Category: Strathbungo Society (Page 8 of 18)

The Scottish Government is developing proposals for legislation on community empowerment and renewal which in some ways mirror the land reform legislation which gave more power to rural communities:

“The proposed Community Empowerment and Renewal Bill will support communities to achieve their own goals and aspirations through taking independent action and by having their voices heard in the decisions that affect their area.”

The initial consultation on the proposed Bill took place between June and September but was given relatively little publicity. The Strathbungo Society only considered it at a late stage but thought it was important and submitted a response based on experiences of people living here.    Community Engagement and Empowerment Bill Final Response

Our response was one of over 400 responses which were due to be analysed in November but have not yet been published.   The website for this is at:   http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/engage/cer

There will be further chances to comment on any draft legislation as it goes forward and the Strathbungo Society is keen to comment further on the process and get views of people living in the area.   We would welcome comments on the blog or you can send to nickkempe@tinyworld.co.uk – Nick has offered to co-ordinate comments and our contribution to this and to provide further updates on the blog.

While the Bill is potentially a radical measure which could help empower people, there are huge issues – not least of which is what is a community? – and it also appears to be in conflict with certain other national legislative trends (eg the constant pressure to speed up planning processes which has arguably given communities less power than ever and the increasing centralisation of budgets, with community councils left with no financial resources and therefore power).  We have tried to raise as many of these issues we could think of that might apply to Strathbungo in our response.  We have also tried to raise some questions of whether the Bill will help us address certain longstanding local issues, not least of which is whether the Bill  would give communities like ours more influence over how Network Rail maintains the railway.  If you have ideas about local issues which you think are best addressed at community level please let us know.

Been woken by strange rumblings in the night lately? It looks like Network Rail are carrying out engineering works along the rail line parallel to Moray Place.

The last couple of Sunday nights they have been out and about in the wee small hours creating some form of concrete base structures along the line. This has involved trucks, bags of concrete, cut back vegetation and destroying fences.

As ever with NR, there seems to be no thought given to informing the public or even the Council of the works they are doing.

Residents at 52 Marywood Square have been in contact with City Councillors and the police. As a result, a fallen fence was put back on Wednesday – by wrapping a chain at each corner of the fallen panel and the adjacent part of the standing fencing and securing the chain with a nut and bolt.

Councillors have also written to Network Rail, the Council Regeneration Service and the Police

Take a look at the photos of the base. On the far side of the track, it is not possible to get a clear photo due to the vegetation so they are taken some distance away.

On this side, you can’t really see the large base as it is below the embankment.

The last photo, taken from inside the house, is to show where it is on Moray Place and how close it is to the front window.

You can see the gaps made by removing some of the shrubs for the base. It does not appear to be a traffic light signal as they don’t have a base.

So, does anyone know what the structures might be for?

What should residents do if the trucks turn up in the middle of the night again?

The same base structure has been built, one terrace down, outside 32 Moray Place but this time on the far embankment. It is only visible through the vegetation on this side of the embankment.

There have been piles of concrete slabs placed at regular intervals along the Moray Place Embankment  between Queen’s Square and Crossmyloof. They may be along the whole embankment but I can’t see through the vegetation further down.

Looks like there is more building work on its way…but will be we ever find out what is going on?