NOTEBOOK: DOES A BLIND MAN HAVE TO PAY FOR THE LOBBY GAS?

NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY

Time for Reflection comes at the beginning of every session of the Scottish Parliament.

The subjects chosen by clergy and community leaders are many, often of a certain variety, which might not grab our MSPs by the throat.

Today’s subject however was something that’s got everyone talking on the bus or the train or the pub or cafe.

And it’s something that our politicians are being urged to fix every day if not every hour – and do it soon.

It was potholes – and how one man, a Scot, found a way to mend them.

For John Loudon McAdam the road to hell was not tarred with good intentions.

He picked up a shovel and did something about the state it was in. He fixed it.

That is what Time for Reflection leader, the Rev David Watson, who is the minister of Cumbrae, Fairlie and Largs parish church, had in store for our elected representatives.

Mr Watson told our MSPs: “I came across this story many years ago. I do not know whether it is historically accurate, but I have never been one to allow facts to get in the way of a good story.

“John Loudon McAdam was born in Ayr, and, as a young man, he went to New York, where he made his fortune.

“He decided to return to his native Ayrshire and, as a self-made man, he was able to purchase a large estate.

“He had a passion for family history, and he spent a lot of time indulging his passion.

“He was writing a book about the McAdam family, and the project became so all-consuming that he neglected his responsibilities as a landowner.

“The roads across his estate fell into such disrepair that he was threatened with legal action if he did not do something about it.

“Annoyed at being forced to waste time on what he regarded as a rather trivial task, John McAdam resolved to do the job properly so that he would not be interrupted again.”

There is a message here for the government and Scotland’s 32 councils.

Mr Watson added: “He had the existing road dug out completely. The trench was filled with big rocks, then smaller stones and gravel and, finally, a top dressing of finer material.

“Ditches were dug at each side for drainage. When he was satisfied with the result, he went back to finish writing his family history.

“John McAdam built a road that stood up well to the elements—and we get a lot of elements in Ayrshire.

“Not only that, but the road did not quickly become rutted by the wheels of carts and carriages.

“In fact, it lasted so well that people came from miles around to see how he had done it.

“As his fame as a road builder grew, his design was copied around the world. The macadamised road became the standard for road building everywhere.

“I do not know whether John McAdam ever wondered what his legacy might be, but the thing for which he is remembered is not something that he regarded as a priority.

“All of us would, I suspect, one way or another, like to make our mark.

“Very often, however, the projects to which we devote our time and energy turn out to be relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things, whereas people, conversations and tasks that seem inconsequential at the time become our true legacy.”

Little did John McAdam know that his legacy would be in such demand in Scotland in the 21st century.

Here in Dunbartonshire our roads have never in history been in such need of tarmacadam to fix the potholes in our roads.

Potholes: UK's roads like 'the surface of the moon', after record rise ...

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West Dunbartonshire Council is missing half a chief officer, according to the budget paper which was produced before the meeting last Wednesday.

The council had the outcome of the budget meeting to decide which services and which people the budget axe would fall on recorded on a printed handout issued immediately after the final decisions were formally taken.

It had been written beforehand.

Which means that everything on the agenda had been decided before the meeting even started, and the trade union officials who were invited along to make representations to retain the services their members worked in were wasting their time.

The unions’ time, the SNP opposition’s time and the time of the public who turned up, expecting a feisty debate between the pink Socialists and the Tartan Tories, were left disappointed.

They go the odd laugh all the same as the crassness of some of the councillors’ contributions.

The salaries of the senior leadership team on the council are not an accurate reflection of the work they do to produce the mediocrity of the service they provide.

They believe the services are good. We – and thousands of others – do not consider the services value for money.

And we don’t believe the public receives the truth about what is going on in Church Street, not the whole truth anyway.

We are not saying they are lying, but we are saying that there are a lot of questions which need asking.

However, we at The Democrat are not allowed to speak directly to them when we find ourselves on the end of the verisimilitude contained in reports.

Such as this one which states “the senior leadership team was reduced by half a chief officer post” and that “steps had been taken to redistribute the work and responsibilities across other Chief Officers”.

Which means that the chief officers chosen to pick up the slack had not been working to capacity already.

The budget paper adds: “Ongoing reviews have indicated that the new structure is working effectively.”

Really? So what has this half a chief officer been working on?

If it was the proposal to make the elderly bowlers take over the financing and maintenance of the veterans’ bowling clubs in the Vale of Leven then that was a shambles.

Thankfully things turned out alright in the end for the bowlers – but no thanks to the officers.

When Cllr Jim Bollan asked about this so called consultation, he was fed a garbled version about a letter being sent ten days beforehand.

And that there was an opportunity for the bowlers (elderly and without IT knowledge or equipment, some of them in their 80s and heading for the 90s) to to get out their i pads and dash off their concerns.

In West Dunbartonshire, If you are not IT literate then you are nobody

There were other matters where allegedly over burdened chief officers failed to produce the goods on issues previously handled by the half a chief officer who had gone, although it is now apparent that he didn’t have all that much to do for his £80,000 a year.

And there was absolutely nothing in the budget paper about the fact that someone had to be promoted – and paid accordingly to fill in for that person who would now be engaged in the work the half a chief officer had done previously.

Now, if you are confused about that, you are probably meant to be. But that confusion is nothing to what will soon follow when the council comes to work out its strategy for brown bin collections.

In West Dunbartonshire we have the cuts and then we work out the strategy. Good here intit?

There will now be a debate about what constitutes food waste and what is garden rubbish and what’s the difference.

If you grow your own potatoes will you be allowed to put the peelings in the bin when you have cooked the spuds?

Will this service be free of charge? And will the potato stalks or shaws which you have grown yourself in your back garden have to be paid for? And will you be permitted to put the shaws and the peelings in the same bin?

Binmen will need the patience of Job and the wisdom of Solomon to decide.

I think we are going back to that old conundrum: Does the blind man have to pay for the lobby gas?

And do we really have to pay £150,000 a year plus another £500,000 or so to employ in our very own Fawlty Towers four and a half or should that be five and a half persons to advise us on how we should go about finding answers to such questions?

The Council appear to have lost the plot. The potato plot.

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West Dunbartonshire Council have a huge problem on their hands and, as per usual, it is of their own making. The Cleansing Department provides one of the basic and most essential public services. Blue bin or brown bin or green bin or grey bin, people want them to be at their door and to have them emptied on time. As far as council tax is concerned, the general feeling is that refuse collection is what they pay for, and they pay enough already. They don’t want the kind of rows that have now broken out over the emptying of brown bins. Or to be told that they’ll have to pay £60 on top of their council tax to have these bins emptied. Bad communications and thoughtlessness are at the root of this problem. The whole idea of this stupid proposal should be consigned to the … bin.