Glasgow Community Agenda

The Community Agenda | Glasgow 2012.

The Agenda will be put to prospective Councillors at hustings.

The politicians will be asked to commit to each of the following in YES or NO commitments.

We will accept no waffle.

These hustings will all be on camera.

The politicians will be given a fair hearing, and a chance to explain, in five minutes, what they support and what they will do on each of the following points.

Glasgow won’t be fooled.

1. Enhance local democracy

"On Thursday the 22nd of March the Accord Centre for adults with learning disabilities closed, with adults with complex needs moving to the Riddrie Daycare Centre and with adults classed as having moderate needs moved to the Bambury Community Centre. In Glasgow there is a need for day care centres for adults with learning difficulties.
As adults with learning difficulties grow older their needs grow more and their health starts to deteriorate. With everywhere else, in the North and the South of the city, no day centres have closed. Will they commit to building a new day care centre for adults with learning disabilities in the east end of Glasgow?"

- Commit to: in-house the ALEOs.
- Commit to: in-house the GHA, or make the GHA become more accountable (please specify).
- Area Committees - commit to meet outside city chambers, and devolve certain services to them (eg cleansing, as is proposed to be devolved for Athletes Village area which is a precedent).
- Commit to: Community Councils to have representatives on Area Committees

"Would the Council ensure that there is more transparency on who is managing local assets? Maryhill Tennis Courts and Running Track are lying empty this year, again. Unusable."
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"Dear (would-be) Councillor,
So as to inform wider public civic engagement in Glasgow, could you please explain:
• What Glasgow City Council’s ‘Common Good Fund’ (CGF) is?
• What your responsibilities are regarding the CGF?
• What you think the CGF should be used for?"
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"Will you support the extension of cycling, physical activity and access at Maryhill Locks by ensuring that The White House - an empty building - is transformed into a community hub for cycling and physical activity, YES / NO?"

2. Housing Justice

- Commit to: Address TRA developments tenure mix. TRA Disposals Clawback Agreement being waived = £100 million to private developers in Maryhill: this giveaway is unjustifiable and needs review
- Commit to: More social housing is needed across the city - the council must build more.
- Tackle landlord malpractice in the private rented sector

"All over Glasgow tenants of ‘rogue’ private landlords complain about lack of repairs, rubbish and noisy neighbours. Complete buildings have collapsed due to a lack of maintenance yet the Council does nothing. This abuses the right of every resident to enjoy a peaceful home and neighbourhood.
The city council has a statutory obligation to enforce the laws to stop these abuses but has cut back the budget for enforcement staff so far that officers cannot take action. Will you lobby to restore an enforcement budget to increase the number of staff to an effective level?"

- Commit to: stop the misuse of CPOs to clear local people to make way for private development.

3. Tackle fuel poverty and climate change

- Commit to: If GCC is serious about Combined Heat & Power (CHCP) then it needs to move beyond words and reimplement district heatin g in areas which once had it.
- Commit to: Sustainable Glasgow policy for urban woodland on brownfield sites which have lain empty for 20 years is good. This work should begin in those areas.
- Commit to: implement Sustainable Glasgow and 2014 environment strategies, or more.
- Commit to: Supporting North Kelvin Meadow to continue as a meadow - a volunteer managed green space, which costs the taxpayer nothing but supports biodiversity and community - and other resources like it, against unwanted development.

4. Action on local jobs

[Notes by way of background that GCC funds credit unions, and that the government owns RBS and HBOS, that there is strong moves to 'mutualise' many services, and that Cooperative Bank is very solvent and has good reputation and links to Labour movement]

- Commit to: set up a community development bank, with credit unions playing a role, and with the backing of a high street bank. Maintain local accountability.
- Commit to: investment capital to be found from the generous money given to Glasgow based regeneration agencies, much of which does not directly fund jobs. This money could be more effectively invested in paying for jobs and apprenticeships.
- Commit to: the ALEOs, or future DLO, should be put to work delivering the Sustainable Glasgow programme. This could provide future apprenticeships.
- Commit to: seek a meeting with community representatives, council leaders and Angela Constance, the youth employment minister, and other employment ministers on an annual basis.