LATEST NEWS-NOVEMBER 2016
CHRISTMAS PARTY
We are having a party and you are invited. The night will start with a pub quiz followed by music, party ,games and food.It all starts at 7pm,18 Lochburn Road G20 9AQ. Tickets £5. Book your tickets by clicking the link below. Get your tickets here!
KELVINDALE BUS ROUTE UPDATE
Back in September Kelvindale residents faced a vital bus service being axed.
First Bus wanted the 4/4A service to terminate at Broomhill and no longer serve Kelvindale, Anniesland and Knightswood.
A new M4 service would have replaced the section of the 4’s route between Kelvindale and Anniesland
- but this decision would have hit residents , particularly the elderly infirm, as the 4A bus through Cleveden Road is their only direct route into the city centre.
ajority of respondents, favoured Option 1 (Anniesland-Kelvindale-Hyndland-Byres Rd-Partick Interchange).
They accepted this choice, outlined their draft timetable and expressed a hope that the revised route would be operational by the start of December. I expressed my frustration that connectivity had been gained at the expense of frequency and First agreed to share usage data with me, which will hopefully form the basis
of a future request for increased frequency.
Going forward, I also informed First that I would be working with the community council, Bob Doris MSP, Patrick Grady MP and local bus users to scope out an 'ideal' local bus route."
Cllr John Letford.
To read a little bit more then click here.
THE NATIONAL SURVEY
There are only a few weeks left to try to reach at least two million people by St Andrew’s Day.Each member was asked to try and get 15 people to fill in the survey.If you haven't managed that then there is still time. Come and join us at one of our weekly worknights. Where: McDonalds,Maryhill Road When:6:45 aiming to leave at 7pm sharp.BOB DORIS MSP OPENS LOCAL OFFICE
Bob Doris has moved into his new office. He and his staff are now based at:
Maryhill Burgh Halls,10-24 Gairbraid Avenue,Glasgow,G20 8YE
Telephone: 0141 946 7700
email:Bob.doris.msp@parliament.scot
£100 MILLION FOR GLASGOW!
Communities in Glasgow will be handed £100m to spend on their local priorities under proposals to shake up local politics if the SNP take control of the council after next may's elections.
The SNP said it will devolve £1million per city ward area each year throughout the next council term if elected in 2017.
The cash, which amounts to 1% of the city’s budget, could be spent on local services such as yout
h groups, lunch clubs for older people, parks and infrastructure projects.
In an opinion piece in the Herald, SNP Group Leader Susan Aitken said “Why shouldn’t our city aspire to a Glaswegian version of radical local decision making? This is not about abdicating our responsibilities as elected members and service providers, and it won’t insulate Glasgow or any other local authority from tough spending decisions.
“But those tough decisions make it even more important that the council works with individuals and communities to understand their needs.”
“The days of top-down decision making should be over,” she said. “It won’t be a magic bullet but, with the right local structures in place and the right support behind them, communities working in partnership with councillors and council officers will make informed decisions confidently.”
The plan is based on a Brazilian model, which has seen the people of the city Porto Alegre vote on how to spend £700m over the last 20 years. The programme has been hailed as life-changing, improving the quality of life for Porto Alegre’s citizens.
THE POLITICAL MAP OF SCOTLAND IS BEING REDRAWN….MAYBE?
You might have heard that some changes are happening regarding the Council Ward boundaries for the 2017 election but there are also proposals for changes to the Westminster boundaries. We thought we would put together a handy guide to what on earth is happening!
So what's happening?
Well..it's not what's happening but what is being proposed. In 2011 a review of all the boundaries across the UK was put forward by individual boundary commissions. The proposals were rejected by the House of Commons in Jan 2013. However, David Cameron(remember him?) revived the proposals in 2015 promising to "cut the cost of politics".So what are the proposals?
The general idea was to make sure that each constituency was of equal size. After looking at the electorate and working out the average size of each constituency it has been proposed that each constituency has an average electorate size of around 76,000. There were only two exceptions to this proposal in Scotland and they were: Orkney and Shetland and Na h-Eileanan an Iar(WesternIsles). Their electorate was smaller than 76,000 and they also had geographic reasons not to be merged with an another area. However, the other much bigger proposal was to cut the size of the house of commons by 50. In 2015 there were 650 MPs elected.These proposals bring the number down to 600.How does this affect Scotland and also Glasgow?
Scotland would see its number of MPs drop from 59 MPs to 53. Glasgow would lose 1 MP. In 2015 we elected 7 SNP MPs but if these proposals are approved then this would drop to 6. In 2015 the constituencies were: Glasgow North Glasgow South Glasgow East Glasgow North East Glasow North West Glasgow South West Glasgow Central. The proposal is that it would drop to 6 and would be: Glasgow North Glasgow East Glasgow West Glasgow South East Glasgow South West Glasgow Central To see what the proposals are, then click here and you can see the maps.So this is happening then?
Not at all! You might have noticed that we use the word "proposal" a lot! That's because that is all they are at this moment. This has a long way to run. This was David Cameron that pushed this forward back in 2015 and there is nothing to say that parliament will approve it. They are due to vote on it sometime in 2018. There are public hearings to be had as well.If you are interested in getting involved then click here. If you wish to make a statement at a Public Hearing, please email: bcs@scottishboundaries.gov.uk or phone 0131 244 2001. However...there is the matter of whether Scotland will be in the UK come 2020!So there are council ward changes?
Absolutely. Come May 4th, 2017 these changes will be in place.Glasgow will see an increase in councillor numbers, going from 79 councillors to 85, representing 7 3-member wards and 16 4-member wards.
Prior to this Maryhill and Springburn branch had 3 wards within its boundary.
These were Canal,Maryhill/Kelvin and Springburn.
This has now increased to 5 wards' which are:
(To see the new maps just click on the names below.)
To see other wards within the Glasgow area then click the link below.