COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

FULL COUNCIL

The full council meeting for this month was moved forward to today and although it lasted longer than most it went very well. Although the meetings are long there are usually some interesting topics and nuggets of information that come out of them. For instance did you know that Cllr Vassie thinks that Cllr McDowell is fantastic? No neither did we! Did you know that Cllr McCartin thinks that there are THREE MP's covering the Renfrewshire area? Answers on a postcard as to who joins Douglas Alexander MP and Jim Sheridan MP!

Post office consultation

On this item the SNP and Liberals were not so clear about their objections, Cllr Lawson (B) suggested that the Government were taking more and more business away from the Post Offices by allowing people to do more things online, he even said that it was better for the customers but then said they shouldn't do it? Although I poke fun at their reasoning the actual amendment was fairly OK it didn't really say anything new just backed up what the report already said so it was accepted.

Paisley Town Centre

There are major problems with the Town Centre, no one is disputing this fact but the SNP's suggestion that the wardens were their idea is laughable, especially as they voted against the provision of wardens almost every time they came up. It is quite obviously a political ploy to try and win votes on the upcoming election, look out for it on a leaflet!

Childcare First

As there were a number of motions to this particular issue the Provost decided to take them altogether and so the first was the motion and the rest were taken as amendments, some of the information put forward was ridiculous and totally inaccurate, the 'collapse' of Child Care first? I am sure they will be delighted to hear that elected members who were so complimentary about the service they provide think that they are no more! The biggest Fax pas by far though was the Liberal Democrats, Cllr McCartin's amendment went on about the UNICEF report, however, was not impressed when more than one person pointed out that the report did not include Scotland, not one person/organisation/elected member from Scotland was interviewed or asked their opinions, oh dear and she had connected it to the so called 'collapse' of the Children First out of school care service!!

The rest of the agenda went pretty smoothly and there was even some agreement (SHOCK HORROR!) a number of amendments were accepted and even a bout of bartering across the council chamber, the next council meeting take place on the 26th of April and will be the last before the elections.