Haringey Community Action Video

Haringey Community Action Video

This new video deals with the Haringey Federation of Residents Associations, which is a federation in a London borough.  It is interesting however because it shows the potential of residents association federation to take action on a whole variety of issues.

The Glasgow Residents Network is trying to set up something along similar lines, at a conference later this Summer.

 

Pitches Victory for Community Campaign

CAMPAIGNERS have won a battle to save vital football pitches in a Glasgow community. 

The pitches at North Kelvinside in the West End were listed as “surplus to requirements” by the city council in January last year.

Bosses stopped maintaining them and it looked likely the valuable land would be sold for housing.

But the move sparked fury among sports groups who insisted the council should be promoting more active lifestyles.

 

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Now the blaes pitches on Queen Margaret Drive have been saved – and are in line for an upgrade – after the city’s new culture and leisure trust decided not to sell them.

Campaigner Mark Adams, chairman of North Glasgow Football Development Group, said: “We are delighted they’ve been saved.

“It’s a huge boost for the kids in the area as Maryhill is one of the most under-provided areas for sport facilities in the country, never mind the city.

“The pitches were at threat from development, because it’s a valuable site. It would have had a massive impact on the area if they’d been sold.”

References: What Do We Get Out Of The Games

 

Balmore Road Campaign – Your Comments – Glasgow’s Residents Debate

Peter Writes: What a joke by the council. Instead of a reactive solution to the problem why don’t they try something proactive like building a youth complex or a sports club. Building a rehab in between two pubs and less than a mile from Saracen Street where drugs are ten a penny, you couldnt make it up. Gross incompetence no wonder David Comley is retiring.

But Sandra disagrees.

Sandra writes:

Depriving an already deprived area of its one park, for whatever reason is hard to agree with.
The question of whether:” deprived communities already suffering from poor infrastructure, unemployment and a lack of opportunities, where drugs and alcohol problems are already major local problems should be used to provide sites of care for people who require a lot of help and resources to integrate well into communities – resources which deprived communities are often badly equipped to provide?” is more complicated.

It could be argued that if the money and resources were brought in, there would be no difficulty and it would be a good idea for those with drink/drugs problems to be treated close to family support.
Or it could be argued that sites of care are best provided in an area away from the one where the drugs/drink habit developed.

So far 92% of you have voted to say that “deprived communities already suffering from poor infrastructure, unemployment and a lack of opportunities, where drugs and alcohol problems are already major local problems be used to provide sites of care for people who require a lot of help and resources to integrate well into communities – resources which deprived communities are often badly equipped to provide – should not have developments of this type. Why not join the debate today?
Join the debate today

 

rehab centre on kids’ play park, but is there a wider issue?

The Evening Times Reported Today that:-

SOCIAL work bosses are planning to pave over a play park and build a unit for adults with drug and “alcohol-related brain damage”.

The new centre, which would house 20 people, is earmarked for Lambhill and would be built just 40 yards from a school for children with special needs. [...] Councillor Billy McAllister said: “We have real concerns about the proxmity of this unit to the school.

“It’s just not suitable for this area of Lambhill.”

Mothers Christine Hancock and Janet Hohn, who both live in nearby Eynort Street, started the petition.

Mrs Hancock, 42, who has a 12-year-old son, said: “Some of the parents met the council’s land services six weeks ago and had positive talks about cleaning up the park.

“Now the council has announced plans to build over it for a rehab centre – this is a slap in the face to parents.”

A council spokeswoman said: “It’s early days, however Eriboll Street is one of the options we are looking into.”

Councillor McAllister is holding a public meeting at St Joan of Arch School, 722 Balmore Road, in Lambhill at 7pm on April 17.

The ‘Times then went onto poll readers about whether the site was suitable, ” SHOULD a drink/drugs unit be built near a special school?”, but perhaps this is missing the point a little bit. Lambhill suffers from deprivation. 17.6% of the inhabitants are in receipt of jobseekers allowance. Of the 930 people living along Balmore road a further 110 are in receipt of income support. Added to this the area also suffers from drug and alcohol problems with over twice the national average of hospital admissions from alcohol misuse, and nearly five times the national Scottish average for admissions for drugs misuse. The area also suffers from a poor quality local environment anyway, even before the local park gets built on as 100% of all residents live within 500 metres of a postindustrial wasteland or otherwise derelict sites.

Perhaps given the problems already located in Lambhill, which is a deprived community by any standard, rather than asking questions about whether or not it is OK to site a nursing home for people with alcohol induced brain damage by a park and local school it might be better to nuance such a question by asking why given that this particular area already suffers from a number of social and environmental problems it has been chosen to site it on Lambhill’s local park, and not somewhere where the addition of a few people with problems would not be such a drain on local resources?

Given that, and the decision a few weeks ago to site another homeless unit in the equally deprived area of Kinning Park, we thought we’d launch a poll of our own:-

Should deprived communities already suffering from poor infrastructure, unemployment and a lack of opportunities, where drugs and alcohol problems are already major local problems be used to provide sites of care for people who require a lot of help and resources to integrate well into communities – resources which deprived communities are often badly equipped to provide?

[Click on the tick/cross to cast your vote]