Big mistake to scrap Free for Three
Renfrewshire Council claims to have a ‘Vision 2030’ for Paisley town centre – one that will regenerate the town and make it once again a thriving hub where people will go to meet, eat, drink, shop and enjoy themselves.
That’s all very well. But how on earth does scrapping Free for Three parking tally with that vision? How will that help a town centre still reeling from the effects of covid and, long before that, decades of decline?
It has been several weeks now that Free for Three was scrapped.
Its introduction followed a campaign launched by Paisley First, Paisley’s business consortium, in November 2018.
An initial pilot was then rolled out ultimately across six Paisley car parks and proved a success – it allowed visitors to park for three hours in the town centre free of charge, enough time to do some shopping and have a coffee, or meet friends for lunch and a chat.
Renfrewshire Council, however, has now scrapped it – in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and an ongoing harsh economic environment for businesses and households.
A three-hour stay in the town centre now costs a minimum of £4. A stay of over four hours costs at least £8.
Reactions have been swift, and damning.
Business leaders speaking to the PDE recently have warned of Paisley becoming a “ghost town”.
I know a number of people personally who have expressed astonishment at the scrapping of the scheme and have said that they simply will not go to shop or meet in Paisley from now on – perhaps opting to visit Braehead instead.
One hour’s parking remains free but what use is that? Not enough time for most shopping trips, never mind lunch or a coffee with friends.
Consultation with business on the scrappage of the scheme was extremely poor – perhaps the council were afraid of what they would hear.
Astonishingly, the council’s initial paper on the proposal did not even consider, let alone model, the financial implications of scrapping the scheme.
Our many cafes and restaurants, not to mention shops, rely on footfall, on passing trade, on people coming in to the town centre.
The scrapping of Free for Three is an attack on all of that. It is little short of an act of economic vandalism.
And there are other implications, too.
New parking charges across the town will particularly affect people on low incomes, families taking their kids swimming and even some RAH staff going to their work – who are increasingly unable to rely on public transport.
Soaring charges will make Paisley quieter and more deserted – the very last thing any of us need who have love and pride in our town, and who want to see it thriving.
Of course, ultimately, we want to see people shifting onto public transport rather than their cars.
But this scrapping of Free for Three comes mere months after savage cuts to bus services across Renfrewshire that make accessing public transport into Paisley harder and harder.
The reality is there is simply no joined-up thinking from this council administration.
They are lacking in vision and in leadership – and Paisley town centre, amongst many other things, is paying the price.
A convicted paedophile changed his identity and lied his way to become President of the World Burns Federation where he had direct access to school children.
Erskine man Marc Sherland organised children’s poetry competitions and boasted he was safe to work with vulnerable children.
But the 67-year-old, who rubbed shoulders with the elite at lavish events, was in fact disgraced community worker Douglas Stuart Hammond who had sexually assaulted two boys after luring hundreds of children to his home.
He’d been able to change his name and go under the radar for several years until his identity was exposed and he’s now been forced to resign.
There are calls for an urgent investigation into how Sherland, who was convicted in 1991 and was not on the sex offenders’ register, went unnoticed.
Scottish Conservative justice spokesman Russell Findlay MSP, who is calling on the government to fast track legislation to stop sex offenders changing their names, said: “This chilling case will be of concern to every parent in Scotland.
“Only an investigation can establish the exact circumstances of this deeply concerning case.
“While this individual was free to change his name, his past crimes should still have shown up in background checks working with children.
“Sex offenders should not be able to hide their identities by changing their names and I would again urge SNP ministers to reconsider their inexplicable opposition to closing this dangerous loophole.”
Scottish Labour’s justice spokeswoman Pauline McNeill said: “Concerns will be rightly raised over this situation. Action needs to be taken to close the loophole of offenders who committed their crimes before the register was created going undetected.”
Hammond was convicted of the indecent assault of an eight and 10-year old boy when he was an educational community worker at Strathclyde Regional Council.
He assaulted the youngsters during “dummy fighting” at his home and claimed the ‘games’ helped the boys break down emotional barriers, according to court reports at the time.
A Paisley Sheriff Court trial heard that as many as 200 children had visited his home and, during questioning, the sick 35-year-old said: “I took the boys to my flat to talk about their personal and family problems. These were boys with serious social behavioural problems.”
One child had to punch him to get him to stop the abuse while another confessed to his grandmother what was happening.
In the years since his conviction, Hammond changed his name to Marc Sherland and rose through the ranks of Robert Burns clubs and literary groups throughout Scotland.
An author profile for him on the Scottish Book Trust website stated that he could work with adults and children – including careexperienced people, vulnerable adults, people with mental health problems, prisoners and young offenders – despite having been convicted of abusing vulnerable boys.
In 2020, he became the president of the World Burns Federation and has been president of the Lanarkshire Association of Burns clubs, Glasgow Haggis Club and a vice president of the Glasgow and district Burns association, among others.
Through these roles, he worked with children presenting awards and judging competitions with images of his attendance at one Glasgow primary school shared on social media.
He also rubbed shoulders with senior local government figures and attended lavish banquets in the Glasgow City Chambers.
In 2017, the pervert began organising the Aye Can poetry summer school for 11 to 16-yearolds at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow.
But his past caught up with him in December when he was confronted by another member and was forced to resign from all the clubs. His profile as an author with Scottish Book Trust has been removed.
A source at the club said: “A conviction from over 30 years ago came to light, Bridgeton Burns Club President confronted him around Christmastime.
“We did background checks and it showed a name change. Inquiries were made and the president alongside another trustee met him to confront him about the name change and the convictions.
“As far as I’m aware, he admitted it, apologised and resigned in writing.”
The sex offenders’ register was set up in 1997 but it is not retroactive meaning Sherland would never have been placed on it.
Any checks done on him using his new name would not have shown that he had a conviction for child abuse and no safeguards were in place as he wasn’t on the register.
Our sister title, the Sunday Mail, confronted Sherland at his home in Erskine where he admitted he shouldn’t have been working with children.
But he claimed he changed his name due to his work as an author.
Sherland said: “I am a writer and the reason I changed my name was because, as a writer, I realised that my given name was relatively common and changing it to a name that was not relatively common was a good idea. I’m now suffering because of that I have to say, but that’s the reason.
“It wasn’t because of my convictions.
“I was registered with the Scottish Book Trust but I’ve now removed myself from that as well as I don’t want to bring them into disrepute.”
When asked if he accepted that working with children would be a concern to parents and he should not have been doing it, he said: “Yes, I think that probably is the case.
“I thought that the distance in time was so great and the change in my personality was so great that it wasn’t such an issue. On reflection, yes I believe that’s true.
“I’ve never been in a situation where I have been one-to-one with a child, nor would I put myself in that situation in a school.”
Sherland confirmed he had been confronted by Bridgeton Burns Club about his previous convictions and said: “I felt that I wasn’t going to put the Bridgeton Burns Club or any other club in a position which would bring it into disrepute so I resigned immediately and got in contact with all the other organisations to do the same thing.”
The Robert Burns World Federation was formed in 1885 to educate, celebrate and promote the life and work of the poet.
Based in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, it has over 250 affiliated Burns Clubs around the world – reaching as far afield as New Zealand and the United States.
A Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) spokeswoman said the Aye Can event was commissioned by the Glasgow and District Burns Society and Sherland didn’t teach children during the summer school.
The spokeswoman said: “The safety and wellbeing of young people at RCS is and has always been a primary priority with stringent safeguarding policies and processes in place to underpin the work we do.”
Online adverts for the Aye Can event taking place at RCS were posted by the Glasgow Burns and District Association in 2022 and 2023 listing Sherland as the point of contact.
RCS insisted the event only took place in 2017 and 2018. A Glasgow City Council spokeswoman said: “For safeguarding reasons, pupils are never left alone with school visitors and remain supervised at all times by staff.
“School staff regularly invite visitors in from partner organisations for learning and teaching purposes.
“Pupil safety is always our priority.
“We have no statutory obligation to request disclosure checks for all visitors entering school premises.”
The Scottish Government said the issue was for Disclosure Scotland to address.
A Disclosure Scotland spokesman said: “We cannot comment on individual cases.”
Repeated calls and emails to the World Burns Federation went unanswered.
This is a chilling case. Sex offenders should not be able to hide their identities by changing their names