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Councillor Update, September 2022
I have been continuing case and ward work, working with various organisations and charities in and around East Kilbride East, as they tackle the cost of living crisis. I have also helped support many of my constituents with their particular needs such as path improvements, road safety, particularly around schools, homelessness, home adaptations and planning. I have met with local housing officers to discuss, amongst other things, bike storage solutions. I am supporting local community groups and residents as they improve play and recreation facilities at Cornfoot Crescent and Long Calderwood. A start has been made on improvements to the football cage at Morrishall Road and I took part in…
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Councillor Update, July 2022
During July, as well as some family holiday time off, I’ve been visiting various groups, progressing more issues for residents and planning for the start of the full council year which kicks off mid- August. I’ve now dealt with over 75 items of case work for constituents. These include improvements to Brancumhall Pitch and Putt, helping with an urgent homelessness issue, path maintenance at Lammermoor Park, and getting the damaged substation at Ivanhoe cleaned up and made safe. Finally, after many months of me chasing it and years of it being in a dilapidated state, residents at Buchan Green have started seeing their wall repaired. I visited local charity Share…
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What will your councillors do on play? Space to Play is asking you to write to them.
The Space to Play campaign wants South Lanarkshire to be the best place to bring up children. So we want to know what our elected members will do to act on play. To do this we need your help. Please use this letter as a guide to contact your councillors where ever you are in South Lanarkshire. Change it to mention any particular issues around play in your community. And please send this Space to Play a copy of the reply on spacetoplaysl@gmail.com. The letter is also available as plain text if your device cannot read .odt files You can find contact details for your South Lanarkshire councillor here.
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South Lanarkshire Council removal of play park ‘unlawful’
South Lanarkshire Council acted unlawfully when it removed Hazelhead Play Park. They should have applied for planning permission to make this material change to land. When they acted without consultation, they also ignored their own planning guidance which states that communities should be involved in the management of their open spaces. These are the conclusions of the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (https://www.ercs.scot) who have looked into the Hazelhead Park case. We have now submitted a formal complaint to SLC raising these points, as follows: Stage one complaint Removal of Hazelhead play park equipment I wish to make a stage one complaint as per the Council’s complaints procedure regarding the…
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Green MSP Gillian Mackay takes Space to Play Campaign to Parliament
A South Lanarkshire campaign group is calling on the Council to recognise the importance of play for children’s’ wellbeing and to take action to improve play opportunities in local communities. The Space to Play campaign is asking South Lanarkshire Council to prepare a play strategy, to open up Multi Use Games Areas (MUGA) out-with school hours and to renew all local play parks. The group has been backed by Scottish Greens MSP Gillian Mackay who recently raised a motion in parliament. The Central Scotland MSP believes that implementing these actions will help ensure that South Lanarkshire upholds the rights of children to play and be heard, as enshrined in the United…
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Kirsten in action
The photo montage in the East Kilbride East Winter 2022 newsletter shows examples of Kirsten Robb, local council candidate, in action, working in the ward where she lives. The images are as follows (from top left to top right and bottom left to bottom right) 1. September 2021: Kirsten Robb and the local community enjoy the games area she helped to open. St Leonard’s Primary MUGA had been closed for many years but after persistent pressure and meetings with SLC officers, these fabulous facilities have now been reopened for community use outwith school hours. 2. Autumn 2020: Kirsten working with volunteers and the council’s countryside ranger service to plant a…
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Kirsten Robb Selected To Represent the Scottish Green Party in East Kilbride
Local campaigner, Kirsten Robb, has been selected to run as a Scottish Green Party Candidate in the forthcoming local elections, in the East Kilbride East Ward where she has lived with her family for the last 14 years. Kirsten said; “I am delighted to be selected as the candidate in my local ward. Helping people in my own community makes my day, and I’d love the chance to help more as a councillor. If elected, I will build on the work I’ve done for the area to date. Together, I feel we can make our community one we can all take pride in.” Kirsten has previously been a community councillor for…
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Take action on common complaints
REPORT IT. If you report an issue, the council will investigate it and often act on your concerns. Based on knocking hundreds of doors, South Lanarkshire Greens have put together a list of the main issues people are concerned about with links to where you can report it and get action. If you don’t have internet access call the South Lanarkshire Council General Enquiry line 0303 123 1015 during opening hours: Monday – Thursday, 8.45am – 4.45pm Friday, 8.45am – 4.15pm. or in emergencies at evenings and weekends 0800 242024. If you don’t have any joy going through these channels, please contact southlanarkshire@scottishgreens.org.uk for help. Report it! A list of…
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Greens secure reopening of multi-use games areas after ‘Space to Play’ campaign
Campaigners are celebrating the re-opening of community facilities, some of which have been closed to the public for many years. In January, Kirsten Robb from the Scottish Greens and The Space to Play campaign wrote to South Lanarkshire Council (SLC) to highlight that in and around one council ward, 4 of the 7 multi-use games areas (MUGAs) attached to new primary schools were closed. This is despite the intention for these MUGAs to be open out of school hours for community use and only to be closed for a short period if there were vandalism issues. After several emails and meetings between SLC and the campaign, another 3 MUGA’s were…
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Space to Play
Many local people told Green activists that one of their top concerns is a lack of things for young people to do. Since then, local resident and Green campaigner, Kirsten Robb, has been investigating local play spaces and working with the community to get improvements.
