Free Video Presentation 5th Sept

MasterPath:

The Teachings of Light & Sound. Sincere seekers are invited to a free video presentation on the mysteries of the Divine Spirit. (www.masterpath.org)

Sat. 5th September, 2.30-3.30pm,
Glasgow Youth Hostel, 8 Park Terrace, G3 6BY.

Kerr sees Megrahi case ‘quite clear’ now

LOCAL NEWS GLASGOW was once again first with the news; this time with a very Glaswegian twist to the ongoing Megrahi situation.

SNP candidate for the Glasgow North East by-election David Kerr had a reflective change of heart following his initial comments that stated he believed it was wrong to grant Megrahi compassionate release.

David was accused by Labour candidate Willie Bain for being a ‘yes man’ and by The Scotland on Sunday 30 August of ‘flip-flopping’ but has ridden out the storm, and yesterday (Tuesday 1 September) was backed by First Minister and SNP leader Alex Salmond.

The First Minister said; ‘David was quite right to come out and say what he believed, as he was in full understanding of all the facts.’

“In light of all the information and arguments that have come forward, it is now quite clear to me, and I believe a growing number of people in Scotland – of all parties and none – that the Justice Secretary took the right decision, and above all he took it for the right reasons.”

However, prior to this both Glasgow North East by-election front runners had spoken out against the decision of Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill to release Abdelbaset Ali-al Megrahi, the convicted Lockerbie bomber.

In face-to-face interviews both men expressed their concern over the Justice Secretary’s decision.
On Monday 24 August, Labour candidate, Willie Bain, said: ‘I don’t think it reflects well on the Scottish Government. I think it was the wrong decision. Jack McConnell was right when he said there were other options available. It’s just wrong that we have someone who is convicted under Scots Law of such serious offences, being released in this way.’
On Friday 21 August, SNP candidate, David Kerr, felt it wasn’t the best option but argued that the Justice Secretary has only grown in stature. He told the LOCAL NEWS; ‘Kenny did what he believes to be right. He will have gained a lot of respect from a lot of people over his handling of this. He is a politician of courage and principle and an honest and good man. However, I don’t believe that Al Megrahi should have been released. He was convicted of murdering 270 people so I believe justice would have been best served if he had remained in the care of the Scottish Prison Service. I do believe that compassion should be shown to him in his dying months. Whether that’s the best of palliative care to be delivered within a Scottish prison or even to be cared for in a Scottish hospice, obviously with provisos made for security.’
Come November, former BBC journalist David Kerr, 35, and university lecturer Willie Bain, 36, will have other issues to battle over.
The by-election to replace Westminster MP Michael Martin who was Speaker of the House and who resigned his seat in Glasgow North East, is likely to be called in that month.
The Labour Government has come under heavy fire for the delay in holding the by-election.
Willie hopes to reclaim the Springburn area seat for Labour. A former St Roch’s pupil, Willie claims the delay has not been all bad news. He said: ‘I’m ready for the by-election at anytime.
‘The pleasure of it being a slightly longer campaign is that it gives us the opportunity to meet every group and campaign in every street in the constituency.
He continued; ‘I don’t think many people wanted an election in July or early August – during the school holidays.’
David Kerr, who as a child lived in Dennistoun, was less forgiving in his criticism over the hold-up.
He said; ‘It’s now one of the longest delays in UK political history. The opportunity for the people of the area to return a new MP should never have taken this long.
‘This delay may be ok for the Labour Party, but it’s not ok for the people of north east Glasgow.
‘The constituency needs an MP – ASAP’.

*What do you think? Please use the comment option to tell LOCAL NEWS your thoughts.

Langside College Unveils New Campus

Langside College's new campus building

Ministers Visit to Govanhill Youth Project

Two Govanhill projects were visited by Kenny MacAskill, Justice Secretary; Nicola Sturgeon, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing and Anne McLaughlin Glasgow MSP, to discuss anti-social behaviour and other issues affecting the area.

Anne McLaughlin MSP and Nicola Sturgeon with staff from Govanhill Youth Project

Govanhill Law Centre and Govanhill Youth Project, both on Butterbiggins Road, were the focus of attention. This was followed by the VIPs walking along Allison Street where they met residents and business owners.

At the law centre, manager Lorraine Barrie introduced them to staff who discussed  the work they do which is dominated by slum housing, slum landlords, evictions and benefits advice.

Lorraine said: ‘It was great for these Ministers to visit us and learn about the vital work and services we provide. We told them about the major problem we deal with. These include sub-standard housing and slum landlords, repossessions, evictions, housing benefit and other benefit issues.’

The visitors then went to Govanhill Youth Project where Project Co-ordinator, Jamie Stacey, introduced staff and talked about the work the Project does with young people aged from 11 to 18..

They deal with gang problems, drug and drink prevention and street work. At the centre they provide dance classes, hip hop music and a young mothers’ group.

Jamie said: ‘It was good they visited our project. I stated clearly, that in order to eradicate anti-social behaviour, we need funding to provide a purpose-built facility for the young people to go to. The reason they are hanging about the streets is because they don’t have anywhere to go.’

Kenny MacAskill with equalities worker Mwenda Tailemia

Anne said: ‘Today has been a great day because we have learnt a lot from our visit. Govanhill is a wonderful, diverse, community. However it has two main problems – antisocial behaviour and slum landlords with below tolerable standard housing. It was great to see how the Govanhill Law Centre is dealing with this issue and how Govanhill Youth Project is dealing with antisocial behaviour.’

4000 Year Old Tomb Found in Perthshire

Gently does it - a crane lifts the 4 ton capstone off the tomb at Forteviot

A huge crane moved into place and hoisted the slab off, revealing a well preserved tomb. There were gasps of astonishment from the assembled team as they realised that the grave contained a stone coffin with a wooden coffin within. Within the coffin was a bronze dagger with a gold band, already hailed as a discovery of national significance. The coffin also contained a leather bag and wooden artefacts. This material has been taken to Edinburgh for conservation and examination in laboratory conditions.  Dr Gordon Noble, dig co-director said: ‘Until the grave goods are fully analysed it will be difficult to say a great deal about the person buried here, but it is clear that this was a person of tremendous importance to the local community.’ The archaeologists later discovered that the underside of the 4 ton capstone contained intricate carvings. These pecked markings may represent an axe and are unique in Britain. Further axes may also have been pecked into the side slab of the stone cist beside where the head would have lain. This rock-art suggests that this is the grave of a significant person. This burial was placed within an extensive complex of prehistoric ritual monuments at Forteviot which go back to the Neolithic period (perhaps as early as 3000BC) and remained a centre of religious and political significance for many millennia. Most notably, the last Pictish kings, including Kenneth Mac Alpine, who died in AD 858, were drawn to Forteviot and left a legacy of exceptional Pictish sculpture. Professor Stephen Driscoll of Glasgow University said: ‘This excavation is part of a long-term project to study the link between the emerging kingdom of medieval Scotland and its ancient prehistoric remains. This burial provides the strongest evidence of the presence of ancestral graves which may have been regarded as mythological heros by the Picts who were also buried nearby in Forteviot.’

The following links provide more info about the dig, including a first hand account of the excavations.

http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/archaeology/research/projects/serf/2008season/excavationsatforteviotcropmarkcomplex/ 

http://serf-dig.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-08-10T14:29:00-07:00&max-results=7

The photos below record the moment when the stone was lifted and the tomb revealed.

Unity in the Community

The asylum support charity Unity have opened a new shop on Govan Road, selling clothes and other items. The idea for a shop emerged when the charity found themselves inundated with donations of clothes.

Helen Bih, Chris Dempster and Josephine Joans outside the shop on Govan Road

Chris Dempster, Josephine Joans and Helen Bih inside the new shop

Oatlands United

The new Oatlands United football club has received a boost with a new sponsorship deal from Link Housing. The team already has 57 players divided into under 11’s, under 13’s and under 14’s.

Oatlands United in their new Link strips with Frank McAveety MSP and Link CEO Craig Sanderson

The club is looking forward to playing its first Scottish Football Association league games when the new season starts this month. In the meantime, the players are enjoying twice weekly training sessions in Richmond Park and have already played a couple of friendlies with other local teams – the first against Partick Thistle, with a 6-4 result to Oatlands United and the other a 4-4 draw against Southside United. Oatlands residents David Stewart, Craig Mitchell and Tony Stevenson founded the team.  David said: ‘The response to the team has been fantastic, both from the local community and from Link, who we are very pleased to have as our sponsor.’ Link’s Chief Executive Craig Sanderson said: “We are very proud to be supporting Oatlands United. After building new homes locally, we have a strong relationship with the local community and are keen to help great projects like this as much as we can because it can only be positive for those involved in the team and for the local community as a whole. We will be watching the results avidly next season and cheering the team on every step of the way!’ Frank McAveety MSP was on hand to lend support. He told LOCAL NEWS: ‘‘It’s great to see the youngsters from the area get involved in the football team and represent Oatlands.’

North Glasgow Open Day

North Glasgow College threw open their doors on Thursday August 13^th in a bid to attract more students than ever before for the coming academic year.

The Springburn further education establishment has a cosmopolitan feel to in its state-of-the-art £42m new building, which opened last December.

School leavers, mature and overseas students were all in attendance at North Glasgow College Open Day, aiming to get into courses that will develop their skills and help them gain qualifications.

David Murray, 36, from Glasgow, will just be starting his NQ in photography as we go to print.

LOCAL NEWS caught up with him as he was on a tour of the building, he explained his reasons for going back to study at North Glasgow.

He said: ‘I have been very impressed with what I have seen today at the college and the course looks exciting.’

‘Previously I was teaching, but it’s a great challenge to go back and learn new skills, and where better to do than in this cutting edge building with such good facilities.’

North Glasgow is an area with high levels of new international families and communities, and this too is reflected in the make-up of the students at the college.

Mathues Pereira and Christian Eugenio, live in Glasgow but are originally from Brazil, were at the open day.

Matheus, 29, will start the one-year access nursing course early in September.

He said: ‘I was looking for a job for six months but it wasn’t easy, so it seemed like a good idea to return to study.

‘Hopefully in four years time the economic climate will be better and it will be far easier for us to find work.’

The recession has meant further and higher education uptake levels have increased, and while this is seen as an investment, it’s not been without cost.

The Scottish Government – via The Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council – have raised the allocation of funding over the next two years to help ease the pressures of extra demand for student places.

For the 2009-10 academic year £7.7 million will be issued to meet the demand for college places, £12 million for college buildings and equipment, and in 2010-11 there will be an extra £8.4 million for additional student places.

Over the two years, this additional will mean there are 3100 extra full-time student places.

Oatlands Allotment plot thickens

Glasgow’s green-fingered fraternity are still hopeful that they can maintain the existing provision at one of Glasgow’s sacred allotment spaces.
Work on the new smaller Oatlands Leisure Gardens, which is only a stone’s throw from the River Clyde, is scheduled to start in September 2009, while the present gardens site is earmarked for flats.
Written into the development deal back in 2001 was a guarantee by Glasgow City Council to maintain an allotment space in the community.
However, the recession has meant progress has been delayed by construction giants Gladedale.
Following Oatlands Leisure Gardens open day,  more people than ever are on the allotment waiting list.
A plot owner from Oatlands Leisure Gardens, who wished to remain anonymous, accepted the fate of the existing gardens was out with their hands.
He said; ‘We don’t like the idea of moving but the council own the land.
‘Sadly in the new plot we might only get two thirds of what we have just now.
‘This is made all the more difficult by the fact we now have 36 people from in and around Oatlands on the waiting list to get a plot.
‘It’s very important to the community of Oatlands that they maintain some sort of space for us.
‘But the uncertainty of when and where it will be is frustrating – we need answers.’
New allotments are earmarked to be constructed the line of the present Wolseley Street, encroaching slightly into the grounds of Richmond Park School.
Despite the increased interest in allotments locally, the Council and Gladedale claim there is only so much that they can do to meet the extra demand on the Oatlands site.
The other potentially suitable site for allotments in the area is located between New Rutherglen Road and the M74, but preliminary enquiries to the Scottish Government which owns the land and have ‘hit a brick wall’.
It was suggested by a spokesperson of Glasgow City Council at the Oatlands Steering Committee meeting that this was something Frank McAveety could follow up.
MSP for the area, Frank McAveety said: ‘The allotment provision should first and foremost be for people from Oatlands.
‘The community has been through some tough times and it’s important that it retains a leisure garden space, run by and run for the people of the area.’
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: ‘I still think that the Council was very far-sighted in 2001 to agree to include allotments as an integral part of the new Oatlands neighbourhood.
‘Times have changed and we are responding in as positive a fashion as we can, given the legal commitment we have with Gladedale.’

Maryhill and Partick Await Supermarket Decisions

Two Glasgow neighbourhoods, Partick and Maryhill, are waiting on supermarket giant Tesco to dictate their future.

In Maryhill, the shopping centre and Tesco store complex were slated for re-development as early as 2005. At a planning application meeting of Glasgow City Council on 16 January 2007, permission was given to demolish the existing shopping centre and build a new 24 hour Tesco superstore. Since then local people and politicians have been pressing for work to start. Finally, at a meeting with Anne McKechin MP and Patricia Ferguson MSP on 5 August this year, Tesco confirmed that work will start on the store in 2010. Ann McKechin told LOCAL NEWS: ‘New jobs for local people is great news, but the company promised a new store in 2004. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this to make sure they deliver on their promise.’ Maryhill Shopping Centre is built on top of the former Maryhill Central Railway Station which closed in 1964 and the supermarket giant cites problems with the location as the reason for the long delay.

In Partick, Tesco are proceeding with plans to create a superstore on Beith Street, just south of Partick Cross. As previously reported in the LOCAL NEWS, the controversial development was given outline planning consent in July 2008 for a mixed use development which included a superstore, 220 flats and student accommodation. The initial plans received a setback when Glasgow City Council sold some of the land to Clydeport Authority, effectively blocking Tesco’s access to the site. The revised plans now feature a 60,000sq ft superstore with 330 car park spaces, creating 400 jobs. At the public inquiry in 2008, permission to build just such a standalone store at the Beith Street site was refused. As part of revised planning laws, the company is obliged to hold a public consultation on the plans, and to inform statutory consultees including community councils. They held an open session at Partick Library on 6 and 7 August to let the local community see the proposals and offer comment.

Jean Charsley of Hillhead Community Council confirmed that they had received a copy of the proposals from the architects. She told LOCAL NEWS ‘We still object in principle to the plans because it will lead to an increase in traffic. Plans for a standalone store were refused by the Reporter following the public inquiry last year. Morrisons in Partick has applied for an extension, possibly to create a multi storey car park. And Glasgow Harbour is seeking to site a store on their development. Byres Road and Dumbarton Road are particularly bad for pollution, and the inevitable increase in traffic would worsen the problem.’

Partick Community Council have confirmed that they have not been consulted on the issue, merely invited to the public exhibition and asked to submit questions.

Tesco drew criticism when they demolished the historic Partick Central train station ticket office on Benalder Street. A spokesperson for Tesco told the LOCAL NEWS that Tesco had offered to dismantle the building and re-assemble it inside the Transport Museum, but the offer was rejected by Glasgow City Council.

Meanwhile, the nearby Glasgow Harbour development is also seeking to open a large superstore within its boundaries. Glasgow Harbour managing director Euan Jamieson said: ‘We currently have a planning application with Glasgow City Council for a supermarket between the Riverside Walkway and South Street, which we hope to get approved.’

Council documents from an Executive Committee meeting on 12 June 2009 outline details of a £6m land deal between Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Harbour. One of the items specified in the ‘Terms Agreed’ section states ‘The City Council will agree to the removal of the prohibition to superstore use within the Glasgow Harbour framework agreement.’ Although this document was submitted to councillors for discussion at the meeting, the minutes note that the item was withdrawn from the agenda.  

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