ELDERSLIE BY ELECTION

HISTORY

Just thought that I would put on a wee bit more information regarding the Elderslie By Election, and Labour's historic victory. I have received some very annoyed comments from the anonymous cowards identifying themselves only as SNP supporters, the reason they are upset is that I identified the Labour victory as an historic one! Well like it or loathe it, this is the truth. This is THE LAST by election to happen in Scotland before the elections next May and as such it is the last Local Government election to use the First Past the Post system.

Personally I don't agree with Proportional Representation, I think that it distorts the ward member link and allows cherry picking of issues by unscrupulous politicians, you only have to look to the Scottish Parliament list MSPs in this area to see that in action.

The new system of proportional representation can be very confusing and the way that your vote turns into an actual representative is not exactly easy to understand. My main concern is that people want to know how voting for their choice turns into a representative and the Scottish Executive have a HUGE job in hand in order to educate the public to this new system.

WEDDING BELLE

MY COUSINS WEDDING

I was lucky enough to be invited to my younger cousin's wedding yesterday afternoon, the bride was stunning and the whole day was fantastic! The weather was lovely (a bit cold but lovely) and everyone at the wedding had a fantastic time!

I just wanted to say congratulations to the Bride and Groom and good luck in their life together.

ELDERSLIE BY ELECTION

STORY OF THE YEAR

Despite the howling wind and pouring rain the people of Elderslie came out in their droves and voted in the by election today, the polls closed at 9pm and as per the previous post the Labour candidate John Caldwell won!

The by election caused by the sudden and sad death of Deputy Provost Councillor Jean Goldie was a hard fought campaign, the candidates for the most part ran a clean and positive campaign. The SNP stooped to their normal low by commenting on an alleged police investigation into a former Labour Councillor and put out a leaflet based on this alone! They also tried to suggest that the only way to save the Elderslie baths was to vote for their failed candidate Ms McGee.

The result was close as most by election results are, but Elderslie has spat in the face of the recent polls by You Gov and the like which suggested that the SNP should have walked this one, you only have to look at their forum pages on the Internet to know that they were not only over confident but in some ways taking the result for granted! It didn't matter that the SNP pulled out the 'biggest' name they have in Alex Salmond, and their second biggest in wee sturgeon. In the end they had an effect I don't deny it but their campaign ultimately failed.

It was once said that in elections for a majority 'you only need one vote, the rest is just for ego!' I don't necessarily agree about the ego part but it is true that a majority of one vote is still a majority and a victory!

Cllr John Caldwell holds the seat with a majority of 65.

LABOUR VICTORY

COUNCILLOR CALDWELL


Despite the SNP campaign of deception regarding the baths the Labour Party won a convincing victory in the Elderslie By Election, we now have a new Councillor, Cllr John Caldwell!


Congratulations to John and the people of Elderslie for making the right choice!

PS as per previous post NO ANONYMOUS comments will be published have the guts to identify yourself and then post a comment!

ELDERSLIE BY ELECTION

NO VOTE, NO VOICE


If you have not already voted and are reading this PLEASE use your vote, the Renfrewshire Council slogan is right if you don't use your vote, you have no voice in this election and no right to complain about the outcome, so GET OUT THERE and...


VOTE LABOUR,


VOTE CALDWELL,


VOTE FOR ELDERSLIE!

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

Paisley North Community Planning Forum

The next meeting of the Paisley North Planning Forum takes place on Monday the 11th of December and on the agenda this time are a number of issues from Policing to Health. The agenda contains a number of outside agencies giving a presentation on their particular field and how it relates to the Planning Forum, the Police will give a presentation on Violence Reduction, Anti Social Behaviour and Drug Dealers don't care, and the Community Health Partnership will give a presentation on their role.

The Localised Community Plan, Paisley Town Centre Regeneration Study, Local Transport Strategy and the Core Paths Network are all presentations on the agenda as well so it is shaping up to be an interesting meeting. The meeting involves the local Councillors representatives from the Council (officers) Local Community organisations and Housing Associations, and representatives from Health and Police. I will write more about after the meeting on Monday night.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

INFORMATION

This post is purely for information, today I received a copy of the Christmas schedule for Arriva buses in the area. The information will be in the press etc but just so everyone is aware..

21st - 23rd December Normal Service
24th December service curtailed after 19:30hrs
25th December NO SERVICE
26th December Sunday service curtailed after 19:30hrs
27th - 29th December Saturday Service
30th December Normal Service
31st December Service curtailed after 19:30hrs
1st January No Service
2nd January Sunday Service curtailed after 19:30hrs
3rd January Saturday Service
4th January Normal Service

If in doubt try the Arriva Customer Hotline 08701 20 10 88

LABOUR GAIN

THE GOAL OF FULL EMPLOYMENT

• The New Deal has helped over 1.2 Million people into work including 535,000 young people.

If you look at the post that I put on previously (25th August 2006 Youth Unemployment) you will see what an achievement that this is, according to an old publication a friend gave me youth unemployment in Strathclyde was 60%!!! Now it is closer to 8% in Scotland. This is due to the higher level of investment in our schools, teachers and pupils than ever before!

TRISH GODMAN MSP

NEW WEBPAGE


This is just a short posting to advise that the Local MSP Trish Godman has a new website I have recently visited it and it is excellent. It is kept well up to date and the layout is easy to look at and navigate around.


Have a look for yourself

ELDERSLIE BY ELECTION

YOU READ IT HERE FIRST!

Interestingly enough the SNP have done exactly what the Labour Party knew they would do and what I predicted on the 2nd of November 2006, suggesting (as they have done in the past) that the Elderslie baths are under threat of closure, despite being advised at the last Council meeting that they are not. Ms McGee's claims that the baths will be kept open only if they vote for her, it begs the question, do they not intend to 'ensure' the baths stay open if the people of Renfrewshire choose the Labour candidate John Caldwell? Will the SNP abandon the people of Elderslie, until May of course when they come back promising them the earth without the means to deliver as they are doing here!

Cllr MacKay (SNP group leader) can protest as much as he likes about Labour suggesting that the SNP claims are a disservice to Jean's memory, but he knows that they are. He similarly knows that the SNP at the most recent election have suggested this before, yet the baths remain open! I spoke to Jean about the next election not long before she died, and she told me that the SNP would claim that the baths were under threat of closure, she advised me that they had done this before, Jean Goldie was an excellent Labour Councillor, and Elderslie advocate and a lovely woman, she was a strong supporter of John Caldwell and I am sure she would be delighted that he was standing in her place.

VOTE LABOUR,

VOTE CALDWELL

ON DECEMBER 7TH

LABOUR GAIN

PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT

• More than doubled overall household recycling from 7.5% to 17.5%

This is an excellent achievement by the Labour Government, and locally the Labour Administration on Renfrewshire Council have been doing their part to increase recycling even further. Kerb side recycling has been extended to most of Renfrewshire, and we are currently working on an alternative to the blue and brown bins for those properties that they are not appropriate for.

Having spoken to the Deputy Convenor for Housing, Environment and Community Safety I can advise that the Local Authority is pleased with the amount that people are recycling in Renfrewshire and the quality of recycling, a lot of recycling materials from other areas gets to the recycling point and because of the quality has to go back to landfill, so keep recycling Renfrewshire, any questions about the recycling programme should go to the Envrionmental Services Department of Renfrewshrie Council 0141 842 500