Local news for less than a coffee
To coin a well-known football ground chant, it’s all gone quiet over there.
I refer to the proposal for new Stirling Council offices which was a subject of much discussion but has hardly been mentioned since May last year when , following the election, SNP and Labour took control of the administration.
Regular readers will know that the proposal for the council to vacate Viewforth and move to a new complex, probably in Forthside is not new.
It was mooted in 2004 and revived in 2015 as part of a £200 million city centre development framework.
Creation of a new ‘civic quarter’ at Forthside was included in the council’s discussions with the governments in London and Edinburgh for City Deal money.
Council staff moved out of the Municipal Buildings, in Corn Exchange Road, early last year to make way for high-tech incubator hub CodeBase.
With those staff moving to the Wolfcraig building and other sites across the city, there was talk of creating what was termed a Public Sector Innovation Hub on land next to the ‘Spiky Bridge’ at Forthside.
It was proposed that the council would share the complex with other public sector organisations and partners .
A report tabled at a Stirling Council meeting in March last year said the design and development of the complex was progressing and discussions were underway with organisations who may be willing to share the PSIH.
But since then, little or nothing of the moves towards the creation of a new council complex has come to light.
Builders working on projects in Forthside and Riverside have temporarily moved on to the ground earmarked for the offices.
It would, of course, be wrong to equate silence on this issue with inaction. And it could be that officials will come up with a blueprint in the next few weeks.
However, with an interim chief executive in charge following the resignation of Stewart Carruth, a decision on the new office plan is unlikely to be rushed.
And of course the councillors have yet to be convinced about such a proposal.
Council Leader Scott Farmer told the Observer in January last year SNP councillors were still to be convinced about the need for new offices.
Conservative Group Leader Neil Benny said he was “not ideologically wedded to the idea of new offices and it would depend on the business case and the level of political support”.
So, to return to football parlance, the goal of new offices for council staff remains in the balance. Even if the scheme resurfaces, councillors could yet give the it the ‘red card’.
I would be interested in your views on this subject: email to john.rowbotham@ trinitymirror.com, or write to the Observer at 34 Upper Craigs, Stirling, FK82DW.
John Rowbotham, Editor Dear Editor
As an avid reader of your esteemed publication for many years I have seen the price of the Stirling Observer rise over that time but have always been happy to pay for the privilege.
However, it dismays me to see how many people, while clearly eager to read your paper, quite blatantly stand and do so at the various news stands without putting their hands in their pockets to pay for it.
I’m not talking about those who flick through your publication and others to assess whether they wish to purchase it. I’m talking about people who quite brazenly will stand for a considerable length of time and read the paper from front to back then walk off.
We do not go into a sandwich shop and eat their produce on the premises without paying for it, nor do we go into a mobile phone shop and use their batteries for our phone before walking out of the shop. Why do people believe that a newspaper is any different?
These people clearly wish to read the Stirling Observer, however surely they should be prepared to spare less than the price of a coffee to do so and support what is after all the area’s main source of local news, a source many communities across the country sadly no longer enjoy.
G Barclay By email