Wendy Alexander MSPPaisley North
"...her campaigning against education cuts is good news for parents" - Rachael Ewing, Seedhill
" Press revelations about Tesco having a long relationship with Balmore who so neglected Linwood - should lead to earliest poss start date "Follow Me what is this?
Following the complaints from local residents (also see also related web article PDE column 22/03/10) regarding unacceptable youth gang anti social behaviour, attacks and intimidation for over a year – and a petition gathered by local residents with over 300 signatures – Wendy organised for a senior police officer, Chief Inspector to visit the site to see for himself and to meet with those most affected. Despite a very cold wet night, and unfortunately only short notice being given, word quickly spread and over 30 residents came along. Read more »
Wendy Alexander MSP has accused the Scottish Government of selling Scotland short after it emerged that less than half of the budget for providing help for pensioners and disabled people with heating systems has been spent.
A Parliamentary question from showed that only £24.8m has been spent from the Fuel Poverty budget of £50.6m with only one month to go.
Wendy said “The central heating programme that I pioneered with Donald Dewar in 2000 provided over 100,000 homes with new central heating systems. This Scottish Government replaced it with their own scheme which has only spent half of its funds with only days to go. Read more »
Wendy visited a community project in Linwood that transforms derelict land, improves the environment and gets people active.
Renfrewshire Green Gym is run by the BTCV environmental charity who offer people of all ages and backgrounds the opportunity to improve their fitness by becoming involved in practical conservation activities such as tree and hedge planting, creating and maintaining community gardens, woodland management or improving footpaths. Read more »
I am pleased to report the Renfrew Ferry has been saved. The new operator is Silvers Marine (UK) Ltd, an Argyll based company. They now have an initial 5 year lease to run the Ferry. Unfortunately the vessel will initially be considerably smaller but the proposed timetable and fare structure are encouraging and the new operator also intends to undertake trials at later date for a potentially wider service on the Clyde. Read more »
Wendy ALEXANDER MSP has urged members from all parties to back Labour’s proposals to give homeowners more protection by enforcing new standards on factors and property managers.
She was commenting after Thursday’s Holyrood debate. Patricia Ferguson MSP has tabled a members’ bill that would give homeowners more rights and require all factors in Scotland to be registered and accredited by an official body. Read more »
The Saints at Hampden yesterday were so near yet so far. They played so well and deserve our praise. I saw with my own eyes the skill and effort they put in. In this case the better team did not win the cup – but they did Paisley proud. Despite the disappointment and deflated feelings today amongst local Buddies, the team still wins the praise of many loyal supporters for giving their all. Well done St Mirren.
Clippens Trouble
I was given, at my Linwood surgery last week, a petition signed by 300 Clippens residents unhappy about youth gangs causing regular problems in their area. The PDE itself has recently published details of this story but I want local Police bosses to meet with some of these residents to hear first hand of the impact of the disturbances to their community. When incidents reach the levels they have over recent weeks, reassuring words to the press or politicians are not enough. Even for under-16s the Police and Children’s panel have powers to act and they should be willing to use them. Read more »
Excitement is building as Paisley prepares for Saints to go marching into Hampden on Sunday. If Saint Mirren win the cup it will be a great start for the trophy room at the new St Mirren stadium. At a time like this even those of us who are not great football fans are caught up in the excitement. 
Paisley is prepared for a big match and – win or lose – to support our local black and white heroes. Read more »
Wendy Alexander has laid a motion in the Scottish Parliament to celebrate Scotland’s Cluniac heritage.
The Scottish programme of celebration events centring in Paisley will mark the 1,100th anniversary of the founding of the Abbey of Cluny in Burgundy, France and will reflect on Paisley Abbey’s role as a Cluniac Abbey.
Wendy’s motion to her MSP colleagues points out that Scotland’s Cluny celebrations are ranked in the top six in Europe, out of nearly 300 Cluny-associated events going on through the course of 12 months. Read more »
Wendy Alexander MSP claims victory for local newspapers after the Scottish Government announced a climbdown over its undemocratic proposals to allow local councils to put public notices online.
Labour’s campaign won overwhelmingly supported from MSPs, who backed a motion calling “on the Scottish Government to withdraw the Local Authority Public Information Notices (Electronic Publication) (Scotland) Order 2010.” Read more »