Readers’ letters

Sir, – I would just like to take the opportunity to thank all involved who organised Cumbernauld Gala. What a fantastic day.

I don’t come from Cumbernauld, I live in Alva but work through here for Cumbernauld Action Care for the Elderly. Our minibus was in the parade, and we had a stall selling arts and crafts made by our volunteers. We arrived to be shown to a space to unload, then directed to a parking space at the college, no fuss or drama.

The hall was laid out really well and the variety of goods on offer was superb. The smooth running of the main stage events was excellent. The gala queen and her attendants were beautiful and the horse and carriage was a lovely touch. The hospitality and lunch provided by Regis was wonderful.

It was without a doubt the best Gala I have ever been to. My parents came through from Alva too, found it no problem and thoroughly enjoyed the day.

Well done Billy Lees and the Community Forum and Jim Gibson and Freedom City Church, take a bow, for a job well done. Can’t wait for next year - no pressure! – Yours etc.,

SANDRA CLEMENTS

CACE Manager

Fight for us!

Sir, – I recently had to be seen by an audiologist and was given an appointment at Stonehouse Hospital, Larkhall.

It is unbelievable that people from Cumbernauld are expected to undertake a 23 mile car journey, if they have a car, for such an appointment, and downright impossible for them to get there if they are not car owners. Leaving aside the lack of public transport, I have not checked how much a return would be by taxi but for a pensioner reckon it would be a sizeable part of their weekly pension.

From bickering by local councillors in the latest issue of the Cumbernauld News it would appear that an election is in the offing. Perhaps instead of criticising those who believe Cumbernauld has been short-changed since it became part of North Lanarkshire, the good councillors could do what they are elected and paid to do and take up the cause of their constituents by challenging what seems to be Lanarkshire Health Board’s plan to deprive the town of most of its medical services - closure of the X-ray unit, threatened reduction in treatment room facilities and an obsession with ‘centralising’ (sic) services as close to Motherwell as possible.

Of course it may be that NHS Lanarkshire hopes to make savings by having other people doing what I did and going elsewhere. – Yours etc.,

T J DOWDS

Greenfaulds

Cumbernauld

Great event

Sir, – I write to congratulate the organising committee and volunteers of Carbrain and Hillcrest Community Council for the work that they put in before and during the Carbrain Gala Day on Saturday.

It was a fantastic event and it highlighted what a Community can do to provide entertainment and information for the local residents.

Even the scattered showers could not disrupt the day. It was good to see the young people interact with Strathclyde Police and Liber8-street base and it threw into sharp contrast the damage to Saint Margaret of Scotland School in the recent spate of break-ins and vandalism carried out by a few misguided individuals.

Well done Carbrain. – Yours etc.,

CLLR WILLIAM GOLDIE

North Lanarkshire Council

Outdated views

Sir, - I read with disbelief and disgust the recent letter titled ‘tearing the heart out of Croy’. What exactly are these ‘strangers’ as the writer calls them doing to tear the heart out of the Croy community?

I must educate this person and inform them that the Housing Association have a points system prioritising households most in need of housing, and that being a Catholic born in Croy does not give you a divine right to jump the housing queue!

I found the thread of this letter rather depressing as it seems to suggest that Croy would be a better place with no one else other than a Catholic community.

This train of thought goes against every principle in Western democracy, rather than not welcome the ‘strangers’, should this not be an opportunity to meet new people, form friendships and listen to different viewpoints, rather than give the impression of an insular society?

Finally to try and slur the Housing Association by suggesting ‘outsiders’ are given houses in Croy to eradicate the Catholic community is absurd but also dangerous, and I fear for people who currently live in Croy and who are not original residents.

This person’s views are outdated and bigoted and will surely embarrass all modern thinking Croy residents. – Yours etc.,

WILLIAM MCMILLAN

Alder Road

Cumbernauld

CICA support

Sir, – As one of the CICA candidates at the 2007 Council election, I take strong exception to Councillor Carrigan’s comments, as reported in the Cumbernauld News.

We in CICA do not indulge in ego trips, or in gratuitous attacks on political opponents.

We exist because we believe that local councillors should represent the views and interests of their constituents, and not be forced by party whips to follow a party line which may be against the interests of their constituents. We consider that Cumbernauld councillors should act in the interests of Cumbernauld.

As someone who has lived in Cumbernauld for 43 years, unlike Councillor Carrigan who only recently returned to the town after a lengthy absence, I can see that North Lanarkshire Council has consistently asset stripped Cumbernauld ever since its formation in 1996. Unfortunately, due to increasing age, and domestic commitments, I will not be standing in the 2012 Council election, but I am fully supportive of the aims of CICA, and will be doing everything I can to help secure the election of their selected candidates.

Could Councillor Carrigan’s ill-mannered diatribe be due to unease about his own prospects for re-election? – Yours etc.,

ALAN J. SNEDDON

Condorrat

Cumbernauld

Lights misery

Sir, – It was with utter dismay that I drove past the library in Condorrat on Monday evening to find yet another set of traffic lights there.

Two days before schools go back and we have yet again to face long delays at not only one but two sets of temporary lights – if they had got the bridge right in the first place, this would all have been finished by now.

Condorrat residents have suffered long and weary throughout this A80 upgrade and I am wholeheartedly sick of it. We sit and wait while lorries do three-point turns at the Rosehill lights and when we eventually get through we now have to wait at the library too.

Oh, and I nearly forgot about the lights in Mollinsburn which cause long delays every morning and what an eyesore that area now is. The area at Rose Hill is another eyesore and what was once marshland is now a dirt lorry track – I wonder in what kind of state that will be left in when they miraculously finish everything come September.

I don’t often put pen to paper but we have been through enough and they just keep piling it on. When will this misery be over? I’ll believe September when I see it with my own eyes! – Yours etc.,

ANN WILSON

Condorrat

Cumbernauld

Need to unite

Sir, – I was astounded by Councillor Carrigan’s attack on Nick Dekker of CICA in last week’s edition.

Does Councillor Carrigan, so often the cheerleader for North Lanarkshire Council, not believe that people can express their views? This is indicative in the way that the Labour Group within North Lanarkshire Council sees their way as the only way for North Lanarkshire.

I believe that Cumbernauld has much higher priorities than a park (sorry Mr Dekker). The schools are crumbling, the Town Centre is an eyesore, we need improvements to the housing stock and we all need to unite to ensure that at the next Council Elections we elect Councillors who argue and fight for Cumbernauld, not vote to close schools and nurseries or approve parking charges that may badly affect local shops and family incomes.

I feel, though, that electing independent Councillors will only allow Labour to maintain its stranglehold on our town by again being the largest group on the Council.

We already have an independent group of Councillors on North Lanarkshire Council and in my view they have achieved nothing.

I believe that in May we have a chance to remove Labour as the ruling group at North Lanarkshire Council.

That is only my opinion and it is up to each and every one of us to decide the best way forward. – Yours etc.,

KENNY SMITH

Millcroft Road

South Carbrain