AT last month’s council budget meeting, Labour councillors voted against a £40million investment in Renfrewshire’s roads.
Not only did they vote against the record investment in our local roads and footpaths, they also revealed that, if they were running Renfrewshire Council, they would be cutting spending in this area.
During Labour’s time in charge of Renfrewshire Council, they slashed money for roads and footpaths year after year, depriving our highways of the general maintenance they needed, while not fixing potholes correctly.
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That is why we are now in a position of having so many needing major work done to them.
Over the last year, a lot of roads and paths have been resurfaced but there is still a lot of work to do.
For Labour councillors to vote against putting this record amount of money into bringing our roads up to the standard they should be at is simply unbelievable, particularly as they caused the mess in the first place.
Potholes and footpath conditions is something which affects everyone across Renfrewshire and is one of the biggest issues I am contacted about as a local MSP. I am therefore pleased this record investment is happening, despite Labour’s attempts to stop it.
I was also delighted to launch the Scottish Government’s new town centre fund in Renfrew recently. The £50m fund will provide money for a wide range of investments to make our town centres more vibrant, enterprising and accessible. This could include the re-purposing of empty buildings for housing or social and community enterprises.
Renfrewshire will receive more than £1.4m of the fund and it will be for the council to allocate it.
Our town centres are facing challenges right across Scotland in adapting to an ever-changing retail climate – and Renfrewshire is no different. It is therefore important that government and councils help them to diversify and adjust to try to overcome these challenges.
I want to make sure we can keep life in our high streets right across Renfrewshire and ensure they continue to be thriving places for communities to live and work, as well as attracting visitors from neighbouring areas.
The £1.4m which Renfrewshire will receive will enable the council to support a wide range of investments which will encourage town centres to diversify and flourish, creating an increase in football.
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On the subject of giving town centres a boost, I was delighted to hear of plans for a Renfrew 5k fun run in June.
If given the green light, the race will take place through the town centre on the morning of the Renfrew Gala Day. As well as being a fun and exciting event, it would also be a fantastic boost to local business. As a keen runner, I can confirm I will be getting my running shoes on and entering the race.
At present, the application for a licence is with Renfrewshire Council. Once more information is available, I will post this on my social media pages.
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