Cash row rumbles on
Labour and the SNP have continued their war of words over the failure to get Scottish Government cash to create a new Wishaw community hub.
Just a week after the town’s MSP and Labour’s candidate for the upcoming Scottish Parliament locked horns on the issue, it was the turn of councillors to turn their ire on each other.
However, there could be a small light at the tunnel with Education Secretary John Swinney agreeing to meet the council’s education convener to discuss the plans.
Wishaw SNP councillor Jim Hume said: “It’s sad to see communities lose out on this great initiative by the Scottish Government due to a lack of preparation on the part of this Labour administration.
“Not only did they not take the necessary steps to ensure the application was competent but to try and pin it on the Scottish Government and local MSP after the fact really is a new low.
“It shows this administration didn’t even do their due diligence on the rules of application before complaining about being left out. I do hope we can attain this funding when it comes around again in the coming year and hope Labour consider reading the guidelines for applications in the future, it is after all the “day job”.
Fellow SNP Wishaw councillor Fiona Fotheringham added: “I’m incredibly disappointed for Wishaw to lose out on this funding.
“If Labour had put half the effort into reading the application guidelines that they have put into their spin of blaming the Scottish Government we might well have had a positive news story for Wishaw.
“Ours is not a community that can forgo money when it is made available to us, I hope Labour get their house in order soon.”
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.
In response, Labour’s education convener Frank McNally confirmed the upcoming meeting with Mr Swinney but described the SNP’s response to the failure to secure funding for the plans as “a new low”.
He said: “It is truly incredible that SNP councillors and MSPs in Wishaw are now swinging into action against investment for their own community.
“Council officers are in regular dialogue with Scottish Government and Scottish Futures Trust officials about our Programme of Work, including on this bid. Discussions took place before the bid was submitted, and following its refusal.
“At no time has the government expressed any dissatisfaction or concern with the proposal; the government has in fact consistently viewed our plan for Wishaw – along with our wider Town and Community Hub Strategy - as strong, which makes the refusal even more difficult to swallow.
“It now appears that the only outstanding concern is the lack of political commitment.
“The government was made aware of our timescale for securing cross-party political support well in advance of our bid being submitted and, crucially, raised absolutely no concerns about it - so that argument does not hold up to scrutiny.
“The Education Secretary, John Swinney, has agreed to meet with me to discuss the proposal and how we can move forward.
“Therefore, it is utterly bizarre and highly embarrassing that SNP councillors and MSPs in Wishaw are scrambling around trying to rubbish strong plans aimed at securing significant investment for their community.
“It is well known that local SNP politicians are obsessed with appeasing their government in Edinburgh, but to be so eager to torpedo plans for state-of-the-art new education and community facilities, when armed with so few facts, is a new low even for them.”