Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Progressive step ensuring children don’t go hungry
at Gateside/Hornshill Farm area has been overturned by an official who is not elected or publicly accountable.
People in Stepps campaigned for, and lobbied their councillors to protect, the green belt and reject this application.
The councillors listened to their concerns and refused to grant planning permission.
However, the developers appealed to the Scottish Government’s Reporter, who has overturned the decision.
Since then, three other developers have expressed an interest in building even more houses on a larger area of the green belt.
I am fully backing the campaign to save the green belt both there and at the Woodhall and Faskine Estate, which also remains under threat.
It is a great pity that the Royal Bank of Scotland is determined to press ahead with the closure of the Airdrie branch.
Despite cross-party pressure on the bank to review its closure programme, only 10 of the 62 Scottish branches have been given a stay of execution and the branch on Graham Street will close its doors for the final time on May 24.
It is clear that public services have suffered the most from the austerity agenda of both the UK and Scottish governments.
Scottish Labour’s proposed plans for the Scottish budget would see austerity reversed by a change to the tax system that would see the wealthiest in our society paying more.
We believe that those with the broadest shoulders can, and should, pay more to build a better society which is fairer for us all.
We would ask those earning £50,000 per year to pay a little more, and introduce a new top rate of income tax at 50p in the pound.
This would enable us to increase child benefit by £5 per week, inject an additional £100 million into our NHS, invest much-needed funding in social care for the elderly and disabled, provide schools and childcare with the resources they need and fund proper repairs and maintenance of our road network.
In the end this is about where power and wealth is concentrated in society.
So, I see my role not to simply press for the alleviation of poverty and inequality, but to tackle its root causes by rebalancing power and reshaping the economy.