Your letters to the Helensburgh Advertiser: May 31, 2018

To have your say on any local topic, just email your views to editorial@helensburghadvertiser.co.uk with 'Letter' in the subject line of your message.

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It is not often I feel compelled to use your readers’ letter page to set the record straight on matters of fact with another councillor.

But in relation to Councillor George Freeman’s comments in the May 24 issue of the Advertiser, I am prepared to make an exception in two matters.

The first is in relation to council tax for six properties at the Faslane peace camp.

Despite being told the facts – that unpaid amounts have not been written off; recovery of arrears have been pursued through sheriff officers in the normal manner; and both our own council tax officers and the district assessor have confirmed these accounts are still on the register for billing – Cllr Freeman completely ignores the facts and knowingly makes allegations to the contrary for the sake of a headline and photo in the paper, attacking me and officers.

As a fellow politician, I am used to this type of stuff, but in this instance I believe that he has shown complete disrespect to officers who are not in a position to answer back.

A wise man would have considered the facts first; an honourable one would have maintained his counsel. His comments suggest he is neither.

The second concerns Cllr Freeman’s column last week. Admittedly, in my column there can be a bit of knock-about stuff, especially if your politics are SNP, so I accept that I’m no angel.

But again, having re-read Cllr Freeman’s comments about third sector grants, he has simply gone too far.

I was shocked to read that he explicitly encouraged residents to not vote for Helensburgh projects, simply on the basis that they were from Helensburgh.

So whatever the merits of the Kirkmichael lunch club, Colgrain Primary School’s garden or the Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank (yes, George, it is Lomond too), they were, in Cllr Freeman’s bitter world, not even worthy of consideration, simply as they helped Helensburgh.

Most folk, thankfully, will have rejected this narrow-minded prejudice.

On a positive note, I am relieved that in the Lomond North ward, people have a choice of councillor. “Engaging”, “keen”, “enthusiastic”, “smiling”, “happy”, “hardworking” and, yes, “helpful” are all the adjectives I hear about another councillor in that patch – Cllr Barbara Morgan, in fact, who in fact topped the poll in last year’s council election. We now see why.

For whatever reason, Cllr Freeman’s approach seems to be the polar opposite – morphing into a curmudgeonly caricature of Victor Meldrew, only without the laughs. Sad, more than anything.

Cllr Gary Mulvaney

(Conservative, Helensburgh Central)

As always, it was a delight to read Councillor Alastair Redman’s epistle. His latest (Advertiser Comment, May 24) voices concern for the collapse in the number of school pupils studying modern languages.

Mr Redman is known as a fine linguist, although I have it on good authority that his command of Russian has nothing to do with the millions of pounds of funding his Tory party has amassed from the largesse of former Russian oligarchs which successive UK governments have welcomed.

As Mr Redman and his Tory and Liberal Democrat councillors are responsible for school education in Argyll and Bute, why are they failing to provide the teachers to teach modern languages? They employ them, and the officials in the council’s education department.

Graeme McCormick

Convener, SNP Dumbarton Constituency Association

Redhouse Cottage, Arden

With reference to reports in the Helensburgh Advertiser on May 24, I would like to provide clarification for your readers on a number of points.

Firstly, with regards to your report on the proposed new swimming pool and leisure facility, it should be made clear that a number of Argyll and Bute councillors share the concerns raised by Helensburgh Community Council.

These were highlighted when the proposal came before the council’s planning, protective services and licensing committee at the pre-application stage, when it was clear that councillors were far from impressed and referred to the proposed building looking like a “bus garage or bus shelter”.

I don’t think that some local councillors were too happy at me highlighting this at the following council meeting.

On the report on my investigation into the non-payment of council tax by those at the Faslane peace camp, Councillor Mulvaney stated that “the council has not written off any of the £136,517.43 in council tax arrears”.

He conveniently sidesteps the issue of the other council tax arrears that have already been written off. He also states that the council will “continue to pursue such debts in the same way as we pursue all other council tax through our appointed sheriff officers”.

Given that these debts date back well over 25 years and no payments have ever been made, I would suggest that very little effort is going in to pursuing these debts.

Can Councillor Mulvaney tell us how many other individual council tax accounts have arrears dating back over 25 years where no payments have been made?

The view of my constituents that the council applies double standards when dealing with Faslane peace camp appear to be well founded.

Finally, in the letters page, John Scullion questions the decision on the Taylor Wimpey planning application for four new houses in Redgauntlet Road and asks how the council can “overrule 20 objections by existing residents - unless this was all a done deal in advance and the meeting of the council’s planning committee was merely a formality”.

I can assure Mr Scullion that, as far as I am concerned, there was certainly not “done deal”. If he cares to check the minutes of the meeting, he will see that I did not support the motion to approve the application. Based on the number of objections, I tabled an amendment to hold a local hearing which would have allowed all the objectors to have their say before a decision was take.

Although my amendment was seconded by Councillor Hardie from the Helensburgh Central ward, it was defeated by nine votes to four.

I am sure that other Helensburgh and Lomond councillors on the committee will be happy to confirm how they voted on this issue.

Cllr George Freeman

(Independent, Lomond North)

Seated in my vehicle in a local car park, I was engaged in reading the latest blueprint for independence when a car armed with a rear spoiler and extremely loud exhaust pulled into a disabled space opposite.

You can imagine my anger when a young man leapt out and proceeded to do 100 fingertip press-ups and 50 star jumps before commencing to run on the spot for fully five minutes.

Laying the Sustainable Growth Commission’s report on the passenger seat I clambered out of my car and set off across the tarmac to remonstrate with the young man.

It was then that I noticed the ‘Vote Yes’ sticker on his rear window.

As with the blueprint I really must learn never to judge books by their covers.

David Weir

Via email

Council leader Aileen Morton does not understand the problem and has no hope of arriving at a solution. (Argyll and Bute is biggest funding loser, Helensburgh Advertiser, May 24.)

Argyll and Bute Council have approved two major housing developments in Helensburgh – Hermitage Grange by Taylor Wimpey is for 95 new houses and Duchess Gait by Persimmon is for 76.

For an average Scottish family with 2.5 children, this will mean 428 kids needing school places on Helensburgh. Will the local schools be able to cope?

The answer to the depopulation experienced in Argyll and Bute is not massive housing projects in Helensburgh.

When my parents were alive and living in Waverley Court in Helensburgh, health and social care services were excellent. Now both have deteriorated.

The government approach is to paper over the cracks with taxpayer money.

Another layer of bureaucracy has been created – Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP).

For Helensburgh and Lomond, this means a HSCP manager with a small support team in the Civic Centre on East Clyde Street at an annual cost of £380,000.

Multiply by 3.6 to get the figure for Argyll and Bute for paper-pushing services.

According to last week’s Advertiser, “the area’s health and social care partnership (HSCP) recorded a £2.52m overspend in 2017-18”. The HSCP was set up on April 1, 2016 and in 2017 had a budget of £257m.

There are local committees of HSCP, too. The August 2017 meeting of the HSCP’s Helensburgh and Lomond planning group had 29 individuals scheduled to attend. All at public expense.

This is bureaucracy run rampant.

John Black

Woodhollow House, Helensburgh