South Kintyre Sports Council Meeting this Monday

[Sport]

South Kintyre Sports Council are holding their monthly meeting this Monday, 25th February 2008 at the Conference Room, Aqualibrium, Campbeltown, 7.30pm.

Please come along - all welcome.

[Ship called Dignity]

The funding of an all weather pitch for Campbeltown will come out of the school’s estates budget and Councillor John Semple said: ‘It’s a very competitive budget and we might have difficulty in justifying more sports facilities in Campbeltown.’

Assume you have been misquoted John as correct me if I am wrong but the last time I looked there were very little in terms of sports facilities in Campbeltown?

[general jack o'niell]

come on now, we have two football pitches, a ten pin bowling alley, the putting green, a swimming pool with flume, croquet lawn, polo pitch, velodrome, cresta run, dry ski slope, did i say two football pitches that haven't been able to be used for the last two months or more and don't forget the vic, if you don't already have a second mortgage you can take out one to hire it to play five asides.

[Pete Reek]

If it's not a misquote, perhaps we need to get the members from the other areas of Argyll to give ours some pointers as to how they justified the facilities in place elsewhere. Or is Campbeltown now so far down the pecking order that we have to beg to be given a similar consideration to the likes of Oban, Dunoon etc, etc.

Hope all those attending remember to each take a wee bag of justifications along with them. Like giving an apple to the teacher really.

[John S]

The funding of an all weather pitch for Campbeltown will come out of the school’s estates budget and Councillor John Semple said: ‘It’s a very competitive budget and we might have difficulty in justifying more sports facilities in Campbeltown.’

Assume you have been misquoted John as correct me if I am wrong but the last time I looked there were very little in terms of sports facilities in Campbeltown?

Davie, not a miss quote but out of context, what I was explaining was that now that the funding for the AWP is wrapped up in the school estate budget rather than sports facilities, it will be competing with educational priorities as a bolt-on rather than an essential asset - remember the flume for the pool

It might be difficult to justify why we build a AWP rather than replace the roof on Castlehill PS for example.

However the up side is that the schools at Helensburgh, Dunoon & Lochgilphead all have AWP's so their is a pretty big expectation.

[Buzz Lightyear]

The funding of an all weather pitch for Campbeltown will come out of the school’s estates budget and Councillor John Semple said: ‘It’s a very competitive budget and we might have difficulty in justifying more sports facilities in Campbeltown.’

Assume you have been misquoted John as correct me if I am wrong but the last time I looked there were very little in terms of sports facilities in Campbeltown?

Davie, not a miss quote but out of context, what I was explaining was that now that the funding for the AWP is wrapped up in the school estate budget rather than sports facilities, it will be competing with educational priorities as a bolt-on rather than an essential asset - remember the flume for the pool

It might be difficult to justify why we build a AWP rather than replace the roof on Castlehill PS for example.

However the up side is that the schools at Helensburgh, Dunoon & Lochgilphead all have AWP's so their is a pretty big expectation.

John,

How can it be an upside that other schools within the area have an AWP? What good is that to the folk of Campbeltown? Dont want to go off thread but is that a bargaining point of the potential school closures, that we will get 'all singing and dancing' facilities at the new 'all in one' school?

the facilities available in the town are c..p! Flooded football pitches no matter where you go, Kinloch, Meadows and even the school field. there are no facility for athletics outdoors, swimming pool is good but again minimal, look at the rest of Argyll and Bute and what they have.

Then we go and spend near £10 million on an airfield which can only cope wi small planes??????

Where is the logic, time it was sorted! [/quote]

[general jack o'niell]

why is funding for an AWP tied up with the school budget? its a disgrace, who allowed this to happen and if the three local councillors were party to this decision then they should hang their head in shame. this is just revenge for us turning down the new combined primary/grammar project, it started with the cuts to the budget for upkeep of schools like castlehill, if it needs a new roof then it should have a new roof, money for an AWP shouldn't even come into the equation. who is the council representative on the castlehill school board or has this slapdash new quango parent forum fiasco taken over yet? its just typical, kilmory would have campbeltown youngsters working in a mill or down a pit if they had their way, they had been trying to run down castlehill for years so they could justify replacing it with the "floating" school they wanted to build on the grammar sports field. when that was defeated they just told the school that there wasn't money for much needed maintainence. an AWP is for the whole town, not just for schools, it should never even be mentioned in connection with the upkeep of schools. no doublespeak platitudes can justify this, do the parents have to do the councillors job for them again? if this matter isused as blackmail to deny the town an AWP then No.'s 1,2and 3 will be 4,5and 6 come the next election, on my ballot paper and i hope on everyone elses too. i think the time has come for campbeltown to fight back, i'm sick of us rolling over and taking the "poor relation" position as being something we just have to live with. i was on the castlehill board for 8 yrs and i know only too well that when it comes to getting things done the local councillors are completely useless, as are the education department, be it Argyll college stealing half the playground for car parking then objecting to parents using it, to the covered walkway which took six years to get built, or even the siting of a bus shelter 40 yd from the actual bus stop, when it comes to local authority and education department i wouldn't give any of them a job making tea, useless, feckless,clueless, if they were any less less they would be pointless, hell they are pointless, how anyone can justify this and then say what would you rather hace, a pitch or a roof on the school? i'm deeply disappointed, independance for Scotland? how about parity for Campbeltown first? is it any wonder we resent the likes of lochgilphead, oban and dunoon? next time your in kilmory why not ask your fellow councillors if they'd like you to lie down while they piss up your leg, or better still, why don't the three of you put political differences aside and do what you were elected to do, represent campbeltown, how much of campbeltown's education budget is going to fund the repairs to lochgilphead school, you mentioned the flume for the pool, we all know the money for dunoon's came from money meant for the museum, surprise surprisethatthelibrary moved to the pool, the building became offices and dell rd was sold off probably at a reduced price with none of the money going back into the town, the money from the sale of dell rd would have paid for the castlehill roof and an AWP, twice over if it was sold for market value, or am i wrong? did it fetch over £300,000 that has been spent within the town? or has that money been syphoned into some argyll & bute blackhole and spent on turning the library into offices? if so then they were done, and could never justify such missuse of funds.

[Ship called Dignity]

John - thanks for the reply. Most appreciated and the reason I asked on here was to allow the context to be explained. Thank you.

I've got a number of points to make on the lack of sports facilities but will post this later when I have had time to pull all of it together.

The decision by the Council to sweep the All Weather Pitch project under the School Estate carpet is a hard one to swallow given the time and effort Council staff and the Sports Council spent on creating a business case which clearly identified the need for such a facility in Campbeltown (and Kintyre). It took nearly two years from the Sports Council raising the issue, to pushing the whole issue and getting the Council to prepare a business case for the Senior Management Team of the Council and subsequenly the Councillors to say the AWP should go under the school estate - a decision I am led to believe was taken in minutes. (this decision was made at the Executive meeting of the Council before Christmas)

The Sports Council were unanimous in rejecting the idea of the AWP going under the umbrella of the school estate. The main reason being time. As a result we can kiss good bye to any likelihood of the town having such a facility for at least 6-7 years while the rest of Argyll laughs.

For information here is the current state of play with regards All Weather Floodlit facilities in Argyll. Perhaps this will raise a few more eyebrows and hopefully gain some local support.

Full Size (106x66m) to (90x60m)
Oban Community Sports Field
Hermitage Academy x 2
Lochgilphead HS NPDO
Dunoon Grammar School x2
Rothesay Academy

7 a side (64x45m) to (55x37.5)
Tarbert Community Playing Field
KMMSF Tobermory
Kirkmichael Helensburgh
Lomond School (Private)
Rothesay Multi Use Games Area

5 a side (40x20) to (36x18m)
Garelochhead
Park Primary School
Tiree High School
KMMSF Tobermory
Innellan PS
Parklands Special School
Cowal Community Sports Project 4no
Lochnell SDA
Atlantis Leisure Oban
Taynuilt
Tayvallich
Dervaig

[Buzz Lightyear]

Is there not a pitch at Bowmore at the school on islay too?

general, i wouldnt say that the councillors are completely useless, sometimes hard for them to get support for some things down this end as we can see with the AWP. I just wish the system was fairer & also maybe the councillors could focus there efforts on specific items rather than working agendas as it seems.

[John S]

The funding of an all weather pitch for Campbeltown will come out of the school’s estates budget and Councillor John Semple said: ‘It’s a very competitive budget and we might have difficulty in justifying more sports facilities in Campbeltown.’

Assume you have been misquoted John as correct me if I am wrong but the last time I looked there were very little in terms of sports facilities in Campbeltown?

Davie, not a miss quote but out of context, what I was explaining was that now that the funding for the AWP is wrapped up in the school estate budget rather than sports facilities, it will be competing with educational priorities as a bolt-on rather than an essential asset - remember the flume for the pool

It might be difficult to justify why we build a AWP rather than replace the roof on Castlehill PS for example.

However the up side is that the schools at Helensburgh, Dunoon & Lochgilphead all have AWP's so their is a pretty big expectation.

John,

How can it be an upside that other schools within the area have an AWP? What good is that to the folk of Campbeltown? Dont want to go off thread but is that a bargaining point of the potential school closures, that we will get 'all singing and dancing' facilities at the new 'all in one' school?

the facilities available in the town are c..p! Flooded football pitches no matter where you go, Kinloch, Meadows and even the school field. there are no facility for athletics outdoors, swimming pool is good but again minimal, look at the rest of Argyll and Bute and what they have.

Then we go and spend near £10 million on an airfield which can only cope wi small planes??????

Where is the logic, time it was sorted!

[/quote]

As far as I am aware there are no plans for an all in one School - they were rejected last time and I have nodoubt would be again.

Yes the football pitches are flooded, and we deserve an AWP sooner rather than later, come along to on Monday evening - all welcome, time it was sorted.

[Buzz Lightyear]

Would if i could come along but i am away working next week...again!

[general jack o'niell]

the useless is a generalisation, i had such high hopes for our three, hoping they were fit to sweep away the "photo op" "keep your mooth shut and you'll get a wee commitee post" type of representation the town had been getting for many years previous. rather defeat by standing your ground and fighting our corner than the defeatist "i'm only one man" attitude of previous incumbants. i'd grown sick of hearing this kind of excuse time and again. i can't picture john mcalpine allowing this to happen in tarbert without a fight. thats all i ask, fight for the town, if this makes you unpopular with other councillors then so be it, the town would think a lot more of them for it, from what i see and hear, local councillors are a bigger political joke than george w bush and this is unfair but its mostly self inflicted, maybe they should have another read of their own election literature, might jog the memory a bit, i kept all the ones that came thru my door and came across them the other day and read them again. sorry but the promises made seem to have been forgotten. its a simple thing to try and remedy, just tell the ruling group "NO" "i don't want this, my fellow campbeltown councillors don't want it, the people who elected us don't want it" even if they have to threaten to vote against every single proposal put forward by the ruling group for the lifetime of the council, surely three votes are important when it comes to getting things done? surely they have nothing to lose, the town gets treated like something the rest of Argyll has stood in as it is, how much worse can it get? stand by for the next fight to save drumblemble school, are you aware that when they calculate the number of pupils a school has a capacity for they use a formula based on size of rooms and how many they could contain, its like a battery chicken farm, anythin thats not screwed down doesn't exist, so cupboards, desks, chairs etc don't exist, and every room is counted including the likes of the gym in castlehill, so the education department insist castlehill has room for more than 100 more pupils than currently sattend it, plenty of room for the drumblemble role to fit in, when in reality there is maybe room for another dozen or so, if they had their way the gym would become a classroom so no PE for anyone, i know for a fact that the budget for castlehill has been cut every year for the last 11yrs, the head has to find ways to find these cuts, try and aborb them as best she can, if this carries on it won't be long before its half what it was when my son went to school in 1997. all the more reason for a combined primary/secondary campus eh? our kids have an excellent education in the town in spite of the education department and the council, not because of them. how about getting rid of one of the topdog civil servants, that would pay for an AWP with money to spare!!!!

[John S]

General, nice plan - a sure fire way of getting nothing ever for the area. Do the maths; 3 S Kintyre councillors 33 others, the actual decision was taken at the executive committee; 1 S Kintyre councillor 19 others - If council officers can justify to the executive committee a reasonable course of action it is likely to be accepted. If councillors can put a reasonable argument why a course of action is not taken then its likely that the executive will not take it. Being unreasonable sounds great "I'll fight for Kintyre" but no-one will support unreasonable actions in knowellege of all the facts. I think what you are suggesting should be done is in fact part of the problem.

[John S]

Davie,

Just because the funding is now in the school estate budget does not necessarily mean that the AWP has to wait until the school estate plan is consulted on, developed and implemented. We can explore this more on Monday evening.

[general jack o'niell]

in other words if i try to do something nothing will get done so better to do nothing and hope something will get done? maybe thats why i decided not to go into local politics when i was approached some years ago. don't speak up for the desires of those who elected you as the members for other areas know whats best for your constituents, better than you, better than me, better than everybody in campbeltown. why don't we just not bother to elect anyone next time and see what happens? we can't be worse off, nobody accidently rocking the boat, no chance of the powers that be taking the hump and sh!tting on us from a great height. what a great plan. how the feck can voicing the desires of the town be seen as unreasonable? would it be because it might take money away from a pet project of others? it can be the only reason, we all know that the council officers really run the show and that the coucillors are to all extents just playing at being in control, ok so they'll get thrown a crumb now and again, but i've never brown nosed to get anything and never respected anyone who does, if you or any of your colleagues stand up for us and get outvoted then you have at least done what is asked of you, nothing more is expected of you, but please don't expect me to believe that the plan to have any planned AWP finance come from the schools expenditure budget is a well thought out idea. its a cop out, its an insult to my intelligence, you can have a pitch but it'll mean using money that could be spent on the upkeep of the schools. so its a pitch or repairs to the castlehill roof, which incidently has been leaking for 11 years, about 8 yrs ago we complained about leaks in the infants cloakroom area, what did wee get from the repairs and maintenance budget? plastic buckets to catch the drips, and no, i'm not joking, so please, don't expect me to believe that 8yrs later suddenly the roof needs repaired and conveniently is being used as a way of avoiding releasing money for an AWP for the town, it was reported some time ago that if we wanted one we would have to pay for it ourselves.

you know the other councillors better than any of us, i honestly couldn't name any apart from john mcalpine from tarbert who i've known for many years, you no doubt have to play both sides against the middle to try and get things done but from what i'm beginning to think from your thoughts about the people of campbeltown wanting to be treated the same as everyone else as being unreasonable, us awkward folk down here, imagine wanting something which incidently we were promised as part of the swimming pool development, i've said enough, i'm only going to get angry and i'd hate to fall out over this, the campbeltown three, which one are you, see no , hear no, speak no?