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Apologies for issuing a second briefing note so close to the last one but hopefully this one will be short and have the benefit of simplifying the MIR.

You will recall in BN11, I had written to three Newton Mearns Cllrs representing the three main political parties.

Cllr. McAlpine (Lab) had replied he would consult with colleagues, Cllr. Buchanan (SNP) to date has still not replied, maybe he's on holiday, I don't know and Cllr. Swift (Con) was the only one to provide a clear and detailed answer.

Cllr. McAlpine has now answered and it is only fair that I distribute his answer.

From: "McAlpine, Ian (Cllr)" <Ian.McAlpine@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk>

Date: 20 December 2011 09:28:07 GMT

To: 'D J' <nmccemail@gmail.com>

Subject: RE: MIR

I have spoken to collegues now and can advise that no political decision will be made on this. The full council will look at all the responses to the consultation next year (Autumn) when a detailed report from Planning staff will give professional advice to all councilors. Then a final decision will be made.
Thanks
Cllr Ian McAlpine

I have a number of issues with this.

1. This can only be interpreted as kicking the can down the road in an attempt to avoid it becoming an issue at the council's May 2012 election.

2. Surely Cllrs. would have considered the implications of the MIR before allowing it to go to public consultation?

3. We, the residents, are expected to reach decisions on the MIR, originally by Dec 28th., now extended by one month (Jan 27th.) but without the resources and advice available to professional Councillors.

4. The MIR and LRV will be the issues of this forthcoming election along with the closure of Robslee school and a few other issues currently in the news.

Incidentally, I recently spent some time reading the discussion threads on East Ren's Neighbourhood Watch site and some of our Councillors, I'm delighted to see, engage directly with residents' questions and criticisms. It certainly reflects and highlights the issues of the day. Anything which enables open debate sounds good to me. I've now registered with the user name DJ. See http://ernhw.org.uk/  and select forum. With the restricted distribution of The Extra and the unfortunate demise of Eastwood Today, it falls to the ERNHW website and these briefing notes to attempt to keep residents abreast of what our money is being spent on, and what the politicians propose to do to our communities. I have started a thread entitled "Affordable housing & planning gain" to kickstart debate of some aspects of the MIR. You will note, if you read the thread, as of the end of last week, only 160 comments to the MIR have been received by ERC. With a population of circa 89,000 the one month extension to the consultation gives us the chance to persuade the remaining 88,840 residents into making their voices heard.

In an attempt to simplify the issues of the MIR I have sent the following by email to all our existing Cllrs. and to the other candidates known at this time. It also gives you a very simple platform from which to write to all of them, saying 'Cllr. I want you to accept options A or B or C and either D or E.' 

Councillors and candidates, 

Many of your residents are currently wrestling with the potential impact the MIR could have upon our communities. 

It is clear the MIR is going to be a central issue at the May council elections where you are standing as a candidate. 

Therefore would you please reply to this email stating

A. Whether you support the MIR in principle as currently proposed? 

or 

B. Whether you are opposed to the MIR in principle as currently proposed? 

Your answers will be circulated to interested residents, as will the names of those councillor candidates who fail to provide an answer. This will be a useful barometer to gauge how willing our councillors are to engage with their local community. 

For reasons of simplicity, clarity and to save of your time, please answer by saying 'Option A' or 'Option B'. 

Naturally I have made the logical assumption that as a professional and conscientious councillor - with access to the efficient, effective and informative council resources and staff - you will have already examined the MIR and formed your own expert opinion. I would remind you that residents originally had to reach a decision on these same issues by the 28th Dec. without any of the resources available to you.

If, however, you are still undecided / unsighted I'm happy for you to commit to the alternative option of C  

C. As I cannot reach a decision at this time, I commit to support the majority opinion of the residents responses to the public consultation. For the avoidance of doubt, if 300 residents object to the MIR and 299 support the MIR, I'm am committing to oppose the MIR and vice versa.

In the event the council cannot reject or accept the MIR in its current form, we also seek your assurance that you will insist any modified MIR has to go back out for consultation. 

Again for simplicity select either option D or option E:- 

D. I will insist any modified MIR goes back out to full public consultation 

or 

E. I won't insist on any modified MIR going back out to public consultation. 

One final option. If you find that you cannot adopt the broad brush approach proposed in A-E above due to the large number of conflicting issues in the MIR, I will be happy to distribute your detailed reply on a point by point basis.

I trust you will approve and support the clarity this democratic approach brings to such a complex issue. 

I respectfully request that you exercise your best judgement and communicate your answer by selecting either A or B or C, AND, D or E by no later than close of business on Friday 6th January 2012.  

Best wishes, 

David Jesner

 

I hope to revert to you with all the councillor candidate responses early in the new year.

I have listed all the candidate email addresses below so that you can tell them your preferences of the above options.

Other contact details and info for all twenty ER Councillors

tony.buchanan@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk 

alastair.carmichael@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

betty.cunningham@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

danny.devlin@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

jim.fletcher@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

charlie.gilbert@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

barbara.grant@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

elaine.green@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

alan.lafferty@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

alex.mackie@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

ian.mcalpine@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

gordon.mccaskill@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

stewart.miller@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

mary.montague@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

eddie.phillips@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

ralph.robertson@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

leslie.rosin@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

jim.swift@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

gordon.wallace@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk

douglas.yates@eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk