Rubbish woes need remedy

Dear Editor, Many people have been using the lockdown to carry out DIY work on their homes and work in their gardens.

This has generated a large volume of waste, waste which needs to be disposed of safely and appropriately.

Hardware stores such as B&Q are allowed to remain open to supply this work. There have also been no Brown Bin collections for a number of weeks with many people now having large amounts of garden waste to dispose of. There is a growing pressure to provide a safe , responsible way for people to dispose of the rubbish generated in the past weeks.

While the vast majority of people have been tolerating this patiently, there has sadly been an increase in reports of fly tipping, especially in rural areas. As time goes on this problem will get worse.

It would now be appropriate for the council to work out how the official dumps can reopen safely. Not only to help prevent further fly tipping, but also for the sake of the many responsible residents who do not have capacity to keep storing the rubbish. Given that these facilities are outdoors and that people dispose of their waste themselves, I am sure procedures can be put in place to do this safely and maintain social distancing.

We must not do anything which would lead to members of the public or council staff being put in a dangerous position, nor should we do anything which diminished the clarity or importance of the messaging around social distancing. However this is an increasingly urgent problem that needs addressing by the Scottish Government and councils.

Cllr Ross Oxburgh, Scottish Conservative Environment Spokesperson Stirling Council

Today (Friday, May 8) will see a recognition of the 75th anniversary of VE “Victory in Europe” Day always worth recalling the historical facts that this is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of the surrender of armed forces by the Nazis.

Perhaps a lesser known day of commemoration is Europe Day tomorrow (Saturday).

This commemorates the signing on May 9, 1950 of the Schuman Declaration - one of the first steps in collaborative integration between previously warring European nations.

This underlines that for all the economic, social, scientific and cultural advantages of EU membership, it remains at its heart a peace project.

In the UK this is nowhere more evident than at the border on the island of Ireland - EU membership underpins the peace of the Good Friday Agreement - a peace maybe taken too lightly by some?

This year the EU is using the words “United Against Coronavirus” to commemorate this. The reasons are obvious - we are facing unprecedented global challenges, not least a global pandemic and all the human and economic fallout from that. It seems self-evident that a global pandemic demands not more isolationism or false glorification of national history, but a coordinated, unified, collaborative global approach.

In addition, if Boris Johnson’s government continue to pursue their headlong drive to Brexit at the end of the year, the huge impact will be in addition to that of the Covid-19 pandemic, but unlike the pandemic, entirely selfinflicted. This will hit many in the population very hard.

It is clear that now more than ever, cooperative working matters. Be it in developing a vaccine or ready access to new pharmaceutical innovations, EU nationals working as key workers across the spectrum in the NHS, social care or keeping vital services such as shops and the postal service going.

We will continue to support our friends, colleagues and neighbours in our communities and to make the case for on-going membership of this unique peace project from which we all benefit.

In the opening lines of the Schuman Declaration: “World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it.”

Victoria Lee convener Stirling4Europe

Stirling Council would have been in for around £3m of extra funding, money that could have helped protect vital services such as nurseries, social care and transport.

In context £3m is close to the cost of running a primary school for a year.

With so much lost revenue to the council and so many businesses and families to support through this pandemic the council is likely to have a hole in its budget this year and next year.

For the UK government to allocate money to councils and for the Scottish Government to withhold that funding shows what the SNP really thinks of local councils. Once again, significant funding received by the SNP from the UK government is not being passed onto front line services but instead is being held back by the SNP for unknown reasons.

The council has been carrying the can and doing most of the heavy lifting with our carers, binmen, engineers, teachers and many more offering vital services during this difficult time.

They deserve better than being short changed by the SNP.

The people of Stirling deserve better too.

Cllr Neil Benny and Dean Lockhart MSP