Recent News
Council pledges better use of buildings
Property chiefs have pledged to get better value out of East Renfrewshire’s 130 council buildings.
They say that the properties which include schools, offices, halls and libraries, can be used more efficiently and with lower energy costs. Currently the council spends £8m annually on maintenance, heating and lighting. Rising costs make it essential to squeeze maximum use out of every building.
But 25 per cent of buildings are life-expired and inefficient and property chiefs say that they’ll have to be rationalised and replaced where necessary with modern and energy-efficient buildings.
Council leader Councillor Jim Fletcher said: “Where we have new buildings such as Williamwood High School which is used all day and evening with 60 per cent use being by the school and 40 per cent by the community, and with modern and efficient energy systems, we can see exactly where we should be in all properties. The challenge is to look closely at the actual needs of the council and the communities we serve to determine where we need our buildings, how we can put them to maximum use and work out how we can pay for new ones.
“Many of the properties we inherited at the start of the council 12 years ago were old and lacked maintenance when we acquired them and are now even older. Some are in the wrong place for present service needs and many are totally energy inefficient. This pledge is the start of a process of addressing these issues.
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Smarter Service Standards
People using schools, sports centre, libraries and social work services in East Renfrewshire will be able to find out what they’re entitled to more easily thanks to a probe by the council’s watchdog audit committee.
The cabinet has agreed to take a close look at 26 recommendations for fewer but smarter and more relevant service standards and improved public information, after the audit committees vice chair, Councillor Jim Swift, presented the report to councillors.
Council leader Councillor Jim Fletcher said: “Councillor Swift and the audit committee have done an excellent job in putting service standards under a very searching microscope. We will now consider those recommendations very carefully to ensure that the standards we finalise will be relevant and measurable and helpful to all of our customers.”
Icelandic banks deposit clarification
East Renfrewshire Council has today confirmed that of its overall investments of £15m, £1m is invested in Heritable Bank, the London-based subsidiary of Landsbanki.
Director of finance Norie Williamson said: "We made the decision some months ago to invest only in UK or Irish-based banks withdrawing, where possible, any investment in Icelandic associated banks. But a previous investment in Heritable as a UK-domiciled, and, at that time, a bank with a sound credit rating, could not be renegotiated given the terms of the deposit. That £1m investment is due to mature in early December. We are in touch with the administrators and hope in the longer term, once the bank’s and the government’s positions clarify, that we will, as with other councils, be able to recover this investment. Councils, businesses and savers are facing a fast-moving and unique set of financial events in which formerly sound investments are being affected by external and unpredictable sets of circumstances.
"East Renfrewshire Council has an excellent reputation of prudent financial management and for a productive investment strategy. All other investments held by the council are in either UK or Irish banks. We are doing all we can to monitor the position and to identify the likely effects of the Heritable Bank situation if we are unable, in the longer term, to recover the money despite all our best efforts."
Science experiment success
A three-day summer science academy experiment held in July at Williamwood High School for 77 primary seven East Renfrewshire pupils was such a success that councillors have given the go-ahead to expand it next year.
The council teamed up with Strathclyde University’s innovative routes to learning team to run a mixture of science experiments and fun sessions to encourage the young boffins to choose science later on at secondary school.
East Renfrewshire Council’s education convener Councillor Alan Lafferty said: "The experiment was a huge success and the pupils who gave up three days of their holidays to attend voted it both fascinating and fun. Now that we’ve evaluated the event, we plan to extend it to reach more pupils next summer as it’s vital that secondary pupils think about choosing to study science."
Council lays out position on national qualifications
Scotland’s leading education authority has laid out the principles it will adopt when replying to the Scottish Government’s current consultation on the next generation of national qualifications timetabled for implementation in 2012/13.
East Renfrewshire’s education committee says that its response will be based on maintaining the council’s position as the highest-performing council and holding on to and improving on what’s already best in the mix of access, intermediate, higher and advanced higher qualifications studied for in East Renfrewshire where standard grade has already been abandoned. The council also wants to ensure that all pupils benefit from any changes adopted by the Scottish Government. This year’s primary sevens will be the first group to sit the new exams if the proposed timetable is adhered to.
Education convener Councillor Alan Lafferty said: "The new qualifications framework is crucial to us and we want it to work for our young people. Our response is likely to favour developments such as the proposed certificates in literacy and numeracy while we favour keeping much of what serves us well in East Renfrewshire where year-on-year improving exam results show that the current system is working well for us and we would want the new system to work equally successfully locally and nationally."
Tackling alcohol and mental health
Two health awareness weeks are being tackled by local health and care services in East Renfrewshire.
For alcohol awareness week and mental health awareness week both begin this week.
And East Renfrewshire community health and care partnership has developed several projects to help raise awareness of the issues.
The health and social care convener, Councillor Douglas Yates, explained: “Alcohol is at the very heart of many of our nation’s social problems either as a direct cause or as an excuse. As a country and as individuals we need to examine our attitude towards drink and now is a good time for us to take a close look at how we can change attitudes and dependency.
“Our alcohol awareness sessions include training, publicity and awareness raising, particularly for young people, to find ways that we can start to tackle the effects of alcohol on society.
“Mental health awareness week is an opportunity for us to encourage a bit more openness about the subject.
“Through training and awareness raising sessions we are encouraging residents, employers and employees to recognise and manage stress better, encourage people to speak more about alcohol-related issues, and letting people know what support is available,” added Councillor Yates.
Mental Health Art and Film Festival
East Renfrewshire residents are being encouraged to find out more about mental health issues through art and film.
For the Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is taking place until 19 October across Scotland.
East Renfrewshire health and care convener, Councillor Douglas Yates, explained: “Mental health issues affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of Scots every year. It is an issue that we need to speak about more, especially men, and which can be helped. The arts and film festival is about raising awareness of the issues in an entertaining and thought-provoking way.”
The arts programme runs until 19 October and includes music concerts with appearances from Sons and Daughters, Twilight Sad, Rod Jones (Idlewild), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Kenny Anderson (King Creosote), Emma Pollock (former Delgados) and Duglas T Stewart (BMX Bandits).
You can also catch theatre and drama events. These include One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Think No Evil of Us. There’s also My Life with Kenneth Williams; two days of talks and readings from leading Scottish based writers and watch 30 thought-provoking film events including screenings of Joy Division with director Grant Gee, Cathy Come Home, Johnny Cash in San Quentin, and I for India, accompanied by an exploration of mental health in Bollywood.
Writers Liz Lochead, Willy Maley, Denise Mina, Alan Bissett, Tom Leonard, Rachel Seiffert and many more will explore the creative impact of mental health at The Mitchell Library on 17 and 18 October.
There will also be 12 visual arts events and a comedy gig at The Stand featuring Raymond Mearns; a film awards ceremony; Bollywood dance and fashion, and interactive workshops. For more information log on to www.mhfestival.com or call 0141 572 0125 to for a brochure.
Major Roadworks Mearns Cross
Roads chiefs are warning that major road works will take place at Mearns Cross from Sunday 12 October to Monday 3 November to allow the busy A77 Ayr Road and Eaglesham Road junction to be resurfaced.
The first phase will be carried out from Sunday 12 to Sunday 19 October during the schools break to minimise disruption. Eaglesham Road will be closed at its junction with Ayr Road and diversions will be through Firwood and Mearns Roads.
Eaglesham Road will then reopen and contra-flows and temporary traffic lights will operate on Ayr Road. There will also be service and local bus stop changes affecting First 38 and 44A, Stagecoach 4 and Hendersons 395.
East Renfrewshire Council roads chief Joe Devine said: "The junction surface is worn out and needs to be replaced and we apologise for any inconvenience caused. I ask all road users to be extra careful in and around the works and to give extra time for journeys. The junction carries heavy through and local traffic to and from Barrhead, Paisley and Ayrshire and there will inevitably be delays."
Just Like Us
A vibrant and thought provoking exhibition of art, Just Like Us, will run in the Eastwood Park Theatre’s gallery until 3 Friday October.
March 2007 was the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery and the trigger for a series of arts and history projects throughout East Renfrewshire, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund.
The Just Like Us exhibition includes colourful wallhangings, sculptures, decorative masks and short films produced by the pupils at Netherlee, Busby and Carlibar primary schools. Children who attended the summer holiday activity programme at Carlibar primary this summer also produced work.
In addition artwork is on display created by children and adults at community art workshops run by art specialists Maureen Rocks-Moore and Sally-Ann Provan at Mearns and Barrhead libraries, Rouken Glen visitors’ centre and at Williamwood High.
Also on display are photographs by pupils from Williamwood High School, traditional African beaded bracelets and headbands and Barrhead artist May McMaster’s painting The Tree of Liberty.
Local community groups also have artwork on display including the Friendship Quilt produced by members of Women Across the World – East Renfrewshire.
There is also a series of films made by children from P7 classes at Busby, Carlibar and Netherlee primary schools with the help of film maker Kate Burton.
In the gallery the story of slavery and its links to Scotland is told in a series of photo display boards produced by the National Trust for Scotland.
The pupils’ artwork made will also appear on the project’s website at www.justlikeus.info
A recent event at the theatre put the performance parts of the project in front of an audience when pupils from Busby, Carolside and Netherlee Primary Schools and Williamwood High School showcased a year’s worth of work in their multimedia performance.
They used film, music and drama to tell the story of the impact of slavery in East Renfrewshire where the National Trust for Scotland’s Greenbank House, built by tobacco baron and slave owner Robert Allason, is a very visible sign of the local wealth generated through the slave trade. Writer Jackie Kay was compere for the evening.
East Renfrewshire education convener Councillor Alan Lafferty said: "The pupils have done a superb job of bring the story of slavery, the lessons it teaches us and its local angles, to life."
The Just Like Us exhibition will tour East Renfrewshire libraries and schools in the months ahead.
Photograph above: Councillor Alan Lafferty and Provost Alex Mackie view a colourful mask at the exhibition
Go Greener Day
Eastwood Park Theatre and Carmichael Hall will play host to Go Greener Day on Sunday 5 October.
Described by Go Greener chairman Councillor Eddie Phillips as a day of “entertainment and enlightenment”, the event will feature a farmers market, stalls and demonstrations, face painting, Eco Art and Glasgow Science Centre exhibitions and a full afternoon’s programme of music drama and talks in the Eastwood Park Theatre.
There will also be a chance to view a specially commissioned Go Greener video.
The event, which will be opened by former BBC reporter Bob Wylie, is free and open to anyone to attend.
The day will kick off at noon and the programme in the theatre starts at 1pm until just after 4 pm.
Councillor Phillips said: “I am sure Go Greener Day will be a great success. We want people to come and learn about the environment but to also have some fun.
“It will be uplifting and thought provoking day and it’s an event no one in East Renfrewshire can afford to miss.”
Leading environmentalist Chris Hines MBE will be a keynote speaker on the day. Chris, who founded the Eden Project in Cornwall, will advise on how people can combat global warming.
Councillor Phillips added: “This is a real coup for Go Greener. This man is a giant within the environmentalist movement and to get him for our event is marvellous. He speaks inspirationally about the need to change and to never give up. We need people to get involved locally and he’s the man to motivate people. It will be a great event!”