It feels like we live in the forgotten village
Howwood residents blast council over roads‘neglect’
Residents are furious that their village has been left off the map for road repairs.
Renfrewshire Council has announced its roads plan for 2018/19 with a list of roads and pavements earmarked for repair.
But Howwood doesn’t feature and members of the community council have urged roads bosses to think again.
Mirren Leon, vice chair of the community council, said: “The people of Howwood are understandably angry at this blatant lack of consideration of our concerns. Despite contact being attempted by both Howwood Community Council and village residents to ask for clarification of the reasoning for this omission, they have had no replies to date from Renfrewshire Council.
“This lack of communication on its own shows, at the least, a complete lack of respect.
“For some time now Howwood residents have felt as though they live in the forgotten village of the county.
“On many issues we feel sidelined, left to quietly get on with things without any fair sharing within Renfrewshire.
“Our roads are just as much in need of repair as others and we deserve the right to have them attended to.”
Councillor Derek Bibby said: “The community council and Howwood residents are rightly very angry that the village, which pays its fair share of council tax, is not getting its fair share of resources and have asked all elected ward councillors to get roads in the village such as Main Road and the Beith Road onto the programme.
“I have written to Councillor Cathy McEwan, convenor of roads, urging her to add Howwood to the programme and reminded her that the SNP administration promised to fix the roads, a promise broken which will now have a hollow ring to the people of Howwood.”
Councillor Bibby, who represents Howwood, also said the split of 34 road repairs in Paisley and seven in Johnstone was unfair.
He added: “Even accounting for geographical difference this is not a fair share for Johnstone, particularly given the increased traffic in the town and the resultant pressure on and damage to road surfaces.”
A spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: “Improving Renfrewshire’s roads network is a key priority of the council which is why we have made the largest ever single year investment of £7.2million.
“An extensive examination of the network has allowed the roads most in need of repair to be prioritised which will ensure recognisable benefit to the quality of our roads. While not in immediate need of full resurfacing, roads such as Midton Road in Howwood will be surface dressed as part of the programme as we aim to ensure communities across Renfrewshire see the benefit of the investment.”