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orthern Cumbernauld recently received some bad news when Morrison announced that they would not be proceeding with their plans to build a supermarket in the Broadwood area. For once this was nothing to do with NLC and was simply a result of financial issues with Morrisons themselves. The last newsletter covered that Councillor Alan O’Brien had been speaking with corporate representatives of another major retailer regarding the challenges they were facing from NLC’s planning department in developing The
struggling Westway retail park over at Castlecary. Since the bad news re Morrisons Alan has held further meetings with them and the Independent Cumbernauld News can now reveal that both Aldi and Marks & Spencer may be interested in coming to this part of Cumbernauld. Alan has discussed two potential sites with them, the first being Westway retail park and the second the Broadwood site that Morrisons have dropped out of.
of Cumbernauld with them both complementing each other perfectly. I will be continuing to advise on the best way for them to navigate what I regard as the somewhat eccentric challenges NLC Planning department will inevitably put in their way. It would be superb to bring these two companies to Cumbernauld
Alan comments “ Both Marks and Spencer and Aldi would help broaden out the retail offering in our part
Town centre Bus Station shambles continues
O’Brien plan not supported by SNP or Labour
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ne of the biggest problems in our infamous Town Centre is the dangerous excuse for a Bus Station that straddles a dual carriageway. Councillor Alan O’Brien had hoped to incorporate a bus station into a revamped town centre, but unfortunately local Labour Councillors sabotaged his years of work. As a fall back position Alan initiated a Council debate suggesting that the the remaining funds from the Campsies Board be utilised to help redevelop our delapidated excuse for a bus station. The Campsies board was set up by NLC supposedlyto redevelop our Town Centre and was given a dowry of £17.5 million from the old Cumbernauld Development Corporation. It is now down to it’s last £3.5 million and all we seem to have to show for it is a bridge that doesn’t go anywhere and a statue next to a motorway which was designed to take out minds off the shambles of a town centre. If readers wish to know where the money has all gone, the best person to ask is local Labour Councillor Barry McCulloch who was the Campsie Board chair for years. Unfortunately, neither SNP or Labour would back Alan’s plan to fund a new bus station. No doubt the remaining Campsies money will be used in some crackpot scheme to divert attention away from the state of our Town Centre facilities. After all who need a decent bus station when you have some weird florescent metal wing things to distract you? Legal Bumf Printed by Cowan Print, Kilsyth • Paid for by Alan O’Brien • Distributed by Alan, Friends & Family • Hair by Sarah & Emma @ Mark Steven in the Toon Centre • Suit by Ralph Slater, Glagow • Photographs by my Son, Callum
Ca st Ba lec Ea llo ar st ch W fie Smestf ld ie i t Bl hs ld Cr ac to ai kw n Ca gm oo rri ar lo c k W st c es o n Duterw e lla o tu r
Ca Ba st le l l Ea oc ca st h r W fiel Smest d f i Bl thsield ac to Cr kw n ai o Ca gm o W rric arl es ks te to Du rw lla oo tu r
Aldi and Marks & Spencer plans for Cumbernauld
t n e d n e p e d in
Cumbernauld News What the Council DOESN’T Want You To Know
The Cooncil has Banned fracking..... HONEST!
FRACKING LIAR!!! Local Councillor, Barry McCulloch deception on fracking ban.
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ne of the greatest problems facing modern politicians is the voting public’s lack of trust in them. unfortunately some politicians just can’t help themselves by confirming the dishonest stereotype. One of the most blatant examples of this is local Labour Barry McCulloch’s dishonesty concerning a potential Fracking site in Westfield.
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ndependent Councillor Alan O’Brien had been approached by a company who were looking for his support for exploratory drilling in Westfield. After researching the pros and cons of Fracking Alan decided against supporting the drilling, citing the potential danger of contamination of our water supplies as a major worry.
In Response to HUGE Barry McCulloch sent the following email.
Councillor Pinocchio McCulloch At The Cooncil
BARRY’S EMAIL
Just a quick note to tell you that NLC decided on a moratorium on unconventional gas extraction at its meeting yesterday and called on the Scottish Government to do likewise. I made a contribution to the debate and made my opposition to fracking clear to the meeting. The SNP group on NLC were shambolic at the meeting failing to move their fracking motion and eventually being to cowardly to call on the SNP Government to ban fracking or introduce a precautionary moratorium.
Councillor O’Brien helped propose a motion asking for North Lanarkshire Council to exercise their local Planning Powers to put a moratorium on Fracking in NLC. This motion was supported by a Merry Christmas Cllr Barry McCulloch.” Facebook campaign from HUGE a local anti fracking group. At the Just to be clear Barry and his Labour colleagues point blank same time a local SNP Councillor also submitted a variation with refused to support Councillor O’Brien’s motion for a ban and another motion designed to protect Cumbernauld from Fracking. their is no “moratorium on unconventional gas extraction” In true corrupted Labour party tradition a motion designed to protect passed by NLC. The references to the SNP group failing to move Cumbernauld, from potential water pollution was not supported. The their fracking motion was also untrue as Barry and his Labour Councillor O’Brien motion asking for an NLC ban was replaced with colleagues refused to allow the SNP motion to be debated. a Pontious Pilate amendment asking for a nationwide ban from the It’s one thing for politicians to ignore a threat to their Scottish Government instead. constituents health, it’s another to use that threat to have a NLC Labour then put out press releases saying they were demanding go at your political opponents. However, to blatantly lie to the a Fracking ban...but deceptively ignored the fact they had actually people you are paid to look after is simply inexcusable. refused to impose a local ban. Perhaps voters should ask themselves, just how comfortable The local anti fracking group HUGE had emailed every NLC Councillor are they having a dishonest individual like Barry McCulloch asking for the Local fracking ban to be supported. representing them as their local Councillor???
Craiglinn Chaos
TRIBUTE
Miles long tailbacks set to continue.
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ne of the most visible problems in this part of Cumbernauld are the regular tailbacks of vehicles leading to the Craiglinn roundabout in front of Broadwood stadium. Since the installation of traffic lights at Craiglinn multi mile tailbacks of vehicles reaching towards Craigmarloch Tesco have been seen. Independent Councillor Alan O’Brien has been in regular consultation with council transport officials for some time and has came up with a potential solution. Alan explains. “The main problem is because the main flow of
traffic heading towards the Town Centre and the motorway is interrupted by the traffic lights. I asked our transport people to check out the viability of a new slip road which would feed traffic straight towards the motorway and the Town Ctr, but crucially, without being stopped by traffic lights. I can confirm that plans for this new road have been drawn up and that our transport people are keen to move forward with them. However, the problem is the funding for our new road as the cost will be in the region of £500,000. Inevitably the council is claiming they have no money to deal with a Cumbernauld problem”.
Continued on page 3
RIP Councillor Gordon Murray 1927 - 2015 The Greatest champion Cumbernauld will Ever Have!
Ca Ba st l l l Ea oc st W fie Smest f i Bl ths ac Cr kw ai Ca g W rric es k te Du r lla
nt independe
Cumbernauld News
Craiglinn Chaos Continued From Front cover
Community Benefits Spend
Capital receipts raised in each area
Community Benefits Allocation in £s
16,000,000
£40,000,000
£14,000,000 £12,000,000
£Millions /Area £30,000,000
£10,000,000 £ 8,000,000
£20,000,000
£6,000,000 £ 4,000,000 £ 2,000,000
£10,000,000
0 Cum bern auld
Moth erw ell
Bell shill
0 Aird rie
*
Kilsy th
However inevitably, they have managed to locate £millions of pounds to deal with perceived problems in the Airdrie area. I say “perceived” as I am a driving instructor who works in Airdrie and there are no traffic problems even remotely comparable with the Craiglinn chaos. The Chair of the committee responsible for the infrastructure funding is an Airdrie Councillor, so I will leave you to draw your own conclusions. However, I haven’t given up. In the last newsletter I revealed how community benefits from new properties built in Cumbernauld have not been finding their way back to us. New roads are a prime example of the sort of benefits that other areas of the Council get put back into their communities from builders. I have had a meeting with the head of regeneration re this situation and the viability of utilising builders contributions from the new builds in our area is being looked at. Unfortunately, I have little faith in just trusting the people who have spent the last 20 years depriving us of the community benefits the rest of the council takes for granted so I will be looking to make sure that this commitment is honoured. I’ll give an update on how this is progressing in the next newsletter.”
NLC Chief Exec Threats over Independent Cumbernauld Newsletter. CT Expenses probe blocked
This newsletter is paid for by Councillor Alan O’Brien out of his own pocket and is distributed by Alan himself, family and friends. As it’s content is designed to inform the Cumbernauld public on issues that the Council don’t want you to know about it isn’t too popular with them, There have been various attempts to stop Alan distributing it. Alan Explains “every time I distribute my newsletter there have been threats from the Council’s Chief Exec. Initially he threatened me with legal action, this has been followed up by threats to report me to the Standards Commission and the withdrawal of the cooperation of Council officers for my council work. I guess I should be grateful I haven’t been reported to the police again, as that’s what happened with my last election leaflet. It speaks volumes that while my constituents money is used to fund spin doctors and council propaganda any dissenting voice is met with threats and intimidation. However, even by it’s own very low standards of ethics this council is now scraping the barrel. In particular this Council’s Chief Exec appears and I stress “appears” to be participating in a cover up to protect a member of the Local Labour Party from my investigation of a potential and again I’ll stress “potential” expenses anomaly. Billy Lees is the Election Agent of Labour Councillor Bob Chada and also Chair of the Cumbernauld Community Forum. Having a Labour Party member in charge of The Forum Chairmanship is real handy for covering up how Labour controlled North Lanarkshire Council have been asset stripping Cumbernauld for nearly 20 years. A concerned Forum member felt that Mr Lees may have been claiming for taxis to council meetings, despite getting lifts from other forum chairmen. There wasn’t really any way for me to check this out till I actually witnessed him turn up to one in a car. I felt a simple look at the Forum’s expenses would show if these suspicions had any merit or not. I asked for a copy of the accounts and was initially informed that it wasn’t a problem. However, this was then blocked by senior management with them even refusing to comply with my Freedom of Information request. However, I did find out was that the Forum accounts are signed off by Billy Lees himself.
Councillor Alan O’Brien
That was nearly 2 years ago since then I have had multiple meetings with the Chief Exec who, point blank refuses to open the accounts of the Cumbernauld Forum. Why would he do that, wouldn’t it be much simpler to shut me up, by demonstrating there is nothing to hide?”
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Forum accounts kept secret.
FACT Forum chaired by Labour party representative.
FACT Forum chair uses community funding to attack Councillor O’Brien
FACT Labour & SNP Councillors use community funds to pay for NLC propaganda.
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ne of the big challenges facing modern schools is the problem of a thoughtless minority who park in an inconsiderate, and often dangerous, manner while dropping off their children to school. This problem is particularly acute at our joint campus. There is no main road parking and extremely limited drop off points in front of the school. This leads to tailbacks on the main road and sometimes the school bus can’t even get to the front of the school. Inconvenience aside, this could present also present a danger to the children. Councillor O’Brien
has organised meetings with the Police, Council Education, and the heads of roads and planning. A further area of potential parking near the front of the school has been identified and is going through the consultation stage, so a solution is not too far off.
St Maurices Pupils knocked down at school entrance.
For the second time in recent years Pupils from St Maurices have been injured in a road traffic accident at the front of the school. After consultation with parents, the police and NLC Roads dept, Councillor O’Brien has initiated plans to have the road altered to make it Alan commented “The new more difficult for drivers to speed while passing the front of St parking will serve two functions. Maurices. Firstly it will serve as drop off Alan commented “to say I know this road real well is an parking for the school, helping stop understatement. As a driving instructor it is is the first road I take the dangerous chaos that has been reported to me. Secondly it will also my new pupils on once they have mastered the basics on a near act as a parking for the Community by industrial estate. The road is a 30 MPH, however my pupils are Park and with the addition of some often overtaken by speeding drivers right outside St Maurices, additional signage provide a more while they are driving at the speed limit. The new road layout is at consultation stage and when it is finished it will make the front focused entrance to the park.” of St Maurices a far safer place for pedestrians than it is at the moment”
Council use community Grant monies to fund Labour Party propaganda.
Money intended to help local community diverted to attack Councillor O’Brien It seems that covering up the activities of a Labour Party election agent isn’t sufficient and the Council is now actually using tax payers money to fund attacks against Councillor O’Brien. Community Councils have a clear responsibility to be politically neutral, however Westfield Community Council is allowed to ignore these strict rules. Under the influence of Billy Lees AKA Labour Councillor Bob Chada’s election agent, Westfield Community Council seems to act as a Labour election team. This was demonstrated by a recent Westfield Community Council Newsletter with a Billy Lees penned article attacking Independent Councillor Alan O’Brien, a very clear breech of Political neutrality. The funding for this political attack came from the Council via a Community Grant. A Community Grant is an annual allowance that Councillors are given to assist the local community. A Freedom of Information Request has revealed that this political attack was was funded by Labour Councillors Bob Chada and Barry McCulloch and unfortunately also SNP Councillor Alan Masterton. The Council has not only refused to reprimand the Westfield Labour Party....sorry Westfield Community Council and ensure there is no repetition, but it is instead providing further funding via community grants from other Councillors. Funding that should be going into the local community NOT political smear campaigns. A sinister web of deception indeed. What does it say about a Council who refuse to let one of their own elected members see expenses signed off by a member of the Labour Party? A council who then allow Councillors to use money, designed to help the local community, to fund Labour Party propaganda.....nothing complimentary, that’s for sure.
Community Park Concerns Is NLC deliberately neglecting Cumbernauld Community Park? The increased neglect of Cumbernauld Community park is becoming an increasing concern to many users. A popular walking route has been fenced off, new woodlands have been planted that will block off stunning views and the path network is in a shocking neglected state. Enquiries from Councillor Alan O’Brien have revealed that the vast majority of our Community Park is run on what is called a “non maintained” basis. Basically, they ignore it as much as they can. Councillor Alan O’Brien has gotten more involved with the park in an effort to assist the work carried out by the Friends of The Park, a group of local volunteers. To date Alan has managed two get two potential projects lined up. As mentioned in another article, further parking is planned which will create a more obvious signposted entrance to the park. Alongside that Alan has had plans for a Mountain Bike skills trail for the quarry area produced and is currently in talks to find the funding needed for this new.facility.
To talk with Alan about any of the issues raised in this newsletter or any other matter: Telephone: 07939 280055 Email: obrienal@northlan.gov.uk
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