This page will contain any press statements or letters to newspapers.

19th June

Letter to the Herald

I sent this letter yesterday and, contrary to their recent practice, they actually published it … almost in full!

To: Letters, The Herald

 Sir,

Fiona Hyslop’s announcement (Herald 18^th June) of money for new schools is belated but welcome. However, as there is nothing new about the financing mechanisms and no unique characteristic of the projects involved, it begs the question: why the delay? Could this announcement not have been made two years ago and could we not therefore have actually built, and have pupils being taught in, a number of new schools by now?

The timing is interesting in one other important aspect. As Fiona Hyslop admits, no school building will start before 2010 and construction will take up to 18 months. So if building begins a year from now, and it takes 12 – 18 months to complete a school, we have the prospect of a full parliamentary term passing without one new school being commissioned and built by the SNP administration.

The SNP election promise was to match Labour’s school building plans “brick for brick”. Even with the most optimistic outcomes, it is likely that only a handful of new schools will be completed by May 2011. Don’t our pupils, teachers and parents, particularly those who are currently working and being taught in older or sub-standard buildings, deserve better from the SNP? And doesn’t an Education Minister who has failed to deliver on such a scale deserve the sack for such obvious incompetence? 

 Yours sincerely 

 Alex Gallagher

24th April 2009

Press Release

24th April 2009

Councillor Alex Gallagher Issues a Call to Protect Largs Seafront From Insensitive Development

 

Local Labour Councillor Alex Gallagher today issued a call for his colleagues to support his plan for more protection for the seafront in Largs.

 

“Given the recent controversy over Moorburn House it has become clear to me that the seafront area, which is a jewel in the crown of Largs, is vulnerable to attempts at insensitive planning. At present the seafront is protected by agreed planning “guidelines”, but these are not the strongest defence that we can envisage.”

 

Stating that the creation of a new Development Plan for North Ayrshire provided a unique opportunity to set the planning rules more tightly and in perpetuity, Councillor Gallagher said, “I believe that, during the previous Development Plan Process a suggestion was made that Largs seafront should enjoy Conservation Area Status, but this was rejected by the Reporter at the time. Now that the Development Plan is being rewritten, we have a real opportunity to reverse this decision,”

 

Calling for the support of all local councillors in this endeavour, Cllr Gallagher said, “We need to be united on this. I believe if all four local councillors can get together to influence the plan and persuade the relevant authorities, we may have a chance of giving our seafront the protection it needs from the type of development which has destroyed so many of our seafront vistas in the last ten years.”

 

Pointing out that there are previous examples of successful seafront campaigns, and that all of the other councillors had been in support of these campaigns, he stated “If we can all be supportive of this idea, it has a chance to work. If we are divided, we have much less chance of success. The alternative, with blocks of flats and other unsuitable developments on the Largs seafront, is too horrible to contemplate”.

 

“To this end I have written to the Assistant Chief Executive (Legal and Protective Services) and the Planning Development Manager to alert them of the need for greater protection for Largs seafront, and to ask them to ensure that it is given proper consideration in the Development Plan Process, and to all North Coast Ward elected members asking for their support for these aims.”

 

 

Alex Gallagher

Councillor Ward Eight

 

20th March 2009.

Letter to L&M on Moorburn.

20/03/2009

Tel: 01475 672825

 

To: Letters, Largs and Millport Weekly News

 

Sir,

You rightly report (25^th March) that I voted to against a “call-in” of the decision of the council to accept a private bid for Moorburn House in place of the last-minute bid by Largs Initiative. I did so with some reluctance, and after much thought. Not because I think Moorburn should be kept as a public building. That has never been my position: in my view the building is barely suitable for the purpose it currently serves. What attracted me to the Initiative’s proposals was the element of affordable housing which was a major part of the project and it is a great regret that the possibility, however remote, will now be lost.

However, there are very obvious difficulties with the Largs Initiative offer. It is hedged in with conditions and uncertainties. The proposal is by no means certain to get planning permission for several reasons. Integral to the Initiative’s project is a proposal for a car park in Moorburn Garden. This goes against the planning guidance – guidance which was brought in at the insistence of local councillors to ensure that Largs does not suffer the fate of the unsuitable development which has been allowed to blighted Skelmorlie in the last ten years. It also goes against the sales brief for Moorburn and which was agreed by all four local councillors and which contains a specific prohibition on car-parking. It is also a fact that Moorburn House is a listed building, and the plans may not be upheld by the Heritage bodies.

There are also foreseeable difficulties in financing the project: it is not certain to get the necessary grants and these grants cannot even be applied for until mid-2009. And there are problems with the timing of the project: It will be at least 2 years, perhaps more, before it can even start. There are also problems with the maintenance of Moorburn House in the interim, who would be responsible and how it would be paid for. Any one of these difficulties could derail the project, which would mean a possible lapse of a number of years followed, in the end, by a failure to achieve our objectives.

Another strong factor for me was the fact that an existing arrangement between Labour and the SNP to tie the money from the sale of Moorburn to the proposed new Community Hall in Lade Street, could be jeopardised, and the financing of that project may be delayed or perhaps even nullified. On balance, it seemed illogical to break an agreement, and to support a project with an uncertain outcome, in an attempt to keep open an older building at the expense of the provision of a new Community Hall for the town.

I supported the private offer, on balance, because it was immediate and it met the conditions which all four local councillors had previously agreed. Given that the amounts of the offers are not greatly different, it seemed sensible to me to take the offer that would give an immediate and certain return as opposed to a delayed and uncertain return. It is important to point out that the private offer, if accepted, will result in Moorburn House returning to its use as a family house, it will be privately maintained inside and out, with no visual impact on the seafront.

For these reasons I agreed to reject the call-in. I know it is a complicated and, for some people, an emotional matter. Some may believe that I got my decision wrong, but I took it after much thought, and on the risks and facts as I saw them.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Alex Gallagher

Councillor, Ward 8

21st November 2008. Press Statement to Largs and Millport Weekly News

Welcome for Clean Coal Proposal

Norh Coast Councillor Alex Gallagher today welcomed the announcement of a possible “Clean Coal” power station to be built at Hunterstone. The project is the idea of the Danish company Dong.

Councillor Gallagher said “There are obviously planning matters to consider which must not be pre-empted, but if this project gets the go-ahead, it will provide 1200-1500 jobs in the construction phase and upwards of 100 permanent jobs when the plant is operational.”

“Current nuclear capacity at Hunterstone nearing the end of its design life and there is a gap predicted in the country’s capacity to generate the power needed in the ensuing decades. Clean Coal is seen as one way of addressing this with a lower environmental impact than current fossil fuel generation techniques.”

“In principle this proposal must be seen as a good thing, although I would like to see exactly how “clean” the technology is. It is also of paramount importance that the local community is properly consulted on the impact of the project and in the planning and execution of this power station, if it does go ahead.”