A councillor’s contradiction
If the people of East Kilbride were ever in doubt about the inner workings of South Lanarkshire Council, then they should read the comments of Councillor John Anderson on PGs 22 and 23 of last weeks EK News.
On PG22 he was defending the reporting of the Stewartfield Way dualling project and how it had only been ‘amber’ flagged and appears to be in support of the project – he seemed convinced the City Deal cabinet will look more favourably on it next time .
However, on PG23 he is expressing his concern about how vehicles left idling when parked next to sports and leisure facilities, and the impact the emissions from these vehicles can have on the patrons of such facilities.
I would like to point out to Councillor Anderson that there is in fact a sports and leisure facility within metres of the proposed Stewartfield Way project; the Heritage Loch.
And even though he quotes the exhaust emission level of vehicles are halved whilst they are in motion, the particulate emissions from brakes and tyres drastically increase during motion.
These particulate matters are particularly nasty as they are the ones (as well as exhaust particulate matter) that lodge in the lungs and cause a raft of respiratory diseases, most fatal.
So my question to Councillor Anderson would be; what side of this climate/health crisis fence is he sitting on?
Surely he can’t support one and not the other?
Or does he just say what he thinks people want to hear in any given situation?
It will be interesting to hear his views on the environmental impact studies carried out on the Stewartfield Way project, if we ever get a chance to see them as we are still waiting to see the KPMG report claiming the “financial benefits of the project”.
I think he is right that the size of the civic amenity is a contributing factor as to why there has been so much fly tipping recently. To just blame irresponsible individuals is a cop out.
But then that is the usual typical arrogant response from the council, expecting folk to trudge down to Blantyre if East Kilbride is busy. I had hoped for more from the new chief executive, but he sounds as bad as the last one.
We all know EK has been saturated with housing and it doesn’t seem to ever stop despite what the people say.
Politicians just stick their heads in the sand, let the council officers, who usually live elsewhere, make all the decisions and then nod them through, blaming the previous administration or the Government for having inflicted all this pressure on them.
The least SLC could do is provide a recycling centre which can cope with all the developments.
SLC say they are committed to looking after the environment, expecting folk to drive to neighbouring towns is hardly green.