Ready to work with others for this town
One by one, retailers are disappearing from East Kilbride.
This month, the town has been dealt a further devastating blow with Homebase announcing its plans to quit East Kilbride. The news came just a week after Mothercare and Aulds bakery closed their doors in East Kilbride for the final time.
This year alone, dozens of East Kilbride workers have lost their jobs from retail closures and many more face the risk of redundancy. If HMRC go ahead with their planned relocation, nearly 3000 jobs will be at risk of redundancy.
Just think about that for a moment.
‘Crisis’ isn’t a strong enough word for what is happening here and it is a bitter pill to swallow after just last year proudly celebrating East Kilbride’s 70th anniversary as a New Town.
As Scotland’s first New Town, the vision for East Kilbride when it was founded was a hopeful one based on rebuilding a nation and the village was transformed into one of the UK’s foremost commercial centres.
There is much to celebrate about East Kilbride but I hear many residents and consumers today say they fear it is no longer the thriving and exciting place it once was.
Decline is not inevitable but unless a robust strategy is put in place, we will continue to see more shops and businesses close and the local supply chain put at risk.
East Kilbride is in desperate need of long-term vision and investment, with a growing economy which can support sustainable and well-paying jobs of the future. It needs strong leadership to meet the town’s problems head on and take bold action to re-invigorate the economy.
But, sadly, leadership is lacking, with neither the SNP-run South Lanarkshire Council or the SNP Government taking action.
This week I wrote to the leader of South Lanarkshire Council, asking what the council is doing to support workers facing redundancy and what long-term planning for the future is in place to protect the town from further decline.
Earlier this year, I wrote to the Scottish Government asking what it is doing to turn around the worrying trend of retails closures and redundancies.
I received a response from the minister of business, innovation and energy saying that he shared my concerns, but remarkably his response was lacking any plan of action by the government.
When I asked the First Minister the same question, frustratingly I got a similar response.
Empty platitudes do nothing for families facing redundancy or for struggling town centres.
More can and must be done to give East Kilbride a bright future. Scottish Labour recognises the huge importance of East Kilbride to our economy.
Our industrial strategy works in partnership with industry and trade unions to ensure that workers have sustainable and well-paying jobs.
It makes the richest pay their fair share and delivers economic growth from the foundations up. With Scottish Labour, East Kilbride has the long-term vision and commitment for investment that it needs to flourish.
We are willing to work with others to find solutions that will lead East Kilbride towards a brighter future.
East Kilbride is in desperate need of long-term vision and investment...