Anger mounts over school bus cuts
EMOTIONS ran high at last Thursday's full council meeting when over a hundred protesters turned up to show their anger about proposed cuts to the school bus service.
Demonstrators drove in to the council headquarters car park in Kirkintilloch with bright yellow balloons tied to their cars with the words 'save our buses' printed on to them.
Parents and children held banners which read 'EDC vote for SOB' (Save Our Buses), 'cutting buses costs education' and 'keep our children safe'.
Only about 23 of the protesters were allowed in the chambers, the rest had to sit in the canteen next door.
Independent Councillor Charles Kennedy asked why members of the public were being denied access to the chambers when there were 14 vacant seats in the middle of the room and more seats could have been brought in.
He was told by Diane Campbell, director of corporate and customer services, that this was due to health and safety guidelines after advice from Strathclyde police and the fire brigade.
He replied: "This is not the people's republic of China, this is still the UK. This is the people's chamber."
Provost Eric Gotts repeatedly told members of the public to respect the rules in the chambers and sit quietly listening to the debate without interrupting by clapping or cheering.
Eventually he was forced to ask them to leave because they started chanting 'Labour/Tory Out' and 'We're going to vote you out', 'You're a disgrace'. One man even accused the councillors of being responsible for the deaths of children.
Members of the public had lost their temper because a motion which had been put forward by Liberal Democrat councillors to reverse the budget decision on school transport was not allowed to go to debate due to council rules.
Under council regulations decisions made within the last six months cannot be revisited unless two thirds of the councillors vote for the suspension of standing orders.
The ten members of the Labour/Tory administration voted against the suspension of standing orders for the LibDem motion and the 13 SNP, LibDem and Independent councillors voted for the suspension of standing orders, but this was not enough to allow a debate as 16 councillors would have needed to vote for it.
This meant that the decision to change the school transport criteria for pupils who live one mile away from a primary school to two miles and two miles to three miles for secondary school pupils will go ahead.
Another motion proposed by SNP councillors asked for the reversal of some budget decisions after the recent news that the council will unexpectedly receive a VAT refund windfall.
Their motion aimed to save school transport, school crossing patrols, the mobile library service and breakfast clubs, but this was not allowed to be revisited because two thirds of councillors did not vote for the suspension of standing orders.
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Weather for Milngavie
Wednesday 30 May 2012
Today
Light showers
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