Goal

Cllrs McDonald and Turner have welcomed the erection of goal posts in Danny’s Park in Springboig. The goal posts were requested by a group of local young people who have show a dedication to their local area and have taken part in a number environmental community projects in the last few months.

Cllr McDonald said, “this is another small step in the continual improvement of Danny’s Park and is another sign of the good work that local young have taken on to improve their community”

The council will ensure that the grass is brought up to the required standard and will the football pitch will then be lined, Cllrs McDonald and Turner hope that other resources will be installed in the coming months and bring Danny’s Park back to life.

Councillors take to the streets

Councillors McDonald and Turner recently initiated a new way for the public to raise issues with them by taking to the streets of the Baillieston ward. The two David’s set up a makeshift office on Baillieston Main Street to meet local people and to take action on solving local problems. The councillor received complaints about roads and pavements, littler, the condition of Barrchnie park, community policing and underage drinking.

This street surgery follows on from the recent school surgery held in Bannerman High and is one of the new ideas that Councillors McDonald and Turner are trying in order to make themselves more accountable and accessible to local people.

David McDonald said;

"It’s really important that politicians at every level are accessible to the people they represent. People often come across a problem in the street and forget to report it to the council later on, so hopefully by being out on the street people will see us and be able to report issues there and then. It has been very popular with local residents who aren’t used to seeing Councillors out and about in their community. For too long local politicians have been hidden away in their offices, I don’t think that is the way to serve people. We plan on holding many more street surgeries across the communities that we represent so if you see us on the street please come and see how we can help you”.

Hollowglen

The Councils Social Work Department recently held a “public information” evening in Budhill in relation to controversial plans to re-open the Hollowglen Children’s Unit.

The unit closed in 2007 following the restructuring of the service. The council have now published the results of the public consultation process and 97% of local people do not support the proposals citing fears of crime and anti social behaviour.

These fears are supported by information from Strathclyde Police who report that in the short time that the unit was open, over 2500 phone calls were made to the police either by staff at the unit themselves or by local residents.

Given the overwhelming vote against these proposals Councillors McDonald and Turner have written to the Social Work Department asking the Department to respect the views of local people, to withdraw the proposals and to explore other alternative uses for the building such as a community centre to service the wider community or perhaps a sheltered housing complex for local elderly people. These sorts of proposals would benefit the whole community and would be welcomed by residents.

Going Potty!

A recent news report stated that Scotland’s roads are amongst the worst in the UK for potholes. That comes as no surprise to residents of the Baillieston ward. Councillor David Turner recently undertook a survey of roads in the wards and was shocked at how many potholes he came across. David said;

“In a short walk along a part of Springboig Road I had counted more than 20 potholes and it is a similar story in other areas. This situation has come about due to Labour’s chronic lack of investment in the road network over many years.


These potholes are dangerous not only to cars but to people on bikes and pedestrians. In the last week I have reported a large number of potholes for repair, but we all know that these repairs don’t last very long.

We need a radical plan to rebuild our roads like the one proposed by the SNP during the city’s Budget process in February. Our group put forward an ambitious plan to start re-building Glasgow’s roads we proposed a fully costed scheme that was supported by the councils Land and Environmental Services Department, but sadly the Labour administration ignored the proposal.”

If you have a pothole in your street please either report it/them to your Councillor or call the Roads and Lighting Faults Freephone hotline on 0800 37 36 35

Hello

Welcome to this new blog which will be update regularly with local news from the Baillieston council ward in Glasgow East End. The ward is represented by 4 Councillors in total and is the only council ward in Glasgow to have more than 1 SNP Councillor.

SNP Councillors David McDonald and David Turner are full time Councillors and represent over 32,000 people (23,000 electors) over a large geographical area which includes Baillieston, Broomhouse, Barlanark, Easthall, Garrowhill, Greenfield, Swinton, Springhill, Spingboig, Wellhouse and Queenslie.

Please check back regularly for local news affecting your community.