M74 visit

Yesterday afternoon, I joined my colleagues George Roberts and David Turner to visit works on the M74 extension.

I've been watching the progress as everyone else has so far, from a distance - it was nice to get the opportunity to see it up close and learn more about the challenges and technical aspects of this massive engineering project.

The project is at different stages of development along the route - some parts are actually having tarmac laid at the moment, some of the viaducts are still being launched on others. The scale is impressive; at Carmyle, the world's biggest crane is preparing to shift chunks of steel across the Clyde. At Rutherglen, the viaduct is inching it's way across the railway line. At Kingston, work is going on high above the ground, with sections rolling into place. The prefabricated parts have been slotted together perfect to the millimetre.

It's also worth noting that the project is worth £445m - with 87% of the cost being met by the Scottish Government. It has kept apprentices and workers in employment, and is a significant investment in Glasgow and the wider west of Scotland. I found out also that a lot of the rubble for the road is coming from demolitions around the country - materials which would normally have gone to landfill. So, while road building isn't usually great news for the environment, the M74 does involve some recycling.

I've posted a few pictures below to show the scale of the development.

European money for Bridgeton

I was really pleased to see this morning that £1,157,086.00 has been secured from the European Regional Development Fund for Clyde Gateway's SME Business HUB in Bridgeton.

This money will go a long way to sustain real jobs and businesses in the East End, and have a large part to play in the regeneration of the area. This is on top of other money from the Scottish Government from the Town Centre Regeneration fund.

The SNP know that to get through the recession, we need to continue to invest in our people and our communities. This particular money is coming from the EU, not the UK.

Commenting on the news, John Swinney said:

"While there are signs of a fragile recovery, this undoubtedly remains a very challenging economic climate. It is absolutely right that the Scottish Government uses all of the levers at its disposal, including European funding, to support projects which can maximise employment opportunities and support our economy through the downturn and towards sustainable economic growth.

"I am delighted by the variety of projects supported by this latest cash injection, from new business facilities to the renewable energy industry. The projects have the potential to support the creation of around 950 new jobs in Scotland.

"This builds on the Scottish Government's Economic Recovery Plan, which has already directly supported up to 15,000 jobs in the Scottish economy at this difficult time. This funding will provide a further and timely boost to our recovery prospects and be warmly welcomed in many Scottish communities."

SNP Government Funding for Bridgeton

I was delighted on Friday to hear the news that the Scottish Government has awarded Bridgeton £1.95 million to go towards redeveloping the town centre.

When the SNP Government introduced this scheme, I really hoped Bridgeton could benefit from it. Our Glasgow MSPs lobbied hard to make sure that the definition of "town centres" allowed those in cities to be included. As much as town centres in rural areas need assistance, urban town centres are often neglected for investment in the city centre. The Merchant City, International Financial Services District and the "golden z" are nice, but it's as important to invest in the places where people actually live.

Bridgeton Town Centre was chosen as one of the forty-eight town centres across Scotland to receive this funding, and has received the highest sum of money in Glasgow. This is a massive boost for the area, and shows the SNP Government’s commitment to regeneration in the East End.

I know that staff at Clyde Gateway are working hard to develop plans for the area alongside the wishes of local people, and this money will really add to what they can do. I fully support funds going towards the redevelopment of the former Olympia Cinema, which could become a huge asset for the East End.

There is £20 million in the town centre regeneration fund pot to be awarded later this year, and I am sure that Parkhead Cross, which missed out this time, will have a very good chance of getting selected next time. Parkhead has had some investment through the Townscape Heritage Initiative, but like so many of Glasgow's neglected town centres, it needs a bit extra to really make the difference for local people.

Purcell in the Times

I was very confused on reading this article in the Times today - which had the headline Glasgow schools 'being left to rot by SNP'. Had we suddenly become solely responsible for Glasgow's tumble-down schools? Had we fallen into some parallel universe where we, not Labour, had been the administration in Glasgow since time immemorial?

Of course not - it was just Glasgow's Dear Leader mouthing off to a helpfully placed Labour hackette, harking back to the glory days of PFI. Cllr Purcell says;

“It depresses me when I look down south and see Public Private Partnership contracts being signed week after week.”

Well, it depresses me too. It worries me. PFI has been discredited, written off, and found to be a crap way of funding public works. Private Eye covers more of PFI's difficulties in the credit crunch era, and a quick google will turn up various examples of PFI's failings. The debacle over fixing poorly designed ventilation in Glasgow's PFI schools cost the Council some £8m - and set a precendent for future costs being borne by the Council, not the PFI contractor.

What Labour won't admit is that, only last week, they refused to consider the SNP's budget proposals which would have saved the Council around £20m and found money to transform Glsagow's five 'condition D' schools into buildings we could be proud of (for those with only fuzzy knowledge of schools condition surveys, a senior official in Education described 'condition D' to our group as "D for Dangerous"). Interestingly, one of the schools posing a risk to health and safety was in Steven Purcell's own ward.

SNP Education spokesperson in the Council, Patricia Gibson, found that her twenty minute telephone conversation with Ms Davidson didn't result in anything like partiality, so she is submitting the following letter to the Times. In case they neglect to print it, I got her permission to reproduce it here...

Dear Editor,

I have to say that I read today’s article on School Closures in Glasgow, Glasgow’s Schools “are left to rot by SNP” with utter disbelief.

At the Emergency Council meeting in Glasgow, Councillor Purcell stated clearly, and this was echoed by Councillor Gordon Matheson, Convenor of Education in Glasgow, that the Proposed Primary Estate Management Plan was not about money but about improving education in Glasgow.

According to the comments from Purcell as reported in this story, clearly this position has changed. The entire article focused on budgetary considerations.

Furthermore, to suggest, as he does, that this process is necessary since the schools involved are in a poor condition, is bewildering since the five Category D schools in Glasgow, which are not fit for purpose, are not included in these proposals at all, ie Stonedyke Primary School, St. Roch’s Primary School, St. Joseph’s Primary School, St. Mark’s Primary School and Thornwood Primary School.

To blame the Scottish Government for this state of affairs is laughable. The Labour Party has run Glasgow for 50 years. The Scottish Government has been in power for less than 2 years. This clearly smacks of cheap political point scoring by Councillor Purcell and his coterie and a refusal to take responsibility for failing to invest in education in Glasgow.

If this is about budgetary concerns, as Councillor Purcell appears now to be saying, perhaps he could explain why £60m was spent on the Glasgow Riverside Museum, or why £7m has been committed to the King’s Theatre or why £8m has been paid to private contractors to fix faulty ventilation systems in our PFI schools, since the original contract did not guarantee the work undertaken which then had to be paid for again in order to put right? That is a total of £75m on projects which clearly Cllr Purcell has prioritised over improving primary school buildings.

So instead of whinging and blaming the Scottish Government for decay and decline which has taken place under the 50 year watch of the Labour Party in Glasgow, he would be better served spending the substantial budget he has, which has increased under the current Scottish Government, on Glasgow’s schools instead of profligacy in other areas.

And it is further bewildering to hear that SNP led Fife Council is pressing ahead with six new or refurbished schools, since according to Cllr Purcell this is not possible.

It is time Cllr Purcell does the honourable thing and admits he has been utterly disingenuous throughout this entire matter with pupils, staff and parents across Glasgow and continues to dangerously play politics with education in Glasgow.

Glasgow’s children deserve better.

Regards

Councillor Patricia Gibson

SNP Education Spokesperson

Commonwealth Games

Today's Herald carries news of Glasgow's bid for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. I'm really excited about this, not least because significant parts of the games will be held in the area I hope to represent come May.

Looking around just now, there are huge gaps in the landscape, areas left vacant and decaying. Some of the land is contaminated by long-gone industries. In my view, the East End of Glasgow has been neglected by the Council - so many areas seem so uncared for.

I don't believe that the East End of Glasgow should have to rely on the Commonwealth Games to get investment, but I do believe it's a great opportunity to provide new facilities.

The plans show that Dalmarnock will be the location for the athletes village - which afterwards will provide much-needed new housing in the area. I hope that the East End in it's entirety is considered as part of the plans - it's easy to build a shiny new "village", but if the problems (poor health, vandalism, anti-social behaviour, crime and lack of decent housing) that many residents face are not dealt with, the area will continue to be left behind. I intend to fight to ensure that all residents benefit from the investment the Games will bring.

I still have a niggling worry that if Glasgow doesn't get the games, that the Scottish Executive will pull the plug on funding regeneration, especially after reading this part of the Bid website:

"The Scottish Executive and Glasgow City Council have agreed to underwrite the costs of staging the Games. This will be on the basis of an 80/20 split. It is expected that the majority of the 80% of costs to be covered by the Executive will be new money committed to the sports and major events budget."

With this kind of split, the Council might not be able to pick up the massive funding gap. So I'll keep my fingers crossed til the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) make their decision on the 9th November this year.