West End Community Council

This evening I attended the March meeting of the West End Community Council. This was a very interesting meeting. There were two presentations during the meeting. The first was from Bob Kelly of Discovery Credit Union. I would urge anyone who lives or works in Dundee to consider joining the credit union. I think that Discovery Credit Union do an excellent job and it is important that they get the message across that credit unions are not only for the financially excluded.

My friend Rev Erik Cramb from the Dundee Access Group spoke about their project 'Hannah's Highway'. This is named after a young disabled person from the West End and calls for an exemplar route to be made available from the West End to the city centre which allows wheelchair users (and others) to make this journey without difficulty. Carole Craig who is Hannah's mother also spoke. They made a compelling case and I was happy to support the petition which they intend to submit to the Scottish Parliament. I will be encouraging others to sign this petition and support this campaign. This is an issue of fairness and equality and I think that even in these difficult economic times we need to look at investing in drop kerbs and other measures which would make life easier for disabled people.

There was also some discussion about a range of other issues facing the West End, for example I was able to report that the Chief Constable had stated that Tayside Police intend to have more Police Community Surgeries. The Community Council is always a good opportunity to listen to the concerns of local people, local representatives must listen to local people.