logan, who was a shop-steward at the Glaxo Smithkline chemical plant.

Current Irvine East Labour councillor John Moffat has decided to stand down in May.

The Council ward’s other two councillors are Joan Sturgeon of the SNP, and Ruby Kirkwood of the Liberal Democrats.

Shocking child poverty figures

2012-01-21T19:27:00.000Z

New figures have revealed that almost 1-in-4 children in North Ayrshire are living in poverty. The finding comes just weeks after the charity Save the Children found the local area now has Scotland’s second-highest level of children living in severe poverty.

The Campaign to End Child Poverty’s research, based on the number of households in receipt of tax credits, found 23 per cent of North Ayrshire children are experiencing poverty.

Broken down to Council Ward areas, the new figures reveal the area of North Ayrshire with the highest level of families experiencing child poverty is Saltcoats & Stevenston, at a shocking 35 per cent.

Local MP Katy Clark expressed her deep concern at the new figures, saying, “The number of children who are having their life chances jeopardised by living in households on low incomes is unacceptable. Labour made real progress in bringing down child poverty during their time in Government but the economic approach by the current UK Government is only likely to make things worse by putting more people out of work.”

Ms Clark concluded, “I hope the Government now takes a long look at the impact their cuts are having on communities across the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, up until now, they have not been prepared to listen to those affected by their policies.

“I am very worried that if a change in policy is not pursued, lasting damage could be done to the many young people forced to live in poverty.”

John Dickie, speaking on behalf of Scottish members of the Campaign to End Child Poverty, added, “It is shameful that in almost every part of our country there are children who are missing out and seeing their future life-chances seriously harmed.

“With public spending budgets under severe pressure, the need to invest to prevent a spiraling in the number of children living in poverty is greater than ever.”

SSP call for new Ardrossan railway station

2012-01-21T19:26:00.000Z

Following last week’s revelation that Ardrossan Town station could be under threat as part of a Transport Scotland ‘reconfiguration’ process, Campbell Martin of the Scottish Socialist Party has called for the facility to be retained, and for consideration to be given to a new station serving the north of Ardrossan.

Ministers in the SNP Government have said the Rail2014 consultation does not include plans to close stations ‘at this stage’, but Transport Scotland documents accompanying the review indicate stations within one mile of another may be considered if closures are required. Ardrossan Town is within a mile of Ardrossan South Beach and Ardrossan Harbour, both of which have higher usage.

Reacting to the news of a possible threat to the local station, Campbell Martin said, “I have responded to the consultation, pointing out that the two stations nearest Ardrossan Town serve two different routes. The station at Ardrossan Harbour does not actually serve the town, it is used by people travelling-on by ferry to Arran, while South Beach is the only Ardrossan station on the Glasgow-Largs line.

“I’ve also made the national transport body aware of the fact that South Beach is more accessible for parts of Saltcoats than much of Ardrossan.”

Mr Martin, a former MSP and councillor, added, “Ardrossan Town is the closest station for hundreds of people living in the south of Ardrossan, but if they are travelling to West Kilbride, Fairlie or Largs, then they have to go to South Beach. Both stations provide a distinct service and make public transport more accessible.”

Continuing, the SSP candidate for Ardrossan & Arran said, “In my response to the Rail2014 consultation, I’ve suggested that rather than considering the possible closure of Ardrossan Town, Transport Scotland should be looking at the possibility of creating a new station on the Glasgow-Largs line, to serve people living in the north of Ardrossan. There is land near Dalry Road that could possibly accommodate a platform.”

Mr Martin concluded, “If Transport Scotland is looking to increase the number of people using the train, then they need to make it easier for people to get to stations. South Beach, Ardrossan Town and Ardrossan Harbour serve different routes and areas of population, and all should be retained. In addition, to serve the large population in the north of Ardrossan, rail authorities should look at providing a new stop, even if it only comprised of a platform rather than a full station.”

1-in-4 households have no work

2012-01-21T19:24:00.000Z

Hot on the heels of new figures on the level of child poverty in North Ayrshire, a trade union has found a staggering 12,700 households in the area now have no-one in employment. The figure translates to 27.6 per cent, compared to the Scottish average of 20.9 per cent and 18.9 per cent for the UK.

The GMB union, which compiled the figures, called on local politicians to demand action from the UK Government. Harry Donaldson, GMB regional secretary for Scotland, said, “The areas with the highest levels of households without work are those that were first devastated by the recessions of the 1980s and 1990s. They have never properly recovered.”

Mr Donaldson continued, “It is high time Scotland’s politicians at local and national level demanded a change of approach.

“The first step is to stop the public sector job cuts that are already in the pipeline. Policies that increase employment are the only surefire route to recovery. The sooner we start on a new course the better.”

Burgess slams 'payday' loan companies

2012-01-21T19:22:00.000Z

Local MSP Margaret Burgess, a former manager of Citizens Advice Bureau Scotland, has called for UK Government action to tackle the scandal of ‘payday’ loan companies who charge interest of as much as 4,000 per cent.

Mrs Burgess spoke-out after leading a Scottish Parliament debate on the damage done to families and communities by loan companies who charge sky-high rates of interest. The debate, on a motion lodged by Mrs Burgess, saw cross-party condemnation of ‘payday’ loan practices.

Payday lending involves the borrower giving authority to a loan company to make an automatic withdrawal from their bank account as security for what is advertised as a ‘short-term’ loan repayable with interest on the borrower’s next pay day. However, if there are any problems and the full amount, including interest, is not repaid as scheduled, the loan rolls-over, and can continue rolling-over again and again, with the very high interest rates leading to costs steeply rising.

Speaking to the3towns, Margaret Burgess said, “We all know these companies are targeting the vulnerable and low-paid. In my view, that is usury and exploitation.

“The advice to people thinking of a pay day loan is this: do not take it out. We cannot allow people to be trapped in a system that offers them little protection and inadequate access to affordable credit. Regulation is needed and it is needed now.”

Mrs Burgess added, “We need to protect financially vulnerable people from this type of high-interest borrowing and unmanageable debt, while at the same time ensuring that they have access to good money advice and affordable credit.”

As an example, the SNP MSP cited local credit unions as an excellent source of financial advice and support, saying, “I give the example of the 1st Alliance (Ayrshire) Credit Union in Kilwinning, which, like other credit unions, encourages saving and offers a range of services including current accounts, bill paying, low-cost credit and emergency loans. It also works innovatively with the local authority and money advice services in tackling rent and mortgage arrears, thus preventing eviction and homelessness.”

Council tenders for Business Gateway services

2012-01-21T19:20:00.000Z

Figures produced by North Ayrshire Council, ahead of the local authority tendering for ‘Business Gateway support to pre and post start-up businesses’, show the yearly number of new companies formed in the local area has dropped by over 100 since 2008/09.

Four years ago Business Gateway helped 264 entrepreneurs start new ventures, but by 2011/12 that figure had dropped to just 160.

In 2006 the SNP Government instructed Scottish Enterprise to revise the Business Gateway service and subsequently awarded a five-year contract to deliver amended services from October 2007 until September 2012.
Responsibility for delivery of the Business Gateway contract transferred from Scottish Enterprise to local authorities in April 2008. Since then, on behalf of the three Ayrshire authorities, North Ayrshire Council has been responsible for the management and delivery of the Business Gateway operation.

A report for this week’s meeting of NAC’s ruling Labour Executive will hear officers have held meetings with other lead councils and the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (CoSLA) regarding re-tendering business start-up and support services in Ayrshire. Councillors will be told, “During recent difficult economic times, a number of measures have been implemented to provide extra support to companies in order to survive and potentially thrive beyond this current recession. These measures have included the implementation of additional aftercare support which provides companies with advisory support in order to carry out a business review that will assess their current position and highlights areas for improvement or development.”

An area giving cause for concern relates to the number of VAT-registered companies operating in North Ayrshire. In the last year (2011/12), Business Gateway had a target of creating 60 such business, but delivered just 18.

Monday’s meeting of the Labour Executive will be asked to approve a tendering process for the procurement of Business Gateway Services in collaboration with East Ayrshire Council and South Ayrshire Council.

Ardrossan to pilot new rail barriers

2012-01-21T19:17:00.000Z

Ardrossan is to pilot new barriers at railway level-crossings.

Network Rail has announced the trial, which could see barriers fitted to 23 level-crossings across Scotland, at an average cost of £100,000. The two Ardrossan sites – where tracks cross Princes Street and Harbour Street – are the only ones located outside of the Highlands.

Last July the3towns revealed an investigation into the safety of open level-crossings protected only by traffic-light signals had recommended upgrades, including the fitting of barriers at the two Ardrossan sites.

The enquiry, carried out by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), followed a 2009 accident at an open level-crossing near Halkirk, Caithness, which involved a collision between a car and a train. All three occupants of the car were killed.

In Ardrossan the railway level crossings were formerly fitted with automatic barriers, but they were removed in the early 1990s. Flashing traffic-signals and klaxon-type alarms now warn road users of an approaching train. The crossing at Princes Street has seen a number of collisions between vehicles and trains, including in 1998 and 2001. In addition, following the fitting of cameras, a number of local motorists were reported to the Procurator Fiscal for driving through the crossing after warning signals had commenced.

Commenting on the decision to fit barriers to the Ardrossan crossings, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, David Simpson, said the organisation was committed to enhancing safety on railways, adding, “We are also investing in other additional safety measures such as police CCTV monitoring vans and additional fixed cameras for level crossings to deter driver misuse."

100mph winds cause Three Towns havoc

2012-01-14T09:50:00.000Z

The Three Towns were again battered by severe storms over the past week, with winds approaching 100mph recorded.

Last Monday (January 2) the Met Office issued an ‘Amber’ warning of impending wind and rain. The colour-coding was recently introduced by the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS) to make the level of danger easier to understand for the general public. An Amber alert means the public should ‘be prepared’ for possible disruption caused by the weather. However, it appears the Met Office underestimated the strength of winds heading our way from the Atlantic – the warning was hurriedly upgraded to the most severe ‘Red’- meaning action was required to stay out of danger - at 8:30 on Tuesday morning, by which time severe storms were already battering the Ayrshire coast.

The fact Tuesday was the last day of the New Year holidays helped reduce the risk to the public, with most people able to stay at home rather than have to travel to work.

By late afternoon on Tuesday the worst of the wind and rain had moved on from Ayrshire, but the storms returned again on Wednesday evening, with reports of gusts topping 90mph and causing further damage in the local area.

In the calm of Thursday morning the full extent of the storm’s impact became apparent. Many houses in the Three Towns suffered damage to roofs, while road-signs and trees were blown over. Exposed areas, such as Ardrossan Harbour, saw severe damage to walkways and railings (see photos below).

Fears for Ardrossan Town station

2012-01-14T09:46:00.000Z

SNP Transport Minister Keith Brown has denied there are plans to close the Ardrossan Town railway station.

Fears emerged after the local station was flagged-up for consideration of possible closure in a Transport Scotland document called Rail2014. As part of an ongoing public consultation, the national transport body has highlighted stations that are within one mile of another.

Reacting to concerns, Keith Brown said, “There are no plans to close any stations, at this stage, and the consultation provides options, not proposals.”

Transport Scotland added, “Rail users and stakeholders are being asked to play their part in shaping Scotland's rail services with passenger interests at the heart.

“In 2014, both the current contract for rail passenger services (ScotRail) and the funding arrangements for Network Rail in Scotland are due to come to an end and new arrangements have to be in place. This consultation is a crucial part of our considerations.”

The Rail2014 document highlights Ardrossan Town is within one mile of stations at Ardrossan South Beach and Ardrossan Harbour, and records the Princes Street facility has no car park, no taxi rank, no bus service directly linked to train times, no ticket office and no self-service ticket machine.

John Hunter, Ardrossan’s Independent councillor, told the3towns he will strongly oppose any plans to close the Town station, saying, “Ardrossan has lost so much already. We need an increase in facilities and infrastructure, not a reduction.”

Local people can respond to the Rail2014 consultation by visiting the Transport Scotland website or e-mailing rail2014@transportscotland.gsi.gov.uk

More closures in Saltcoats town centre

2012-01-14T09:44:00.000Z

The new year has brought further closures to Saltcoats town centre, with one local man quipping, “You know you’re in trouble when the pound-shops start closing.”

The man was referring to the closure of a discount store located in a former church on a prime site in Dockhead Street. A ‘To Let’ sign has been fixed to the building, which lies directly opposite the closed Sullivan’s bar on what was formerly Saltcoats’ busiest commercial area.

Also closed and shuttered is the Metro nightclub in Hamilton Street. Back in March 2009 the3towns revealed the Metro had been put up for sale, with an asking price of £750,000. Property agents DM Hall marketed the property – formerly the Regal Cinema – as an opportunity for residential or retail development, despite the nightclub at that time being leased to leisure firm Jacbecca.

the3towns understands the Metro had been operating considerably below capacity for some time, with admission numbers ranging between 100 and 450 – the venue had been licensed to hold 700 persons.

The latest closures in Saltcoats town centre come as the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC) announced figures for the month of November last year showed “the worst fall in total sales for any month since surveys began in 1999.”

Commenting, Ian Shearer, SRC Director, said, “Retailers in Scotland have had an exceptionally tough year, worse than the UK as a whole. Consumer confidence is currently lower in Scotland than the UK average and householders are more worried about jobs and the state of their personal finances.”

Mr Shearer was not optimistic for future, saying, “With no immediate hope of an upturn, the start of 2012 will be a make-or-break period for some retailers.”

Local children paying the price as bankers' bonuses soar

2012-01-14T09:43:00.000Z

The Scottish Socialist Party has condemned the UK and Scottish Governments for continuing to implement policies that punish local children.

Campbell Martin, the SSP’s candidate for Ardrossan & Arran at May’s North Ayrshire Council Election, pointed to figures showing over 4,000 children in the area covered by the local authority now live in severe poverty. Mr Martin said, “North Ayrshire now has Scotland’s second-highest number of children living in the deepest poverty. The charity Save the Children has published research findings that reveal 14 per cent of children in local towns are growing up in families so poor their environment is affecting their educational and social development, leaving them excluded from society. Only Glasgow has more children living in severe poverty.”

The former councillor and MSP continued, “Already children in North Ayrshire are suffering because of savage cuts being imposed by the Tory-Lib Dem Government in London, the SNP Government in Edinburgh, and the Labour administration of North Ayrshire Council. Last week we heard the SNP Government will again pass on London’s cuts to Councils across Scotland, which will mean North Ayrshire’s budget for next year will be reduced by almost £1million.

“They dress-up these cuts as economic adjustments, but the reality behind the rhetoric is hammering local people. North Ayrshire has the highest unemployment in Scotland, soaring youth unemployment, and now we find local children are going to bed hungry and are being so disadvantaged they are excluded from the normal activities of society.

“Contrary to the spin of the so-called ‘big four’ political parties – Tory, Lib Dem, SNP, Labour – these cuts are not necessary and we are certainly not all in this together. It was the spivs and speculators of banks and financial institutions that ran-up the current national debt, but it is ordinary men, women and children in towns like Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenston who are being forced to pay the price.”

Campbell Martin concluded, “There is no need for any cuts, there is no need for children in North Ayrshire to be pushed into severe poverty to pay the debts of millionaires and billionaires in the City of London.

“Instead of punishing children, we should be taxing the wealthy, taxing the bankers who even after they caused the collapse of their own capitalist system, still awarded themselves 70 per cent increases to their annual bonuses.

“Every year around £120billion is avoided and evaded by UK companies and their directors. If the rich paid their fair share in taxation, children in North Ayrshire towns would not be growing up socially and educationally disadvantaged.

“It’s time those of us in North Ayrshire decided to fight-back against the politicians of parties that put the interests of millionaires before the well-being of our children.”