October 2009 Update

Thursday, 1st October 2009

Airport Rail Link Cancellation Shock

I regret the recent cancellation of the Airport Rail Link jeopardising 1350 much needed new jobs. The Airport Rail Link was to support 675-700 new jobs to Paisley Town Centre within 3-4 years of construction and a further 650 jobs in Renfrewshire and Glasgow.

The cancellation will also jeopardise the economic benefits of the rail link estimated to be worth an additional £10 million per year for the local economy and a large loss in potential visitor numbers.

Light Rail Link for Renfrew rejected

And in a double whammy, Renfrew is not now to get its own light rail service – Fastlink. I have long supported the planned light rail scheme linking Glasgow City Centre to Renfrew town centre via the Broomielaw and the Southern General. It would run on a dedicated line and be so much faster than a conventional car journey.

But the Scottish Government have rejected funding the Renfrew link. Instead there will be a new link from Glasgow City Centre to the Southern General – but no funding for the link on to Renfrew. I have campaigned for years for the light rail link to Renfrew. This is a bitter blow. All the economic evidence showed the line should come all the way to Renfrew. I have taken the matter up with the Transport Minister asking him to explain why his government are penalising Paisley on the Airport Rail Link and rebuffing Renfrew over Fastlink funding.

A Better West End

Every year I hold a public meeting in the ‘anti-social behaviour black-spot’ that has generated the biggest postbag in recent months. I then invite Police, the councillors, wardens and the Housing Department along to see what we can achieve with the community to make things better.

More than 100 residents attended and fed-up residents raised:


As a result of the meeting Strathclyde Police promised to investigate all reports of criminal activity in the area. They also assured residents that their community policing team would increase visibility in the area as well as more proactive efforts to disrupt those causing misery in the area through increased stop and search, and other means. ASIST – the Councils Anti Social behaviour team, promised to ensure the area was cleared up, antisocial tenants were targeted and that rogue private landlords in the area would be investigated. Close repairs, specifically door entry systems – would also be investigated.

I was delighted that residents were able secure a series of pledges from all representatives present at the meeting. Next month more details whether the promises made are being kept.

Bad Factors – what can you do?

I have lost count of the number of times I have been approached about bad factors recently. A typical case from my mailbag concerns residents of Caledonia Court who are unhappy with their factor who demands a management fee – amounting to over £9000 for the property. And when problems arise readily resorts to lawyers’ letters. Many people ask me what they can do if they feel they are getting a raw deal from a factor. The good news is that you can change your factor. The last Scottish Labour Government gave owners a legal right to dismiss an existing factor and appoint a new one.

However, often owners simply want to take issue with a particular aspect of a factor’s work (e.g. the size of the bill for maintenance carried out, maintenance work not done to a satisfactory standard etc).

If you are not happy with your factor, you should first make a complaint using your factor’s complaints process. Any factor who is a member of the Property Managers Association Scotland http://www.pmas.org.uk/ should have a formal complaints process in place. If you are not satisfied with the outcome of that complaint, you can then complain to the Property Managers Association.

If you are still unhappy you can seek advice from a solicitor or a local trading standards office. Local trading standards offices do have powers under the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations 1999 to bring proceedings against a property factor for unfair practices in the sheriff court. The Renfrewshire office can be contacted at tradingstandards@renfrewshire.gov.uk or phone on 0141 840 3184. The Office of Fair Trading also has such powers.

But all of this is a bit cumbersome! I believe it should be easier for owners to take action against a bad factor. So I have been asking questions in the Parliament. I am trying to get the Scottish Government to deal with factoring in the new Housing Bill that will come before Parliament later this year.

Unfortunately Nicola Sturgeon, the minister in charge, wants to stick to a voluntary scheme for regulating factors. But the most disreputable factors will not participate in a voluntary scheme. By sticking to a new voluntary scheme, for at least 2 years it means there will be no new legislation on tackling bad factors in this Parliament.

But I believe we need to improve the law now. So I am supporting a backbench bill by Patricia Ferguson to improve the regulation of factors. A backbench Bill cannot achieve everything but it is a start.

Meanwhile, if you really want to know more, further details about factors can be found in the following Parliamentary briefing on “Common Property and open spaces: Management, repair and maintenance:”
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/research/briefings-08/SB08-68.pdf
And the Govan Law Centre website has sample of letters to factors you can download to help sort the problems out.

And in Parliament…

…Legislation

At Holyrood legislation MSPs are now concentrating on the SNP Government’s legislative programme. It has some welcome measures. Not least, the planned repossessions legislation and new action to tackle alcohol abuse. I support a national mandatory “Challenge 21” scheme to stop booze getting into the hands of children and tougher sanctions for those who break the licensing laws.

But overall the legislative programme is a bit of a missed opportunity. Missing completely are any measures to improve education or child protection. We need to act to stop new teachers being thrown on the scrap heap. In the last 2 years in Renfrewshire only 4 of 320 probationary teachers taken have got full-time, permanent jobs with the council. Too many are being left jobless. What a waste of their training and a tragedy for our children.

Nor were there any new legal measures to support victims of crime or to tackle knife crime or hospital superbugs. So I have signed up to support a backbench bill to improve protection for the victims of crime. More details soon.

…Children’s Hearing Bill abandoned

Finally I welcomed the dropping of the proposed Children’s Hearing Bill. The Children’s Hearing system is quite rightly seen as the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ in protecting our most vulnerable children. Reform may well be needed but certainly not in the incompetent way proposed. And the SNP Government have been sent off to think again. Meantime I am meeting with local Renfrewshire Children’s Panel Members next week to canvas their views on the best way forward to give our kids the best protection possible.