Royston school's future

School’s back after the summer break, and the future of one of our local schools will be under the spotlight over the next few weeks. I have backed the campaign by Royston parents and community representatives to save Royston Primary, and I will be attending a number of the meetings organised locally about the closure. I hope that Edinburgh Council will listen to the very good case that has been put forward by the parents.

[Opposite is a picture from 1946 of pupils from Royston school which is now threatened with closure]

West Pilton Open Space

One of the longest running local issues which I’ve been involved with is the problem about maintaining and keeping tidy areas of open space in West Pilton. The problem goes back more than 20 years to the way that the then Tory Edinburgh Council sold off housing in many parts of the area, without making satisfactory arrangements to properly look after many areas of open space. Over the years, there have been a number of half-hearted attempts to sort out the issue, but they haven’t got anywhere. I have once again urged the Council to try and come up with a workable solution, which is fair to tenants and owners alike. The Council can’t just wash its hands of the problem.

Bin Strike

The rubbish dispute shows no signs of ending, and there is now a risk that the current dispute will become a full-scale strike. I have urged Edinburgh’s LibDem/SNP Council to sit down with the unions and try and get a fair solution to the dispute. The health consequences of a serious dispute could be severe, in addition of course to the unsightly mess in so many of our streets. My experience on the Council in the past was that most industrial disputes could eventually be settled by a common sense approach by employers and unions – and common sense is needed now to solve this dispute before it gets even worse.

The economy

The general economic picture is still mixed. I know from experience in the community that the economic downturn is affecting local people, through job loss or in other ways. However, there are also some encouraging signs that the economic recession has come to an end, and certainly the measures taken by the Labour government seem to have stopped unemployment becoming as high as it did in previous economic recessions. There is a clear difference between the government’s approach of trying to help people through the recession, and the policies of Conservatives today and in the past with policies which would lead to big cuts in public services and jobs.

The steps taken by the government to try and help communities through the current economic difficulties include the following:

• the future jobs fund which will offer a guarantee of a job, training or work placement for all 18-24 year olds who are unemployed for 12 months
• new funding to provide another 50,000 jobs in areas of high unemployment across the UK for people of all ages
• extra money for the social fund which provides emergency payments for those in extreme need
• increases in child tax credit, working tax credit, the basic state pension as well as the amount of savings that are disregarded when it comes to calculating pension credit
• new payments of £100 a year into the child trust fund for disabled children and £200 for those severely disabled

There are still many people without bank accounts and they lose out when it comes to paying for heating their homes or even mobile bills as compared to those who can pay by direct debit. The Government had little choice but to step in to shore up the banking system but it is trying to ensure that in future people on low income are not excluded from it.

As part of this, the UK Government has set up a Savings Gateway Scheme for people claiming benefits under which it will contribute 50p for every £1 that you put in. As well as banks and the Post Office, it will also be operated by credit unions which are local community based institutions aimed at people on low income.