Way too many foreign workers - pure & simple

Being unemployed for a year now is not good, applied for literally 100's of jobs but nothing yet

I have a clean HGV licence with decades of experience behind me and I still cannot get gainful employment

Just one weeks driving with the local council gritting motorways is all I have had

Time to close our borders methinks

For once I agree with Cameron . Stirling Council has been taken over by a SNP led coalition and any man woman or child can apply for planning and it seems it will be agreed even if everyone objects. Agreement for new housing development near to a country park has for years been turned down. SNP take over and a go ahead has been given despite the councils own structure plan detailing a long list of reasons not too.

Scotland has a lot going for it, but its planning policies have been strange for a long time. Many Scottish glens I visit boast new housing developments which would never be allowed in any part of Cumbria, where I live, let alone the Lake District national park. And I don't believe these developments are for local people — they're almost all second homes built for people who in all probability will contribute very little to these areas, either economically or at a community level.
Then of course there's the ever increasing proliferation of agricultural sheds, which might have some economic justification, but have nothing else going for them. I know rather different rules apply in the case of agricultural buildings, but in Scotland there seem to be no rules at all about these things.
The thinking seems to be "We've got loads of wild places, so we can spoil a few hundred and it won't matter". Very shortsighted.

26th Feb '09

Source : BBC Scotland News
-----------------------------

Hopes remain alive for golf plan
-----------------------------------

Business and community leaders believe a £40m golf project backed by Jack Nicklaus can be saved.

As revealed by BBC Scotland, administrators have been appointed at the FM Group of companies, including the developers behind the Ury plans.

As well as a golf course, the plans include a hotel, 230 houses and the redevelopment of historic Ury House.

Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef) said it was confident there would be no shortage of interest.

Acsef development manager Rita Stephen said: "With Trump International Golf Links Scotland and Paul Lawrie's development at Blairs, coupled with all our other spectacular golf courses, Aberdeen City and Shire has become established as an attractive global golf tourism destination.

"Acsef is confident that the administrators will not be short of interest in the Ury site and proposed golf development following the disappointing news about FM Developments.

"Having attracted Jack Nicklaus, this attractive site is ideal for a major golf development and represents a compelling opportunity for another developer."

'Strong support'

BBC Scotland revealed the company had gone into administration on Wednesday evening.

Joint administrator Fraser Gray said they were firmly committed to exploring the future options available.

He said: "This development has received strong support from local stakeholders and, with this in mind, we will be assessing the best way forward over the coming weeks."

Seven companies in the Edinburgh-headquartered FM Group were taken into joint administration by Fraser Gray, Elizabeth Mackay and Anne O'Keefe, of international recovery specialist Zolfo Cooper.

They were FM Herald Building; FM Granton; FM Property and Leisure; FM Developments; FM Commercial; FM St Vincent St and FM Homes.

Fraser Gray and Elizabeth Mackay were also appointed joint administrators over a further three companies in the FM Group.

They were FM City Quay Dundee; RPH Kennoway and RPH Libberton.

Sometimes there's a fine line between planning and plotting...........
A suburb of Glasgow had a new housing estate (or scheme as they're called up here) built recently.
The homes are council houses, built to high standards and very attractive given the delapilated state of the older council estates, flats and tower blocks that surround them.
It was noticed that near completion, contractors were fitting some of the houses with invalid or safety items like ramps, stairlifts, handrails and alarms etc etc.

A local lady who had lived high up in a tower block for 20 odd years, the tower block is earmarked for demolition in the future but the time for discussing re-housing with the council had not yet been reached.
Impressed with the new nearly finished and empty council houses, she visited the city council offices after making an appointment. She asked about the new houses and if she could go on a list to get one of them.
It was explained to her that the houses had been built to house migrant workers, mainly Polish. Because the houses had already been allocated to the foreign families, and the council had been made aware of families with elderly or disabled family members. The council knew which houses to adapt to cater for their needs.

I wonder if they will be able to buy their council houses within the same rules as other tenants?

I expect the old lady went home disappointed and probably a little dissilusioned. To climb all those flights of stairs - because the lift was broken.

I've agonised over this kind of situation for years, and i still can't think of an answer i'm happy with.
I love, and value, the wild open hills and glens, but let's not forget that many were full of people a few hundred years ago. Mans greed emptied the glens, and mans greed will fill them again, if there is money to be made.

You can't expect local people to reject the chance of employment, especially nowadays. It's all too easy to sit back from a distance and say nothing should be allowed to 'spoil' beautiful areas. If you have a nice income, money in the bank, and a comfortable lifestyle, it's easy to take the moral high ground. The reality of life for a large proportion of Scots is somewhat different.
If you are unemployed, a wage to feed your family is more important to you.

If we as a nation are serious about protecting wild places, then money has to be spent. Jobs will have to be 'created' for locals within these areas, that are in tune with the area. Maybe some legislation is needed on second homes, and the employing of incomers over locals. Some small villages are turning into retirement villages for the wealthy, as the young are forced out.
Do we really want the highlands to be a giant park for the wealthy retired, while the young and the poor somehow get by on the margins, or are pushed out to the industrial areas?

Some joined up thinking is needed by cleverer minds than mine.

Not clever minds Mike

Logical and ethical would surfice

It's a real problem Mike but if you consider that the likes of Rothiemurchus Estate, a 'traditional' highland estate now run on conservation grounds, is the biggest employer in Aviemore then you begin to realise that there are jobs in conservation. I'm not altogether sure that I go along with the argument that the highlands are losing people because of lack of jobs etc. Inverness is one of the UK's boom towns, Aviemore is exploding too fast for its own good in terms of housing developments and in my own village of Newtonmore tiny plots of land are seeling fast - and it's not all retired people buying them. My own son and daughter in law have chosen to move back to the highlands and so have many of their friends. Also, very few people nowadays want to live in isolated cottages far away from services so I've no doubt the wild places will remain wild, if the windfarm developers aren't stopped...

Rothiemurchus is a good example Cameron. More places should follow suit. When i said the highlands are losing people, i should have said the rural areas.:)

Having tasted unemployment in my life, it's not very pleasant. I'm very aware that when i protest at certain developements going ahead, it is real peoples jobs we're talking about. I try to think long and hard about each case. Windfarms in non industrial areas will always be a no-no as far as i'm concerned. They create virtually no long term jobs, and the minuses well outnumber the positives in my opinion.

As an example, not that long ago, country-side rangers were employed by the 'Parks Department' of my local council. Folk that had an interest in this area applied for the jobs. They were employed by the council, and were paid on a similar scale as gardeners, etc. Now you need a degree in Zoology to get the same job. Local folk have no chance. I think changes have to be made along these lines. Maybe positive discrimination, so a young local person can get the job? I don't blame individuals themselves, but nearly every ranger i meet, wether from the National Parks, SNH, etc., seem to be an incomer.

The issue of jobs for locals has to be issued in these areas, or the conflict over man versus the environment will become worse.

Whatever happened to apprenticeships ??

I saw a great documentary, a good few years back on 'lost arts' in the countryside

It focused on thatch roofing, dry stone walling etc and it appears to be a 'dying' trade

Commonsense would dictate to create jobs via apprenticeships and keep these trades going,

NOT rocket science to work that out