Douglas Alexander MP

Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South

Paisley Daily Express Column - 18 Jan 2012

Holyrood Delivers a Bad Deal for Renfrewshire

Each year Renfrewshire Council receives a grant from the Scottish Government. Its funding that helps pay for local services like schools, social work, and local economic development. So it’s vital that Renfrewshire MSPs and the Council make a strong case for a fair allocation to our community.

In East Renfrewshire their grant went UP. Yet – here in Renfrewshire, with higher unemployment and greater levels of deprivation, the grant went DOWN.

Renfrewshire Council has been given £335m for the current year. Next year it will be down to £334m and is estimated to fall even further to £332m and £330m over the following two years.

Of the 32 councils in Scotland, just 12 have seen their settlements drop....and Renfrewshire is amongst them.

Renfrewshire Council is led by the SNP. The Scottish Government is led by the SNP. Two of Renfrewshire’s constituency MPSs are SNP. Together they’ve let Renfrewshire down and delivered a bad deal for local people. The price will be paid by local pupils, pensioners, and families.

Of course times are tough – but why was Renfrewshire’s funding cut while so may other councils saw a rise in their funding?

Renfrewshire deserves better.

Pothole Problems

Last week in a busy Johnstone surgery one issue seemed to keep coming up....potholes.

Maybe it’s the state of the weather. Maybe it’s the state of Renfrewshire Council’s ‘Roads’ budget. But what was clear was that there were a lot of unhappy drivers suffering burst tires or worse. With the M8 over the Cart Viaduct back to three lanes during the week, at least some of the recent congestion has eased. But there seemed little doubt that concerns about the state of our local roads had not eased at all.

Could You save Money By Switching Supplier?

Finally, one power company announced a CUT in its gas prices last week. But right across our community families and households are still struggling with high heating bills. So it’s vital that local people are getting the best deal that they can. I was really concerned by recent reports showing that local families could save more than £468 every year if they switched to a cheaper energy supplier.

The research carried out by the energy helpline, stated that most people don’t realise the savings that could be made by going through the relatively easy process of switching supplier.

If you want to find out which supplier could save you money, the easiest way to do so is to go online to www.energywatch.org.uk

Getting The Message Loud and Clear

This month marks Hearing Clearer Awareness Month and last week I received some information about the importance of taking regular hearing tests.
Statistics that were released for the awareness campaign showed that a worrying eight out of 10 people in our community have never had their hearing tested.
What is more, as many as one in seven people across the country have problems with their hearing, and many of these go undetected.
The worry is that hearing problems can go unnoticed for a long time and that when they finally are discovered it may be too late.
Most people have had an eye test a least once in their life but for some reason it seems that we don't take hearing tests as seriously.  In fact, less than a quarter of the population have ever had their hearing tested.
 It is important to know if you have hearing problems and what can be done to help. For that reason I would encourage all local people to think about your hearing health.
If you want to book a hearing test just contact your own GP for more information.