Postbag: Recycling, leisure prices, Covid legacy and more

To have your say on any topic of local interest, get in touch by emailing editorial@greenocktelegraph.co.uk with 'Postbag' in the subject line of your email.

Shocking attitude to rubbish

I went round to the recycling area at Lynedoch Street recently with a bag of items to be recycled, only to discover loads of stuff sticking out of the top of the container which was certainly not for recycling.

Into the bargain, there was no lid on the container. I spoke to the enforcement officer, who happened to be there at the time, and I asked if there was any way the recycling container could be moved to a smaller area, perhaps to cut down on the amount of waste which is currently strewn here, there and everywhere on that expanse of ground. The one bin currently sitting there is completely lost in the midst of an array of household items.

Let’s just pause and give a thought to the council workers who have to clear up the mess made by others, whether they like it or now. I would just like to thank them and let them know that the work they do is appreciated.

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It seems the attitude of the minority is “och, well, someone else will do it, I’m not caring”.

What an attitude to have. I’m not saying everybody does that - far from it, it’s just the few who think they can get away with it.

Well, I’m afraid not. As long as the council has CCTV installed, look out. You could win the first prize of a £500 penalty.

If you do, I hope you’ve learned your expensive lesson.

Evelyn Goodridge, Hope Street, Greenock

‘Leisure price is not good value’

I’d like to respond to the recent letter from the Chief Executive of Inverclyde Leisure (Tele Postbag, October 25) regarding the high prices charged by his organisation.

He claims that Inverclyde Leisure offers good value. I just don’t agree with this.

If a local person wishes to access the Waterfont gym, the Greenock Sports Centre gym, the Gourock gym, or the Kilmacolm gym at Birkmyre Park, then their monthly cost is £39.99 per month. This is more than double the cost to access any gym run by Renfrewshire Council.

How do I know this? I called and asked their gym membership department based in the Waterfront Leisure Centre.

READ MORE: Revealed - the high cost of accessing leisure facilities in Inverclyde

I was told by them that the only way to get a cheaper monthly price was to not use my local gym (Greenock Sports Centre), and instead drive to the discount gym they run at Lady Octavia.

Renfrewshire Council allows access to any of their gyms, at any time of the day or night, for £197 per year. To do the same in Inverclyde it costs £439.89 per year.

Clearly the chief executive of Inverclyde Leisure has a very different view of what offers good value for those who simply wish to access their local gyms.

Craig Wilson, Greenock

New rules for winter fuel payment

I have been contacted by many constituents regarding the new rules for the Winter Fuel Payment.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that it will follow the UK Labour Government in no longer providing winter fuel payments to all pensioners.

Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced new eligibility rules for the Winter Fuel Payment on July 29, 2024, which restricted the payment to pensioners who are eligible for Pension Credit, Universal Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or income-related Employment and Support Allowance.

Responsibility for the Winter Fuel Payment was set to be transferred to the Scottish Government in September and replaced with the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment, a single annual payment worth between £100 and £300. This benefit has now been pushed back to winter 2025.

The Labour government's decision to make the Winter Fuel Payment a means-tested benefit has been widely criticised. (Image: PA) The SNP Government’s decision to follow Labour’s abolition of the universal winter fuel payment is a hammer blow to many Inverclyde pensioners. The SNP could have chosen not to implement these measures, but instead, they opted to pass the costs onto Inverclyde pensioners and dishonestly pretended they had no choice in the matter.

Scottish Conservative MSPs continue to scrutinise the Scottish Government over this decision and stand up for Scottish pensioners who should not see their fuel payments cut this winter because of the SNP’s inept mismanagement of Scotland’s economy.

Councillor Graeme Brooks (Conservative, Inverclyde North)

‘Not clear picture of Labour’

AS far as I can see, Isobel Delussy’s letter (‘Local election is important’, Tele Postbag, October 30) contains three messages for voters.

These are: first, only residents of Gourock should represent Gourock; secondly, Councillor Quinn needs support; and, although un-stated, the third message is quite clear, don’t vote Labour.

Gourock voters will decide for themselves what stance they take on these issues. but it is worth under-lining that it was a Labour council which built every new primary and secondary school in Gourock. 

Voters in Gourock go to the polls on November 7. It was a Labour council which invested in Gourock’s leisure facilities. Again, it was a Labour council which invested £2 million in anti-poverty initiatives.

I do not write this from any animus towards Ms Delussy. In fact, I know that she was a very good and committed head teacher in Greenock. But, possibly accidentally, her letter misrepresents Inverclyde Labour.

Martin Brennan (Former Provost of Inverclyde)

The public needs to know the truth on Covid

Prior to Covid I was a qualified nurse for several years and had become a Unite rep due to the amount of bullying, targeting and intimidation I felt was being shown by the NHS and its partnership organisations towards its staff and in particular whistleblowers.

Quite frankly, I was heartily sick of what I believed to be cover-ups to suffice public sector arrogance. 

During Covid I witnessed some of the most dreadful things. As a union rep I was also being informed of practices that I knew did not work in line with the law. 

The law encompasses two areas, common and legislative. Common is crimes such as murder and rape, and legislative is governed by the legislation that it adheres to. However, during Covid the law appeared to be superseded by nonsensical guidance that was being driven through by those in power.

Health staff came under enormous pressure during the pandemic. (Image: Andrew Milligan/PA Wire) Scottish Government guidance should have automatically been superseded by law, but sadly this wasn't the case. This led to many unethical practices and duly led to staff being told that surgical masks would actually protect them against an airborne deadly virus. 

Throughout our lives, our mother would tell us that a cough produced an aerosol and that aerosol had to be caught by a tissue and placed in a bin. However, when Covid arrived, no one appeared to know what a cough was or how it actually spread.

To be honest, I still find this hard to comprehend. When I asked what a cough was, those in authority would tell me what a cough wasn't, but did not appear to know what it was. 

The trotted-out spiel was "a cough is not an aerosol generated procedure", but failed to note exactly what a cough was or how it spread. That put the workforce at huge risk.

I was the only union representative in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde who raised 22 grievances regarding how badly Covid was managed. None of these were upheld and the usual language was trotted out. No one to blame here, as we are working in line with guidance, or simply, "move on, we are not here to speak of this". 

In March 2023, I made the decision to report the government to the police for corporate manslaughter. I also reported many public sector organisations and their oversight bodies, for "art and part" under the Criminal Procedure Scotland Act 1995. I requested that the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain, was not involved in any way. I also wrote to Ms Bain outlining my concerns about her dual role as a government minister. 

I also put information into the Scottish Covid inquiry and yet when my statement were finally agreed and submitted, I was removed only days before taking the stand, and only two hours after the submissions were made. 

The public need to know the truth. They deserve to know the truth and I am now hopeful this the truth will emerge. The police have taken a huge amount of evidence from me, and have now come back a third time, requesting more. 

Given the evidence that has already been submitted, two statements, more than 100 emails and more than 60 productions, I was somewhat shocked when they wanted further documentation. 

Such information also encompasses what happened to my mother during Covid, and the trajectory which led to the end of her life. 

People lost so much and in so many different ways. We have to ensure that those in authority work in line with the law if we are faced with yet another crisis. We can’t simply revert back to nonsensical guidance which can’t be backed up by messages because they are all deleted. Such actions put us all at risk and accountability remains nowhere to be found. 

I thought I had seen morally questionable behaviour at its worst when I was the union rep at Ravenscraig Hospital, but this was on another level.

Lesley Roberts, Greenock