Full Council meetings are always interesting (and sometimes entertaining) however when you are not feeling great (heavy head cold) not so much!
The first order of business on the agenda this morning (apart from the usual apologies and minutes) was the election result from the Elderslie By Election, the new Councillor, Councillor John Caldwell was warmly welcomed by most of the chamber. This was John's first Full Council meeting as a Councillor and it can get quite nerve racking but, he dealt with it admirably.
As usual the SNP put up their usual slew of motions which could have been avoided by simply picking up the phone and speaking to the Director of the relevant department. It is good to hear that Cllr MacKay is either reading this blog or my dad's, he mentioned it in one of his speeches in the chamber this afternoon!
The Liberals were at it again, trying to legislate what kids can and cannot eat, to the extent that they want to take away ALL hot food vans away from School Premises, sounds like a good idea? The main problem would be that most of the schools have shops in the surrounding area, the area that I represent is so close to the town centre that each day you can see the kids walking down the town to get a MacDonalds or a subway from the local shops, taking away the hot food vans is not the answer, I have a feeling though that Cllr McCartin knows this!
I am not for one moment suggesting that the issues of Childhood obesity and nutrition are not important but I don't think that this is the answer, this is a point I have made many times in the Regulatory Functions Board which regulates this type of licence. On this note congratulations should go to the Headteacher of Renfrew High for her innovative approach to this problem, working with the hot food vendors to work towards healthy choices that appeal to young people is surely a better approach?
One final point the reason I called this motions and commotions was that the wooden spoon for today's meeting has to go to Cllr Eileen McCartin Leader of the Liberal Democrats for stating ...
'nuclear weapons were developed and created during and for use in the cold war'
I kid you not! The whole chamber had to say more than once NO THEY WERE NOT, she then repeated the exact same thing only slower, same reaction, not sure if she thinks that Hiroshima was after/during the cold war? What ever it was it is a prime example of the Liberal 'we know better than you' democrats in Renfrewshire.
4 comments:
Eh, why are nuclear weapons being discussed in Renfrewshire Council meetings? What precipitated this remark?
Right for Scotland the SNP locally put a motion onto the Council agenda regarding the replacement of Trident.
And they get away with this? I mean I elect an MP to decide on Nuclear weapons, an MSP to decide on health and a councillor to get my potholes fixed. Why the hell are councillors allowed to waste time like this on matters that are not their concern?
If I write to my MSP about Trident I would get a form letter back saying "not my concern, reserved" and rightly so.
I get that "they are allowed an opinion" but that is what a press release is for.
Right for Scotland: The SNP worded the motion to ask the Council to take a position (their position) if it is properly framed the Provost cannot rule it out of order, otherwise they accuse the Labour Party of stifling debate!
It gets worse the first full council meeting, they had a motion that read 'democracy in Renfrewshire discuss' this is a ploy by the local SNP to make the meetings last as long as possible most of the motions they put up are from the local MSP's, maybe you should take it up with them!
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