Portobello Labour councillors get all marquess of queensberry

“The picture above will help you to cast your mind back a couple of weeks to before the election. They were in love. It is Maureen Child’s election leaflet. Notice the “VOTE for Maureen Child AND David Walker”. Where did it all go wrong. Does Portobello just rip people apart?

It seems veteran Labour councillor Maureen Child and incoming newbie (the incredibly dodgy slimeball) David Walker are lining up for a fight. History tells us that Maureen Child wants Portobello High School built anywhere as long as it is built. She was part of the administration who suggested building the school on Portobello golf course, selling off the land which is currently called Portobello Park to a developer to build flats to pay for the school. The council (Aitken, Perry, Child, Jobson) went as far as informing a huge meeting at Portobello High School (where Cllr. Child was in attendance) that they had already purchased a new piece of land at Brunstane to build a new golf course – this was of course lies – they were trying to sell a piece of high value green space to pay for the school and although they had identified a piece of land, there had been absolutely ZERO negotiations with the owner to buy the land and build a golf course. So we know just how much Cllr. Childs wants the school on the park.

Imagine our surprise when one of our co-conspirators led us to a link where Cllr. Child’s fellow Portabelly councillor, Slimeball Walker, is putting all the work she has put in for her wee followers on PFANS into question. Cllr. Walker (you have no idea how it sticks in our stomachs calling this twat councillor) has written an email to the court-junkies over at PPAG supporting them:

Thanks for your email regarding Portobello High School. As I said at the Hustings meeting in Portobello Town Hall on Wednesday 25th April, I believe that PPAG should go forward with their appeal and allow the judicial system to make the decision regarding the legalities of building on the Park. As I also said, I am unhappy about the way PPAG members have been ostracised for their stance and the way that the Council and certain elected members have created divisions within the Portobello community. This is a ploy used by Council Officials when they want to push something through and a practice they have used in many communities over many years. Indeed, my colleagues and I were subjected to much the same treatment for opposing flawed regeneration proposals for Craigmillar.

I believe much of the current hostility and disagreement could have been prevented, if the City Council had undertaken a proper consultation on this matter and allowed local people to contribute to the process at an earlier stage, rather than when the site for the new school was decided and they were presented with a fate accompli. For example, I would like to have seen the local community involved in looking at all the potential sites for the school and through this process people could have developed a greater understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of all the sites identified. As far as I am aware, this did not happen and could have prevented the much of the current difficulties.

If all the alternative sites did prove to be unsuitable and Porty Park was the only feasible place for the school to go then I believe the community would have understood the decision and accepted it a bit more easily. If the Park is the only feasible place for the school, and that’s a big if, then I would have hoped the Council could have been a bit more creative and looked at a better position for the school, rather than positioning it on the A1, one of the busiest roads in the City.

In terms of addressing your question, I have always been opposed to building on green space and always will be. We have lost more than 10 football parks in the Portobello/Craigmillar ward over recent years and we would have lost even more if the Council’s property development company, EDI, had not been stopped (by a local campaign, which I was involved in) from building houses on Cairntows park in Craigmillar.

There is no doubt Portobello needs a new school, as the current building is no longer fit for purpose. My Daughter went to Portobello and my son currently attends the school, so I am fully aware of the need for improved educational facilities, but I don’t believe we should have to sacrifice our green/recreational space to achieve this. I believe that Porty Park may have been the least costly option for the Council, rather than necessarily the best site.’

The labour supporters in PFANS are beside themselves. It is so bad, rumour is that the Dalriada Drunk has even stopped drooling over Epykat, Seanie is going to refrain from putting his empty Rice Crispies packets in council recycling bins any more and of course their gopher, the Portly Porty, who spouts whatever they tell him, is wondering where his next 10,000 calories are coming from. Where will it all end.

The other Portobello councillor, the obese SNP’s Mike (Swan Vestas) Bridgeman, will be laughing so much his fat will thumping off the floor. Of course everyone in those parts knows he will tell you what you want to hear to your face and then go behind your back if there is a buck in it.

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