Recent News
Windfarm windfall for communities as new fund is launched
Launching the fund: Council head of roads, Joe Devine, Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead MSP, Councillor Alistair Carmichael, chair of the fund panel and Bill Duguid, chair of Eaglesham community council.
Community groups across East Renfrewshire will benefit from a new fund set up from the development of Europe’s largest onshore wind farm.
For the Whitelee wind farm fund was launched today (16 March 2010) by Richard Lochhead MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Environment.
The fund, which will last for the lifetime of the windfarm, will deliver £140,000 for community groups, activities and initiatives in its first year. There’ll be similar sums each year over the next 25 years.
The annual sum is paid by Scottish Power Renewables to East Renfrewshire Council. The fund is then made available in the form of grants to community groups and organisations for projects that can demonstrate community benefits.
Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said:“I welcome the launch of the Whitelee Wind Farm Fund, a project that will empower communities to join the fight against climate change and support local economic growth.
"Scotland's wealth of natural resources gives us the potential to be one of the leading nations in managing our environmental impact. Renewable energy represents an unparalleled opportunity to boost our economy and enhance our environment for decades to come.
"The Whitelee wind farm has been rightly recognised for the excellent work done for both the environment and local community, recently being named overall winner at the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning."
Councillor Alistair Carmichael, said: “As well as environmental benefits, having Europe’s largest onshore widnfarm on our doorstep will give our communities financial support over the next 25 years. Though the fund is available across East Renfrewshire, projects from the areas closest to the windfarm, in Eaglesham and Waterfoot, will be given priority.
“Projects that could receive support should show a benefit to the community and could include sustainable energy initiatives, environmental improvements, community events, infrastructure improvements, tourism and leisure activities.
“We’re interested in hearing from projects developed entirely by community groups or they can work with other organisations, including the council, to deliver projects in partnership.
Applications to the Whitelee wind farm fund will be considered by a panel made up of a local councillor, representatives from Eaglesham and Waterfoot community council and East Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce and officers from roads planning and transportation.
Visit our grants pages for more detail on the Whitelee wind farm fund, how to apply and to download an application form.
Fairtrade fun at Neilston Primary
Bowls of healthy and tasty rice pud were on the menu recently when the council’s economic development convener Councillor Tony Buchanan and Ken Macintosh MSP paid a visit to Neilston Primary to meet the school’s Fairtrade committee.
The pupils have been promoting the campaign throughout the school and have taken part in a Fairtrade competition. They have also been busy making posters to promote the cause.
The pupils enterprise skills have been shining through as well as they have been selling pocket money toys during their break and lunchtimes to raise cash.
East Renfrewshire has joined forces with East Dunbartonshire Council and Renfrewshire Council to work with Just Trading Scotland owned by the Balmore charitable trust, to bring fairly traded Kilombero rice to Scotland from the National Association of Smallholding Farmers of Malawi.
The rice is now being used regularly by many organisations including the three councils and churches and the total amount bought so far – 11,500kg – has generated enough income to send 127 Malawi children to school for a year.
Councillor Tony Buchanan said: “Fairtrade is close to the hearts of Neilston’s pupils and they will continue their campaign throughout the year. By supporting a fledgling enterprise and bringing learning to life in schools the project has also delivered economic and social benefits at a local level in Malawi.”
Not just a leafy suburb
Figures gathered by East Renfrewshire Council’s in-house education research unit show that an often-quoted image of the area as a leafy suburb in which pupils automatically do well in schools doesn’t ring true.
Eight percent of East Renfrewshire pupils live in 20 percent of the most deprived areas in Scotland as defined by the Scottish Indicator of Multiple Deprivation. The percentage is higher than Aberdeenshire and East Lothian, each at three percent for the same measure. These are two of the council’s comparator authorities, both of which perform less well in educational terms than East Renfrewshire.
East Renfrewshire sits above the national average of 3.1 percent of pupils with English as an additional language at 4.7 percent, while with 12 per cent of primary pupils from ethnic minorities, double the national average, and 11 per cent of secondary pupils in the same category, the council is second only to Glasgow where the primary and secondary figures are 17 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.
But East Renfrewshire tops the tables for the percentage of pupils going on to higher education, with 59 per cent of school leavers going to university, well above the national average of 35 per cent, and two points above comparator council, East Dunbartonshire.
Pupils at East Renfrewshire schools are also the least likely to be excluded in mainland Scotland with two primary pupils per 1000 excluded against a national average of 13 per thousand. The secondary figures are 18 per 1000 for East Renfrewshire and 91 per thousand for Scotland.
Education convener Councillor Alan Lafferty said: “Far too often we hear our education success, as defined by a series of excellent HMIe school reports and national examination results, dismissed as a given because of the mistaken but often-quoted belief that our area is a leafy suburb whose schools are crammed with well-off, enthusiastic pupils born to succeed, so that the approach taken by the council has nothing to do with that success story.
“These benchmarking figures show that there is much more going on, especially when compared to our comparator authorities which, although they have similar social characteristics, perform less highly than East Renfrewshire. The reasons for our success are testing throughout primary and into secondary to track the strengths and weakness of pupils and take appropriate action, our emphasis on an appropriate curriculum for every pupil, and, as our low exclusion figures show, a real drive to ensure that pupils attend regularly and buy into our ethos of attainment, achievement, inclusion and progress for all. These factors, and the sheer hard work of pupils and staff, allied to the backing we receive from parents and the professionalism of our education director and his staff, are the real drivers behind our public service excellence in education rather than the fact that many of our pupils come from comfortable or well-off homes.”
Find out more about care in Scotland with new national helpline and website
East Renfrewshire’s health and social care convener is encouraging residents to tap into a brand new resource to find out more about care for older people.
For Councillor Douglas Yates, is backing the brand new national Care Information Scotland helpline and website.
And he reckons with research showing that many people don’t know where to turn when they are looking for care services, the new helpline and website could become an invaluable source of information and advice.
“This new service has been designed to help guide older people and their families through the maze of resources to make sure they have access to comprehensive, accurate and up to date the information. Many people are looking for information for themselves, a relative or a friend.
“You’ll be able to find by phone or online all the information you need about care services for older people . The Care Information Scotland service provides information on all aspects of care including how to get care; how to pay for care; and how to get help with caring for somebody.”
The phone helpline 08456 001 001 is available from 10am – 8pm, Monday – Friday and 10am – 4pm on Saturday, with calls charged at the local rate.
The website can be accessed at any time and contains a range of information on care services, presented under clear categories.
The website has been designed to be used by both the public and care professionals.
Time to ‘get ready for it!’ with news of up to 3,500 jobs on the way
There are up to 3,500 jobs on the way to East Ren over the next five years.
And local services are challenging residents to make sure they are ready for them.
For the council’s employability service, dubbed ‘worker’, is organising an event called ‘Get ready for it!’. They will bring together over 40 services and organisations aimed at helping residents get ready for any new jobs on the way.
Economic development convener at the council, Councillor Tony Buchanan, said: “Although the economy is still fragile, there are opportunities for work on the way in East Ren. With major developments going on in our area including the Greenlaw development and the regeneration work going in Barrhead, our economic development team are predicting that there could be up to 3,500 jobs on the way over the coming years.
“The ‘Get ready for it!’ event aims to bring together 40 services and organisations who can provide information on skills, health, training, benefits and more. All of the information is aimed at giving local people the skills, experience and confidence to be ready for new opportunities in work and training.
“Whether you are out of work or are considering your options for the future, with up to 3,500 jobs potentially on the way, are you ready for it?”
‘Get ready for it! is on Tuesday 30 March in Barrhead Sports Centre, Barrhead from 2 until 7pm.
The event is being hosted by ‘worker’, East Renfrewshire’s new employability service, led by the council.
Stand holders will include: Citizen Advice Bureau; money advice; sports programmes; training opportunities; e learning libraries programmes; volunteering; young people services; smoking cessation advice; Go Barrhead! Travel and health project and many others.
‘Worker’ teams will be there also be on hand to talk about direct support into work and programmes for young people which will move them into employment.
St Joe’s for Euroquiz Final
The St Joseph's team is set for Edinburgh final.
St Joseph’s Primary will represent East Renfrewshire in the final of Euroquiz 2009 which will be held in the Scottish Parliament building in May.
The quiz, which is run by The Scottish European Education Trust and sponsored by Standard Life, is open to P6 children in all primary schools in Scotland.
Each participating school received a list of useful resources and Euroquiz heat 2009 questions to prepare for the local heats which were held in Eastwood House.
In all 11 teams from East Renfrewshire took part in the local heats with St Joseph’s pipping Netherlee primary to the post.
St Joseph’s team consisted of Patrick Entwistle (10), Declan Gallagher (10), Dominic Kelly (11) and Sean Reilly (10). The team’s substitutes Olivia Irvine (10) and Ewen Quinn (10) were not used.
Questions covered history, economics, geography, basic foreign language skills, politics, music, arts, current affairs, environment etc.
European Union questions included the names of important people such presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament, Scottish MEPs and basic information about the Union and Europe in general.
There were also some questions about currencies, names of European stock exchanges.
Principal teacher Catherine Callaghan said: “The boys were so enthusiastic and they worked really hard on the internet for weeks before the heats researching all they could learn about Europe. The staff, pupils and their families all wish them well for the final in Edinburgh.”
The final will take place in Scottish Parliament building in the week beginning 10 May 2010.
Healthy choices at Mearns Primary
Skateboarding, curling, yoga, karate, athletics and streetdance are just some of the activities the youngsters at Mearns primary will be trying out during Healthy Choices fortnight currently running at the school.
The primary’s 900 pupils will be involved in a wide range of activities which promote eight wellbeing indicators to ensure the young people are active, respected, responsible, included, safe, healthy, achieving and nurtured.
The fortnight concludes with a celebration assembly, where pupils will have an opportunity to reflect on the activities they have been involved in and they will be able to celebrate the healthy choices they can make in their lives.
Over the period of the event visits are planned from Gregor Townsend, of the Glasgow Science Centre and skincare specialists amongst others. In addition pupils will be involved in a variety of Fairtrade and Eco activities promoting outdoor learning.
Senior pupils will also be planning lessons and peer educating nursery to P3 pupils in activities such as treasure hunts, PlayZone talks, hand washing lessons and reading activities on World Book Day.
The whole school will be involved in a weekly talk topic during the fortnight. Families will be asked to share their views at home on each topic so the pupils can gather a variety of views. Then on a Friday pupils will share their ideas and views during a class discussion.
The topic in week one will be: What are the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle? How is your lifestyle different to when your parents/ grandparents were growing up?
In week two the topics will be: What choices to we make in our day to day lives which have an effect on others/the planet.
Cool curling
All P6 and P7 school children who attend primaries in Barrhead and Neilston are to get the chance to take part in a ‘Cool Curling’ programme after the summer holidays.
East Renfrewshire Council’s active schools team, with assistance from Gordon McIntyre curling development officer at Greenacres curling rink between Howwood and Uplawmoor, have been successful in securing £10,000 of funding from Awards for All Scotland.
The money will pay for the pupil’s coaching and transportation to and from Greenacres.
The active school team will co-ordinate a programme for all primary schools in Neilston and Barrhead which will allow each child in P6 and P7 to get four weeks of coaching on the ice.
As Greenacres curling club is shut from April until September, the coaches will offer a taster session to P5 pupils then the programme will start when the children return to school after the summer break.
The coaches will also visit schools to provide taster sessions and to speak to head teachers.
Community services convener Councillor Mary Montague said: “This is going to give children an excellent opportunity to learn a new team sport and I am sure that following TV coverage given to the recent Winter Olympics in Edmonton there will be plenty of enthusiastic youngsters eager to take to the ice.”
Staff aim for the top
Fifteen Netherlee Primary School staff are aiming for the top on Saturday 24 April when principal teacher Mark Weir leads them on a sponsored climb of Ben Lomond.
Their bid to scale the heights comes after the school adopted Clic Sargent as its charity in memory of primary seven pupil Kathryn Logan who sadly died of Leukaemia last summer.
Mark Weir said: “Pupils are raising funds in Kathryn’s memory to help other children suffering from cancer and we felt we should be doing something as staff. We’ve been in strict training, on the school entrance ramp, so far (!), but aim to make it to the top of the Ben. Anyone who might like to support our efforts by making a donation, can do so by visiting the Netherlee Primary School justgiving page.”
Welcome for new superfast Broadband in Giffnock from council planning convener
East Renfrewshire’s planning convener has welcomed the news that superfast broadband is on its way to Giffnock.
For the East Renfrewshire community is one of only a handful in Scotland getting access to superfast broadband.
It comes as the council’s planning applications committee approved three planning applications for new cabinets to house broadband connections in Giffnock.
Councillor Ian McAlpine, said: “Online services and shopping is becoming more of a feature of our daily lives. Even in the planning service where our e-planning facility has surpassed everyone’s expectations.
“Superfast broadband from BT is only being installed in a few locations and we are delighted that Giffnock has been chosen. In planning we examine the practical aspects of the work being done to install new cabinets to house the broadband connections. We are delighted to play our part on the development of Giffnock with the introduction by BT of superfast broadband,” added Councillor McAlpine.
Visit our e-planning pages.