 Local
MSP Allan Wilson praised his Scottish Executive colleague Margaret Curran
for including Ardrossan in her tour of communities being visited as part of
the Scottish Executive’s consultation on their document “Putting our
Communities First”.
“Communities Minister Margaret Curran saw at first hand the steps being
taken by the various agencies involved in Ardrossan, including the Police,
the Council and the Health Board to address the problems of vandalism,
graffiti and other forms of anti-social behaviour in the area and also
talked to local shopkeepers, young people and community representatives
about what more could be done to improve the local quality of life” said Mr
Wilson.
“I know that she was impressed in particular, as are the community, by the
efforts of local community policeman Jim Thomas to work with the parents of
the youngsters and the young people themselves to address community concerns
and revive a genuine sense of pride in the area”.
“Many of the practices being adopted by Jim and his colleagues to get the
young people involved in cleaning up graffiti and engaged in other positive
forms of community activity has potential application beyond Ardrossan and
will feature in the conclusions to be drawn by the Scottish Executive in
potential solutions to the problems caused in communities across Scotland by
anti-social behaviour,” said Mr Wilson.
“For my part I undertook to return to the area to meet with Whitlees
Community Association and local youngsters to discuss how we can improve the
response of the public agencies, including Government community concerns,
increase the range of services and facilities for young and old alike and
extend the CCTV system in the town centre to shopping outlets in outlying
communities”. |
