Afghanistan good news.

Good news from Afghanistan: democracy is taking root



I am going to try and focus on good positive news, for my own satisfaction if nothing else.

Renfrew Ferry

Further to my previous post on the ferry, here are some reactions to this:

Political co-operation will be needed to save the essential Renfrew Ferry service



Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) is a board composed of the west of Scotland councils, including Renfrewshire. The 29-member board has 20 elected councillors on it, 12 of whom are Labour, including the chair and two vice-chairs. If that board decides to scrap the Renfrew/Yoker Ferry, it will be at hands of the majority Labour membership (“Renfrew Ferry could be sunk by budget cuts”, The Herald, January 14).

For the forthcoming financial year, SPT is proposing a freeze to council grant requisitions. Therefore, there will be no change in the grant from councils. That could change if the board so wishes. Renfrewshire pays its way to subsidise regional transport and would expect its essential ferry service at Renfrew to continue. I am appalled at the handing of this by a body of which our council is supposed to be a constituent part.

SPT has picked the wrong target in proposing to scrap the Renfrew Ferry: it is not a luxury, it is an essential service.

The SPT is chaired by a Glasgow Labour councillor, Alastair Watson, and is dominated by Labour members. The decision to save the ferry is with Labour, and I hope its members listen. They have the flexibility to save it if they so choose.

We will be working hard to support the ferry service. We will also make clear the voting record from the SPT decision meeting on January 22 – then people will see who is responsible for putting this centuries-old service in danger.



Derek Mackay,

SNP Leader, Renfrewshire Council,

Renfrewshire House, Cotton Street, Paisley.
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I am appalled the Labour-led Strathclyde Partnership for Transport is considering axing the Renfrew Ferry (Evening Times, January 13).



Only last year it was agreed that an alternative option of a bridge at this site was unaffordable and SPT said it planned to bring in a new ferry to service this route. So what has happened since then?

Councillor Alistair Watson, SPT chairman, has been vociferous in his attacks on the SNP government for cancelling the Glasgow Airport Rail Link and, in a moment of political spite has decided to attack SNP-controlled Renfrewshire Council by removing the Renfrew Ferry service.

SPT is dominated by Labour councillors and this decision will be seen as Labour attacking a vital public service.

As for the comments by MPs Jim Murphy and Jim Sheridan, instead of trying to blame someone else for this decision, why don’t they hold up their hands and admit that if there is a funding problem it is entirely due to the economic incompetence of the UK Labour government.

Mags MacLaren, Paisley
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Is anyone prepared to believe that this veiled threat is just another anti SNP ruse by Murphy and the New Labour Unionist Party cabal in Glasgow to try and undermine the SNP? I am.

Scotland and her people are the very last thing this new Labour gang think of. All that matters to them is there dogmatic view of Scotland that creates deprivation in some parts of Glasgow worse than some East European countries. Stalin would be proud of them.

I worked on the river about 9 years ago and every year the threat hung over the ferry. The staff them selves have put forward ways to increase the use of this ferry, but they were caught up in the same political bawbaggery that The Pride of the Clyde was. Glasgow do not want to do anything that gives service to Renfrew as they are sore at losing the battle to have the Braehead shopping centre included within the Glasgow boundary. With some justification as the City boundary cuts through Braehead.

The scheme that the staff put forward included running a triangular route which would go from Yoker to Braehead, to Renfrew, in rotation. During busy times that would maybe require both boats, and would need upgrading work done at Braehead and refitted boats. Research done by staff amongst passengers found that everyone was in favour as for one thing you could then go from Clydebank to Braehead in 20 minutes instead of the journey of over an hour if you use public transport at the moment. So more revenue for the ferry, and more jobs on the river. OK, SPT subsidise the ferry, they also subsidise bus and train routes.

Glasgow's cooncilors will be more concerned with their subsidised canteen and tea trolly.

It was similar to a scheme that staff were being asked for on The Pride of The Clyde, with commuters asking to be transported from Braehead into the City and back five days a week, Co-operation was not forth coming from Glasgow and the owner was so sickened he sold the boat to Loch Katrine.

So now we have no Waterbus on the river and possibly no Renfrew Ferry, for no other reason than to satisfy the ego's of bloody minded self serving pygmy politicians. Most cities would welcome such a river as The Clyde flowing into the centre of the city but no, not Glasgow's pygmies.

Renfrew Ferry.

Jim Murphy along with the rest of the New Labour shop stewards has to be one of the most negative sneering politicians ever to be seen in Scotland. His title Seceretary of State for Scotland, is like his office a joke. He works against Scotland. All he can do now is sniff around looking for any negative spin he can put on stories. He could not care less about Glasgow or the Renfrew Ferry. He just cannot see what an arse he is.




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Bid launched to save ferry

Vivienne Nicol


Published on 14 Jan 2010

A campaign has been launched to save the historic Renfrew Ferry from being scrapped in a bid to save cash.

Yesterday the Evening Times revealed Strath­clyde Partnership for Transport is considering shutting down the service in a move which would save £430,000 a year.

Within hours of our story appearing, the proposal had been raised at Scottish Questions in Westminister by Jim Sheridan, Labour MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire North.

He called on Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy to bring up the issue with the Holyrood Government.

Jim Murphy responded by accusing the SNP of abandoning another west of Scotland transport project. Labour are already furious with the SNP over the cancellation of the Glasgow Airport rail link.

Mr Murphy said: “As with the Glasgow Airport Rail Link they just don’t care.”

Mr Sheridan said he and fellow Labour MP John Robertson, who represents Glasgow North West, are worried about the impact on jobs if the ferry goes. He added: “A lot of my constituents use the ferry to get to their jobs and to go across the river to the BAE Systems shipyard.

“John Robertson and myself will try and speak to SPT spelling out the consequences if this ferry is taken off.”

The SNP responded to the criticism by accusing Labour of hypocrisy. Glasgow MSP Bill Kidd said: “There can be no doubt the fate of the Renfrew Ferry lies in Labour’s hands.”

A spokeswoman for the transport authority, which owns and operates the ferry, said no decision has been made on the future of the service.