Top of the flops
Stirling Council face the music, accused of ignoring the wishes of people who live atTop of theTown
Stirling Council officials were this week blasted for ignoring the wishes of people who live at the Top of the Town.
Some staying at the historical heart of Stirling say the council’s much-vaunted £200 million City Development Framework (CDF) is failing to address social problems there.
Now Mercat Cross and City Centre Community Council has sent an open letter to Stirling Council voicing their concerns about discussions on the framework. The letter was sent just days after Stirling Council launched a £500,000 regeneration strategy for deprived areas.
Community councillor Sara MacMillan said she attended an “incredibly negative” meeting in March of business community representatives convened to discuss the proposals for the Top of the Town. It was chaired by council official Kevin Kelman and attended by other senior council managers.
“The meeting started with a most insulting comment,” said Ms MacMillan who formerly ran the coffee shop at Cowane’s Hospital.
“They (some business representatives) were talking about doing business in the Top of the Town and how they felt the local population was detrimental to their business.
“It was suggested that the only way to improve the climate for business was to get rid of the landfill by which they meant residents.”
A business representative, who was at the meeting and heard what was said, described it as a flippant comment designed to make a point about an antisocial minority making the lives of visitors and residents a misery.
However, Ms MacMillan was dismayed that the remark had not been retracted and voiced her concerns at the latest meeting of the community council.
She said members of the community council had put in hours of work organising and taking part in consultation events aimed at finding out people’s views on regeneration plans for the Top of the Town.
Residents were told their input was vital to funding applications.
But Ms MacMillan said the outcome of those meetings and discussions were being given insufficient attention by officials.
“There seems to be no communication between the communities team who handled the consultation, and were brilliant, and senior managers within the council,” she added.
“When we started, we were assured that discussions would take place under the headings ‘live’, ‘work’ and ‘play’. There are people who live here who are in desperate circumstances – 31 per cent live in poverty – and there is a real need for social change.
“But sitting at that meeting, I felt the people were given no consideration.
“It was as if the Top of the Town was a theme park for people who visit.”
Members of the council’s finance committee on Tuesday allocated cash for a number of CDF initiatives including £30,000 for market ‘pods’ and a similar amount to reinstate the catering kitchen at the Tolbooth.
It’s hoped to use the pods for markets across the city centre while the new kitchen was expected to “support community interactions and stimulate community enterprise”.
Ms MacMillan said, however: “We don’t want monthly markets at the Top of the Town with streets closed. It causes massive inconvenience for residents. They could not have chosen a worse project on which to spend money.
“My view is that people in the Top of the Town are not welcome in the Tolbooth; it’s not a building people up here use.
“Spending £30,000 fitting a kitchen where one was previously ripped out does not seem like the best use of money.”
She said they decided against asking the council not to proceed with the cash allocations, but added: “We want Stirling Council to be aware that we are angry with them.
“At the moment we have no confidence that they have any interest in improving life for people in the Top of the Town.
“They seem to want to create a vibrant cafe culture similar to Edinburgh but don’t want to carry out the hard work which would bring that about.
“Cafes are nice but not essentials and we want the essentials dealt with first.”