Alloa rejects vile SDL
The sight of the Scottish Defence League on the streets of Alloa was a shameful betrayal by the tiny band of local thugs who invited them in. In contrast communities across Clacks should be proud of their response to the refugee crisis, welcoming families fleeing the most unimaginable suffering and heartbreak. Blaming the poverty in our own communities on those who have lost everything is a betrayal of our humanity and can only survive on ignorance. We need to fight ignorance with facts and one clear fact is that refugees always give a lot more back to the communities that welcome them than they take. I'm sure the SDL will now shuffle off to another town to try and stir up more racist hate. But the job must continue every day to call out and challenge racism and xenophobia wherever we hear it and see it.
Our parks and green spaces are hugely important parts of our communities that can improve our health and wellbeing and create a home for nature. For many families it's a struggle to keep children amused on a budget during holidays and weekends. Having good quality parks and greenspace within our communities is a lifeline. Many green spaces can also be managed to provide a haven for nature as well connecting countryside with town.
But a survey last year of UK Parks showed that while we are using them more and more, their quality is declining as council cuts kick in and budgets for maintaining them are cut back. We could be at a tipping point where our parks and green spaces start to seriously go to ruin.
Last year I spoke with campaigners in Tullibody trying to protect the only patch of greenspace they have from development and it was clear just how much the park was valued by everyone from dog walkers to children and the elderly.
Last week I secured a commitment in Parliament from the Scottish Government to push for a green space network that would stretch across the whole of Scotland and protect areas from development. We face similar pressures with wild spaces too. Habitats such as woodlands, meadows and hedgerows used to be more abundant but have been removed through decades of intensive farming. Where schemes to bring these habitats back have been put in place they are often piecemeal and the areas don't join up. A network would create corridors allowing wildlife to move freely. Some of these corridors could also be footpaths and cycle ways to allow us to move around the countryside as well.
Clackmannanshire has benefited from this type of work which has in the past been delivered by the Ochils Landscape Partnership and the Central Scotland Green Network. I think it's time we extended this approach across Scotland and also include our urban parks and green spaces. Ultimately unless our vital green spaces are given proper status in the planning system and proper investment then we will continue to see them eroded away.
This blog originally appeared in the Alloa Advertier's Political Stand column, published Wednesday 15th March