Barriers back after our report
BUNGLING council bosses have restored a South Side cycle route after making “terrifyingly dangerous” changes.
We told in Saturday’s Glasgow Times how protective barriers around a pop-up bike lane on Dumbreck Road had been removed with no warning.
This left cyclists travelling towards oncoming vehicles with no protection.
Glasgow City Council pledged it would return the safety barriers to the Spaces For People route – and yesterday they were back in position.
IN among the SNP’s civil war last week, you’d have been forgiven for missing another extremely important economic announcement from the UK Government to help rebuild our communities from the pandemic.
They confirmed that their levelling-up fund will now be extended to Scotland, meaning hundreds of millions worth of investment being directly invested in our communities from the UK Government.
This will mean that millions can be invested in capital projects such as regenerating our town centres and high streets, boosting local transport infrastructure and supporting capital and heritage projects.
The Secretary of State for Scotland stated that he is keen to work closely with local authorities to ensure that cash is directed in line with the wishes of local communities as a priority.
You would have thought the SNP might welcome direct investment in Scotland, but they cranked up the grievance machine and described it as a power-grab. This is the same SNP Government heavily criticised by the independent Auditor General this week for failing to be anywhere near transparent enough on how they have spent almost £10 billion worth of UK Government funding during the Covid pandemic.
For the SNP, money spent directly in Scotland by the UK Government is a threat to their authority. It’s a threat to the fallacy they perpetuate that the big bad Tories don’t care about Scotland. But let me be clear – the Government of the United Kingdom does not require the permission of separatist nationalists to invest in every nation of our union.
The public simply aren’t interested in the never-ending game of constitutional grievance stoked by the SNP. If investment in local communities can be delivered efficiently and effectively by money straight from Westminster, then let’s cut out the middle man.
I was pleasantly surprised therefore to see Thursday’s press headline from Glasgow’s council leader, Susan Aitken, which read that she welcomed Westminster’s plan to invest millions in Scotland. That surprise was short-lived, however, with Glasgow’s leader quick to correct the record on social media – clarifying that of course she does not support cash coming to the city.
If only we had a council leader more concerned with how money could be spent, rather than where it comes from, our streets might not be in the state they are in. If only we had a council leader willing to positively engage with the UK Government.
Perhaps then we would have seen Glasgow’s SNP administration actually stand up for Glaswegians last week when the First Minister’s “road map to nowhere” so cruelly disappointed our hopes for recovery from this crisis.
Perhaps then Susan Aitken would have better reflected the deep frustrations of the city’s businesses at the news that they face an indeterminate period of further restrictions, with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce stating that the Scottish Government gave a “less detailed” programme than they had wished for.
Perhaps then we would have seen a single Glasgow SNP representative reflect on the Chamber of Commerce’s argument “in favour of the closest co-ordination” between the UK and Scottish governments’ approaches.
Perhaps that last point reveals all we need to know. The SNP’s raison d’être prohibits them from pursuing the closest possible co-ordination across these islands because they want to cut us off from our family of nations when it is most crucial to us.
I extend a helping hand to the council’s leader. I unequivocally welcome the news of investment in Scotland direct from the UK Government and look forward to engaging constructively on where these funds can best benefit the people of Glasgow as we look to rebuild from the pandemic.
POP star Ellie Goulding has confirmed a new gig date at the O2 Academy in Glasgow’s South Side.
The Burn hitmaker was forced to postpone dates due to the pandemic, with the Glasgow show, originally due to take place on April 7, now going ahead on October 7.