Out of public interest I am prepared to make an exception:
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An Aberdeenshire Councillor for Methlick has welcomed the arrival of a new community website for the village and district. The site at: http://methick.wordpress.com has notes of local activities and information from the Community Council. “Its good to see this new site which will add one extra way of keeping the flow of information in Methlick and district. The important thing is that can bring people together for the benefit of the whole village”
Local Councillor Paul Johnston has expressed concerns to roads officials about the surface of sections of the B 999 road breaking apart despite their recent construction. “It has not gone unnoticed that 2 new sections of resurfaced road have fared very badly due to the frost and snow. Large parts of the surface are clearly faulty and roads officials are being asked to look into the problem” said the mid-Formartine Councillor. There problem is evident immediately to the south of Whitecairns and just to the south of Tarves. It is thought other road at the B9120 has similar problems.
Continual bad weather has disrupted efforts to carry out investigations on the drainage of Belhelvie Park playing area. Local Councillor Paul Johnston has been pressing for investigations into the drainage from there Park. “Since around the time of the construction of phase two of the Barratt Homes, drainage in that Park has begun to fail badly. It’s always been a bit damp but there have been too many times when it has become a boating pond rather than a children’s play area and football pitch.” Aberdeenshire officials have agreed to investigate the drainage said Councillor Johnston. “There bad weather means that they cannot get the vehicle and digger onto the site to carry out the investigations without getting bogged down and creating a big mess. We now have to hope for better weather and drier conditions in order to find out if the problem can be resolved without major capital expenditure.” said Paul. The work is thought to be beyond the normal maintenance that would be carried out by the Council’s Landscape staff. The investigation includes roads engineers skilled in drainage work.
If this were not a serious topic, it would be in my ‘just for fun’ section. But as the inaction of Copenhagen begins to sink in… you have to have a laugh otherwise we’d do an Andy Murray.
An Aberdeenshire Councillor has expressed huge disappointment that once again, Aberdeenshire Council’s Provost refused to debate important motions that backs local MSP Mike Rumbles and could help many Aberdeenshire families Councillor Paul Johnston was seeking to get support for Lib-Dem MSP Mike Rumbles bid for a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland. “Despite it being a genuine late issue for debate because of an impending motion to the Scottish Parliament it is ruled out of order. This Provost does not have to give an explanation and cannot be challenged. ” “There is a very important reason we need to pressure the Scottish government over a boiler scrappage scheme. There is good support for this in the Scottish Parliament and money has been allocated to Scotland from the Barnett formula as a consequence of spending commitments to do similar things in England. So there is no real excuse for lack of money. The government needs to be persuaded that it should do a sensible and practical scheme rather than just use the extra money within the pet schemes of the SNP government.” “Real people within real problems can benefit from any scrappage scheme. Potentially 12,000 households could qualify for this and many jobs can be sustained while at the same time saving money for hard-pressed families. It helps us meet the challenges of climate change so it’s a complete win-win situation. Its a pity the Provost thinks it’s not worth doing” “if we are to represent our constituents effectively we have to be aware of these issues and as a Council press government to take the best decisions which meet the needs of Aberdeenshire residents.” “After a period of severe cold weather, many more vulnerable lower income families will have heavy costs of extra heating. Mike Rumbles MSP is right that this is something that will directly help them in the future and be of most use in colder areas like ours. Yet the Government are clinging to the cash. They need to stop dithering and commit to a boiler scrappage scheme.”
An Aberdeenshire Councillor, Paul Johnston, is seeking the Council’s urgent support for a campaign to persuade the Scottish government to introduce a boiler scrappage scheme in Scotland similar to one very recently announced south of the border. Councillor Johnston has submitted an emergency notice of motion to get the Council to pressure First Minister Alex Salmond to introduce a scheme in Scotland where up to 12,000 homes may qualify for grants to get more efficient and better heating boilers. “Aberdeenshire, with lower average temperatures would be a big beneficiary from improved efficient boilers and a scheme such as this would not just reduce our carbon emissions, but create and sustain jobs in plumbing and manufacture.” said Paul. “Aberdeenshire Council should be supporting the attempts by Lib Dem Mike Rumbles MSP to have this scheme and support the many lower income families who could well benefit significantly from lower heating costs. Recent cold Councillor Johnston requires the approval of the Provost to introduce the motion and then the support of the Council.
Aberdeenshire Councillor Paul Johnston has urged all Aberdeenshire School Parent Councils to respond to the survey on funding launched by the Scottish Parent Teacher Council. “People are becoming increasingly concerned about Parent Councils and their PTA’s raising money for ‘essential’ school equipment handed there current funding challenges. This survey is launched at almost the same time as the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee voted to hold an inquiry into school funding.” said Councillor Johnston. “The implications are that underfunding for core education equipment is being paid for by parents when it is the responsibility of the local authority. It requires a survey to check if the “essential” nature of the equipment being funded is a significant problem.” “I hope every parent Council responds so that the extent of this can inform both the Scottish Parent Teacher Council in lobbying the Government but also the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee inquiry. We should not be covering up underspending in education. We need transparency and this survey will help.” Councillor Johnston is that leader of the Democratic independent Councillors on Aberdeenshire Council.
Paul Johnston, leader of Aberdeenshire’s Democrat Independent Councillors, who has advocated fairer deals for North East Farmers, has welcomed the Government announcement on the creation of a Supermarket Ombudsman. “The move has the potential for helping many North East Farmers and Fishers get a better deal from the big retailers. The imbalance of real power in the trading relationship may be altered with the creation of this ombudsman.” said Cllr Johnston. “Calls form MP’s Tim Farron and Andrew George, that I have supported in the past, have now been accepted by the Government. Scottish food producers, essential to the long term prosperity of the North East of Scotland, will benefit from a level playing field between producers and the dominant retailers – the big four supermarket chains.” Paul joins with Scottish NFU and the Federation of Small business in supporting the move. But the Councillor sounded a word of warning. “This should turn into the government only helping the large food processors squeeze a percent extra margin out of the Supermarkets – that will not help either producers or customers. The function of the Ombudsman will have to be to ensure fair dealing for our producers and to rebalance the power within the industry. It will be something to watch carefully that it helps the real backbone of food production – farmers and fishers” said the Councillor. Paul Johnston is an Independent Councillor on Aberdeenshire Council representing the largely rural Mid Formartine Ward which has numerous food and farming businesses. He is a member of the Liberal Democrats nationally, and a strong advocate of justice in trade issues such as FAIRTRADE.
January 6th, 2010 by Paul Johnston
Comment? Tim Farron MP has reiterated his call for stronger regulation of supermarkets and has proposed a powerful independent Food Market Regulator to monitor and penalise supermarkets that treat producers unfairly. The move has been strongly backed by Local Councillor Paul Johnston who said: ” Tim Farron speaks huge sense on this issue and as a strong supporter of International Fair Trade, I think he is right to ask for this fair practice for our own farmers as well” Tim Farron has reacted to the watered-down Conservative proposals to borrow the Labour government’s ’supermarket ombudsman’ idea, describing it as ‘a fig leaf that would provide cover for supermarkets, allowing them to continue to exploit British farmers’.
Tim Farron said: “This is an issue of real concern to farmers who are in constant danger of being bullied by supermarket giants to reduce their prices to a point where farms can no longer survive. “For years both the Conservatives and the Labour Government have stood by whilst thousands of farmers have been pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the powerful interests of a monopoly of large supermarkets. “Farmers will be disappointed that the Conservatives proposals are a mere fig leaf solution that will leave farmers at the mercy of the supermarkets. “Now is the time for real action. Farmers will only get a fair deal if a new regulator is given the teeth to enforce a strict, legally binding code governing the relationship between supermarkets, suppliers, and pricing.” “We need fair trade for British farmers, not a fig leaf to protect supermarkets” Paul Johnston said: “Locally in Aberdeenshire I have highlighted in the past this very issue at Fairtrade events. Local farmers agree that the power of the supermarkets distort the market and fair trade is needed for Aberdeenshire’s farmers as well”
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Copyright © 2010 Councillor Paul Johnston - All Rights Reserved |
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