NEWS RELEASE – More green space under threat

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

Embargoed until 2pm, Monday 24 May, 2004

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY ? MSP visiting the site with local residents.
Meet 2pm, Monday 24 May, at Tchai-ovna tearoom, Otago Lane, Glasgow.

GREEN MSP’s ANGER AT PLANS TO BUILD FLATS BY RIVER KELVIN

Green MSP Patrick Harvie will today (Mon 24 May) meet
residents and business owners who are battling to prevent a
block of flats being built in an Outstanding
Conservation Area along the River Kelvin in Glasgow?s West End.

Mr Harvie believes the proposal to build 22 brightly coloured
flats and a restaurant at 2-10 Gibson Street will destroy the
beauty of the locality and jeopardise the future of small
nearby businesses.

The MSP will visit the area with local residents and business owners at 2pm today.

Mr Harvie said, ?The proposal to build a modern block of flats
on this site is ludicrous. The appearance of the proposed
building is in no way in keeping with the surrounding properties.
It will completely obliterate the wild foliage along the river
Kelvin and impact severely on the small, independently owned
businesses on Otago Lane.?

Mr Harvie is concerned that local people remain oblivious to
the plans. He explained, ?There has been no adequate
consultation with local residents on the proposed development.
Those living nearby, including residents living in the
?sensitive? streets alongside the site, have received no
official notification of the application.

?Planning is being sought for construction work to be
undertaken for more than 12 hours per day. This will
impact on the quality of life for local residents
through out the construction period and, as referred to above,
have serious implications for the survival of local businesses.?

The local businesses that will be effected include
an antique bookshop, a clock menders, antique shop and Russian
tearoom. Mr Harvie believes that the bohemian nature and
historic beauty of the area will be spoilt by the development.
The MSP is also concerned by the developer?s efforts to seek
vehicular access to the site through Otago Lane and Gibson
Street. He explained, ?This is an already heavily congested area
that could not support an increased volume in traffic.?
ENDS
For more information contact Fiona Barnes, Support worker to
Patrick Harvie MSP on 0141 332 6405 / 07962 042474 or the Green Group Press Office on 0771 761 8771.

Notes to Editor
The planning application can be viewed at Development and
Regeneration Services, Glasgow City Council, 229 George St.
Patrick?s objection is attached below

Patrick?s objection letter is available for download here.

To speak to a local business, please contact Martin Fell at Tchai-ovna tearoom on 0141 357 4524)

Euro election – Candidate in Partick

SCOTTISH GREEN PARTY – EUROPEAN ELECTION 2004

Embargoed not for release until 7.00am SAT 22 MAY 2004

GREEN MSP AND GREEN MEP CANDIDATES JOIN ACTIVISTS PROTESTING PARTICK RECYCLING FIASCO (PHOTO OPPORTUNITY)

Top Scottish Green Party European List candidate, Chas Booth will join Patrick Harvie MSP, Green MSP for Glasgow and Glasgow Green MEP candidates led by local resident Dr. Martin Bartos at the site of a recently closed recycling facility in Partick.

“What’s happened here is a disgrace which is turning into farce” said local resident Martin Bartos, “Safeway, soon to be Morrisons, blames the Council for not keeping the site cleared. The Council points at Morrisons saying it’s an excuse and that recycling facilities have been removed from Morrisons sites in Edinburgh, Aberdeen city and elsewhere.

“The real story is that when they stopped the recycling, Morrisons showed they didn’t care much for the environment and the Labour Council hasn’t ever taken recycling seriously around here.

“I’ve heard the Labour Council blame the Labour-LibDem Scottish Executive for not providing funding to support door step recycling and I believe they say it’s up to the Council. What we need is joined up green thinking to make door step recycling a reality and supermarkets to commit to reducing waste and recycling the rest.”

MEP candidate Chas Booth added: “The European Elections are an opportunity for people to make their voices heard over recycling and waste. Europe directs the standards for such things as recycling of equipment and packaging. On June 10th we need to send Scottish Green MEPs to Brussels to campaign for raising waste reduction and recycling standards Europe-wide.”

“Scotland is currently bottom of the European recycling league table with more than 90% of waste going into landfill sites. We are pushing for a ‘Zero Waste’ policy across Europe which would halve the amount of waste sent to landfill/incineration every five years.”

After protesting at the recycling facilities, the European Candidates will join shoppers at the local Farmer’s Market held in Partick.

PHOTO OPPORTUNITY
10:30am, beside Safeway shopping centre near Partick Underground Station, Saturday 22 May. Activists will construct a mock recycling centre in protest at the withdrawal of recycling facilities.

CONTACT: Press Office 07887 682 574

/Release ends

NEWS RELEASE – ID cards

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release, Friday 21 May, 2004

GREEN MSP JOINS DEMO AGAINST ID CARDS

Green Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie this morning urged Glasgow residents to boycott the ID card pilot as Des Browne, junior Home Office minister, visited the office where the project will be run.

Mr Harvie, Green Speaker on Justice, and demonstrators from Defy-ID Glasgow, a newly-formed group opposing the project, greeted Mr Browne as he arrived at the DVLA office in West Campbell St. The pilot is one of several across the UK. Greens oppose the project because it threatens civil liberties and is technologically unworkable with massive costs for the tax-payer.

Mr Harvie said, “The Government’s ID card scheme will be an over-priced, unworkable project with few benefits for the tax-payer and far too many risks to civil liberties. I’ve already committed myself to boycotting the scheme, and I call on other Glaswegians to do the same. The Home Office wants 10,000 volunteers to test the scheme ? but I am confident that far more people will actively defy it.

“The Government wants to move by stealth towards a compulsory biometric ID card, with citizens footing the bill, estimated at £1 ? 3 billion. To force 100% compliance with the card, they will have to introduce the 21st century equivalent of Pass Laws and the fining and imprisonment of vast numbers of people.”

As well as civil liberties implications, there are serious technical problems with the ID card scheme, since the biometrics to be tested (fingerprints, facial recognition and iris scanning) are all inaccurate and/or unreliable. In addition, the prospect of such a massive government IT project worries many in the IT industry, especially after fiascos such as the IT projects for the Passport Office and the Child Support Agency.

Mr Harvie said, “Several big government IT projects have turned into disasters, and this will suffer the same fate but on a much larger scale. Huge numbers of small offices all over the country, vast throughput of people, new technology being operated by non-expert staff ? if this goes ahead, it will cause chaos.”

ENDS

For further information call the Green Group Press Office on 0771 761 8771.

Speech from Children’s Hearing debate

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green):

I apologise to members for my late arrival to the debate. I am sorry to have missed the minister’s opening speech and the opening remarks from other parties.

I welcome the opportunity to be here, albeit late. The debate is surprisingly long and I hope that we all manage to keep going for the full day. The issue is important and I know that many organisations are keen to see us debate it properly. It is good to see that the review is taking place. Many of the organisations that I have been in contact with are keen and enthusiastic about the review, which they believe is long overdue.

I am afraid that I will begin with a few criticisms before I move to something a little more positive. My first criticism relates to some of Donald Gorrie’s comments on the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Bill. We have to look at the children’s hearings system and the bill in concert, because they impact on one another in many ways.

My main criticism is that the review is happening after the bill. If the Scottish Executive wants to open up dialogue and think creatively about how we intervene in the lives of young people who are at risk of abuse or harm, or those who are likely to offend or who are offending?often they are the same young people?it is clear that the review should have preceded the Antisocial Behaviour etc (Scotland) Bill. That applies not only to the review, but to reducing reoffending, alternatives to custody and a national youth work strategy. Those issues should have been considered first, because they are the supportive, creative and positive ways of addressing antisocial behaviour. If the Executive had done that, it would have been possible not just to create a better bill, but to gain broader support from the organisations that are criticising it.

My second criticism concerns public meetings. Members will know that it is not always easy to get wider participation in public meetings, but such meetings are an important aspect of the Executive’s consultation on the review. I inform the minister that my office spoke to a member of a children’s panel, whose day job involves working with a children’s organisation, who found out about the discussion event in her city only two days before it took place. If people who work in the field are not aware that public debates and discussions are taking place, that calls into question the seriousness with which the debates are being promoted. Given that debate and consultation are part of the Scottish Parliament’s and the Executive’s process, we must do a little better.

My third criticism of the Executive concerns the leak to the press, which other members have mentioned. The floating in the media, a few days before this debate, of the concept that a punitive approach may be pursued through a separate system is not an acceptable way in which to conduct the exercise.

Peter Peacock:

Patrick Harvie made it clear that he did not hear what I said, but I dealt with that matter explicitly. I make it clear that the press phoned my press office at the back-end of last week and were told unequivocally that there was nothing whatever in the story. They were then put in touch with the First Minister’s press spokesperson, who also said unequivocally and on the record that there was nothing whatever in the story. Despite that, The Herald chose to publish the story, in the full knowledge of what it had been told on the record and despite the fact that the story had no accuracy. The Executive has made its position clear?I wrote to The Herald the following day to do so. I have also written to the chair of the Scottish Association of Children’s Panels and to the chair of the Scottish Children’s Reporter Administration to make it clear that the Executive did not have a hand in the story and that we are the victim rather than the perpetrator of those actions.

Patrick Harvie:

That is reassuring. I apologise again for not being here at the beginning of the debate. However, I invite the minister or the deputy minister in summing up to go a little further and say not only that there is no such proposal, but that if one is produced it will be resisted. That would be a much stronger indication of the policy intention.

I turn to positive aspects of the consultation. The documents in the pack contain a lot of good stuff, such as the recognition that we need to improve links with communities and the sense of ownership that people have of the children’s hearings system. I agree with Scott Barrie’s comments about the concern that too much specialisation may mean that lay people come to be perceived as experts. I am glad that the issue of specialisation is raised in the consultation, but we must be cautious in considering it. The consultation also recognises that the wider family context of children who are in contact with the system must be taken into account and that young people should be involved in the work of the system. Of course, we also need to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions. I am glad that we will have the opportunity to feed in to the debates on those important aspects.

Throughout Scotland, there are strong advocates of the principles and values on which the system is based. They include people who work within the system and others who work in a wide range of youth and community organisations. Robert Brown mentioned Fairbridge?recently I visited that organisation’s Glasgow project and was impressed by its work, but it is only one of many such examples. I want to mention the dedicated and expert individuals who worked with NCH Scotland on the “Where’s Kilbrandon Now?” report. I am sure that all members have read and taken seriously that report, which makes a valuable contribution to the debate.

The consultation recognises that the system is old, that it was designed for the 1970s and that much has changed since then. Politicians may blame one another for the dramatic increase in child poverty, but ultimately, we must all take responsibility for tackling it. The drug culture has developed and changed dramatically since those days, although there have never been adequate services or humane policies on that issue. There has been a steady deterioration of communities, not only materially, but in human terms. As jobs, services and local life disappear, so does cohesiveness. There have been ever-increasing strains on public services such as social work and a deteriorating provision of youth work in many communities.

All those factors are root causes of both antisocial behaviour and some of the problems that the children’s hearings system faces. Those few irresponsible politicians?I am glad that they are few?who advocate an ever-more authoritarian line, with the terms “thugs” and “neds” peppered throughout, have little to worry about, because at no level in society are the root causes of the problems being addressed. Those politicians will always have the consequences of the problems to kick against for the sake of cheap tabloid headlines.

Letter to Evening Times

Brian Currie?s dismissal of the Greens? annual report (Holyrood Week, 7/5/4) completely missed the point. Of course, it does not have the standing of an independent review, but it was an honest self-assessment in an effort to increase accountability and transparency, crucial if we are to revive the public?s faith and interest in Scottish politics.

The report included details of how we have spent our share of tax-payers? money ? something other parties do not seem to be rushing to do – and acknowledges the lessons learnt since our election success a year ago.

With the report published, Brian (and everyone else) is able to examine our work and our arguments. We would welcome constructive criticism. Instant put-downs and ?aye right? cynicism is exactly what we want to get away from in politics, and why we rounded off our first year by reflecting on our own strengths and weaknesses instead of carping about other parties?.

Patrick Harvie, Green Glasgow MSP

NEWS RELEASE – Homeopathic hospital

GREEN MSP MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release, Tuesday 11 May, 2004

HARVIE BACKS HOMEOPATHIC HOSPITAL FACING CUTS

Green Glasgow MSP Patrick Harvie is aiming to help save beds at Scotland?s only homeopathic hospital after it emerged that the centre is facing cutbacks as part of cost-cutting plan by NHS Greater Glasgow.

Harvie is questioning whether plans to axe beds at the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital will save cash as those suffering long-term illnesses will have to continue to receive conventional treatment. He is calling on MSPs to back his parliamentary motion to prevent the cuts and urge the Scottish Executive to promote the availability of homeopathic care within the NHS (1).

Harvie said, ?This short-term approach will not serve NHS Greater Glasgow or its patients. The ?whole person? integrative approach that the Centre for Integrative Care provides addresses the needs of the individual and the root causes of illnesses, reducing the strain on NHS facilities elsewhere and often cutting the amount of prescription drugs the patient needs to take.

?It is ludicrous to cut facilities in a centre that provides treatment for patients with conditions that have not responded well to conventional medicine. Without these beds, patients will end up losing out on a form of health care that can bring results when other approaches have failed. To provide the best possible health care ? and balance the books ? I?m calling on NHS Greater Glasgow to reconsider this proposal.?

ENDS

For more information call the Green Group Press Office on 0131 348 6360.

1. Motion lodged in Scottish Parliament – S2M-1289 Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital – Centre for Integrative Care? That the Parliament acknowledges the unique service offered at the in-patient unit of the Centre for Integrative Care at Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital; recognises the value to patients and to the NHS that the ?whole person? integrative approach offers; expresses concern at the suggestion that this service will be closed as a result of funding cuts; believes that such a closure would result in the loss of an effective model of care and a consequent long-term increase in other health care costs, and urges the Scottish Executive to promote the availability of homeopathic care within the National Health Service.