PDE Column, 27th April 2009 – Police and Crime, Cervical Cancer Progress, Good Linwood News

Police and crime

It has been a week of good and bad news when it comes to the struggle for safer streets. First the good news.

I had a very encouraging meeting with the Police Divisional Commander Paul Main in Mill St to talk about local policing in Renfrewshire. I was encouraged by his plans to roll out more community police officers.

My top priorities are to see speedy progress on the building of the planned new police offices for both Renfrew and Linwood.

More police on the beat make a difference. Labour increased police numbers by 1500 from 2000-7.  It is encouraging to see local police chiefs increasingly ensuring these extra officers are actually out on the streets.

Over recent years I have been consistently impressed by the quality of our local community police officers. It is often a demanding job that falls on young shoulders. So it is vital young Police Officers get the high-quality training they deserve. It is therefore very disappointing that refresher courses for Police recruits that have been qualified for a year have been scrapped and no extra funding has been provided for the Police Training College at Tulliallan.

And we cannot let up on tackling anti social behaviour.  So I am concerned that the  SNP’s Crime Bill published this week plans to scrap all prison sentences of less than six months and replace them with community sentences, without properly funding those community sentences. The SNP’s plans will only pay for community sentences for one in five offenders. What happens to all the rest? Our streets will be less safe if the SNP go ahead with scrapping all six-month sentences – and yet fail to provide the money necessary to pay for all the community sentences.

CERVICAL CANCER progress

Most people, whether fans of Big Brother or not,  were touched by the sad story of Jade Goody, a young mum in the spotlight, suddenly discovering and later succumbing to terminal cervical cancer.

One subsequent comfort from the her  very public story is the hugely encouraging rise in the number of young women, now making an appointment for a smear test, now getting themselves checked out.

And new figures show that nine out of ten schoolgirls have received their first dose of cervical cancer vaccine. Over 90% of eligible girls have received their first dose of the HPV vaccine.  The immunisation programme protects against the virus that causes 70 per cent of cervical cancers, so many young lives can be saved

More good news in Linwood

Sanctuary Housing have agreed to help deal with the noise and mess caused by the new house building they are undertaking between Brediland and Erskinefaulds Roads.

And after intensively lobbying by local residents the Planning Dept last week cleared up a site at Moss Av where a neglectful owner had refused to clear up his derelict land.

Finally, Tesco have assured me they are on track to get on site by the autumn to begin demolition and rebuilding. They tell me the new shopping centre is to have three pieces of public art. As Buddies and the PDE know – public art is often controversial! So I am supporting plans to hold design workshops involving local people.  Already I have been approached by local residents wanting a new memorial for soldiers lost in conflict and a local artist offering her services.