the3towns archive 
Campbell Martin Blog
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Edition 239 February 4 ~ February 10 2012
* Libyan war casualties in Saltcoats care home
* Council passes £23million budget cuts
* McNicol secures £1.9m Town Hall refurbishment
* Success for Hunter on Ardrossan Wardens
* Gurney calls for Campbeltown-Ardrossan ferry
* MP's opposition to Welfare Reform Bill
* Independent councillor helped Vics return home
* Government economy failure condemned
* Junior Football: Results – League Tables - Fixtures
Libyan war casualties in Saltcoats care home
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
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.”
* See Opinion: Council budget cuts hurt local people.
McNicol secures £1.9m Town Hall refurbishment
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.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
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
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
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
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.”
___________________________________________________________________
SSP - North Ayrshire website
____________________________________________________________________
Government economy failure condemned
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.
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Results
Saturday, February 4 2012.
Most matches in the Super League First Division and the Ayrshire District League were postponed due to adverse weather conditions.
_______________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Fixtures
Saturday, February 11 2012. Kick-offs - 2:00pm.
