War of words over town hub funding
Wishaw’s MSP and Labour’s parliamentary candidate have clashed over the lack of funding for Wishaw’s proposed new town hub.
In December, North Lanarkshire Council’s education convener Frank McNally slammed Education Secretary John Swinney after he refused to provide funding for the ambitious project.
As well as a new St Aidan’s High and one other associated primary school, the hub would also have included sport and leisure facilities and spaces for police and health officials to hold drop-in clinics.
Labour’s Martine Nolan wrote to the town’s MSP Clare Adamson urging her to contact Mr Swinney asking him to reconsider the decision.
She said: “I’m very surprised our MSP would not write to the Education Secretary asking for him to reconsider his decision.
“If you look at areas like Midlothian where three schools were given money and then you look at Motherwell and Wishaw, which is the eighth most deprived area in Scotland according to official statistics, yet we have been left with nothing.
“It makes me really angry that our area has once again been left with nothing.
“As the MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw she should be doing everything possible for our children.
“The Scottish Government state that a school’s physical environment can make a difference of 16 per cent to children’s grades. That’s the difference between them getting a place at college/ university and not.
“I find it shocking that the convener of the Education and Skills Committee in Holyrood hasn’t taken any actions to improve the educational chances of children and young people in her own constituency.
“It’s not just the fact that two new schools would be built. A new hub would bring so much to the town.
“All I’m asking from our MSP is for her to write to John Swinney and ask him to reconsider this decision.”
As well as a new St Aidan’s High and one other associated primary school, the hub would also have included sport and leisure facilities and spaces for police and health officials to hold drop-in clinics.
To satisfy bid requirements, the council was required to submit high level costs linked to the project which would be in the region of between £69 million and £73 million.
In response, Ms Adamson said that while the town hub would have been of huge benefit to Wishaw, the bid from the council failed on numerous criteria.
She said: “This funding application was incompetent and openly winging it. The Labour-run council failed to demonstrate political or financial commitment and admitted the bid’s inadequacies in its own report.
“This is an annual fund. If North Lanarkshire Council submits a competent bid which meets the criteria, in consultation with the included school community, then of course I would support it as a constituency MSP.
“Ms Nolan is asking me to use the privilege of my committee convenership to gain an unfair advantage for an incompetent funding application. That would be amoral and a breach of the Code of Conduct.
“This Scottish Government fund aims to promote equity. It is not for me to try to game the system to bolster a demonstrably ineligible application.
“A new-build school will not, in itself, lead to better outcomes. I would instead wish to see the local authority address the poor performances of its existing new build schools.
“Teachers and the wider school community are working so hard but a dearth of council leadership is hindering improvements.
“I am sure none of this was Ms Nolan’s intention. She, like me, wants the best outcomes for our community. But this episode demonstrates inexperience and naivety over parliamentary process and the duties of an MSP.
“I will always fight for my constituents but Ms Nolan’s request was not something I was willing to do. I am uneasy at the implication that, in my position, she would seek to gain favour at the expense of eligible applicants.”