Twenty years of tough decisions
I recently read an article about a survey into which professions were most and least trusted in Britain.
I was disappointed but not surprised to see politicians ranked as the second least trustworthy and, with apologies to those who produce the News, it wasn’t much of a comfort to see journalists at the bottom of that league table of trust.
The lack of trust in politicians may be in part because we have been through a particularly divisive period in politics, what with the independence referendum, Brexit and heated arguments over austerity and how to fix the economy.
But politicians have always split opinion and not just because of ideological differences.
Politicians also often have to take tough decisions and such decisions are rarely popular with everyone.
As readers know, I am standing down in May after 20 years as leader of your council and I think it is fair to say that in that time I have taken my fair share of tough and controversial decisions. Looking back, I am happy to stand by my record.
In fact, one early big controversy was over something which is now quite clearly one of the best things your council has done: our schools modernisation programme.
It wasn’t just the size of the investment that worried some people, though. We took flak for the scale of our ambition to rebuild every secondary school then every primary school in South Lanarkshire.
We’ve faced similar criticism at other times for other big investments, such as the £126 million roads investment programme and Home Happening, which installed 25,761 modern kitchens and bathrooms in council houses.
But the schools modernisation programme sparked particular issues, especially where mergers were proposed. While I understood why people were emotionally attached to particular schools, I also knew that some mergers were necessary if we were to create a set of excellent new schools for future generations. So we made our decisions. And the result? State-of-the-art learning environments right across the area, all of them watertight and comfortable, pleasant to the eye and, most importantly, designed to bring out the best in our children. Recent exam results more than vindicate that tough decision we took so many years ago.
There are so many other examples.
People are understandably cautious when they hear that their bin collections are about to change but in the last few months we have completed our roll-out of new waste arrangements.
And, with the support of local householders, we are now recycling half of the waste collected in the area.
The decision to build South Lanarkshire Crematorium in Blantyre was also very controversial but now, more than a decade later, it is an established part of the landscape and has provided a comforting environment for thousands of local families at some of the saddest times in their lives.
More recently there was a protest against a council proposal last year when Scottish Government funding stopped for the One Stop Autism Shop.
Rather than simply filling the financial hole to keep the service going in Motherwell, the council decided instead to create a bespoke service for families living with autism in South Lanarkshire.
This was, to say the least, unpopular with a small but very vocal group of people and it would have been easy to change our minds but that would have been the wrong thing to do.
So we stuck by our decision and the result is Arch, the Autism Resources Coordination Hub.
This is a dedicated, bricks-andmortar base established in the former Jean Brownlie Centre in Reid Street, Burnbank, Hamilton, offering a focal point for the support of people and families living with autism.
This includes advice services and everything from helping with clubs, running workshops and organising trips.
Arch offers a new focal point for coordinated working for all of those involved with autism, including carers and the third sector. It is also much more convenient for the vast majority of people and it is proving very popular indeed.
After 20 years I could fill this newspaper with other tough decisions that have had to be taken. But I will limit myself to just one more: the annual responsibility to set the council’s budget.
We are nearing the end of this year’s discussions, which will cover 2017/18, and I have already made one difficult – but I think necessary – decision to freeze the council tax if Labour form the next council administration.
Given the Scottish Government’s £327m cuts in funding for local services, I could have decided to increase council tax rates to help make up the loss in South Lanarkshire’s grant.
But I decided not to because I believe local people have struggled enough with austerity.
Completing the budget process in the coming weeks will entail a raft of further decisions.
Even though I am standing down as a councillor, I will continue to make them and I will do so in the best interests of local people and your communities.
Looking back, I am happy to stand by my record