Meeting of the Parliament 27 September 2022
Graham Simpson reminds me of when I was first elected in 2007 and asked the council to clear up the Haylie Brae in Largs. No one had mentioned it to me, but I had noticed that there was a lot of rubbish there, including, I found out, some cans displaying what were called Tennent’s lager lovelies from the 1980s, meaning that the area had not been cleared for some 20 years. It is now kept clean by the local authority.
The point that I want to make is that the scheme is not about being the only scheme; it is about being additional to other schemes. It gives people a sense of ownership over a wee part of the road. I have organised and participated in many beach cleans—I imagine that most if not all members have done so. The scheme is about giving a wee bit more pride to a specific community in a specific area and trying to ensure that a bit more long-term work is carried out to clear up a specific location.