The ambition and drive

Published 14 Sep 2011 12:00 5 Comments

I THANK your reader Mrs Starrett for her comment that I am doing a good job as council leader - 'Let us try and be adults about this' - in the Telegraph on 9 September.

It is pleasing to know that my efforts are appreciated by someone.

I have to confess my comments about Councillor Nelson's bridge idea were rather tongue-in-cheek and were first published on my blog.

They were not really meant to be treated seriously and most people I have spoken to saw the funny side.

However, if we are to be serious for a moment - I doubt very much if a proposal to build a bridge across the Clyde from Gourock to Dunoon will be featuring in Labour's manifesto for next year's council elections.

Nor do I suspect will it be featuring in the SNP Government's legislative or capital programmes any time soon.

At a conservative estimate, a bridge over the Clyde from Gourock to Dunoon would cost £2 billion.

If the Scottish Government has £2bn to spare - which they don't - for the benefit of the people of Inverclyde and the Cowal Peninsula, I can think of many other, more important things to do with it.

To be fair to Councillor Nelson, I am sure even he accepts that his idea is rather ambitious.

However, I am all for ambition.

Although perhaps mine is more limited than Councillor Nelson's, as Mrs Starrett alludes to, and focused on the here and now.

I am ambitious to provide our children and young people with better schools so they can realise their potential.

I am ambitious for everyone in Inverclyde to live in a warm and affordable home that suits their needs.

I am ambitious to provide quality and affordable sport and leisure facilities for people of all ages to enjoy.

I am ambitious to regenerate our waterfront and town centres to help make Inverclyde a place of choice.

I am ambitious to create training and employment opportunities so more people, who are able to, can experience the dignity of work.

I am ambitious to provide high quality public services so people who rely on these services - particularly the most vulnerable in our community - can live fulfilling lives.

I may not be a big ideas man such as Councillor Nelson, but I do know how to get things done.

It is for others to decide who is better equipped to lead the council.

STEPHEN McCABE, Labour Councillor, Ward 1

Tweet

This letter appeared in Greenock Telegraph 14 Sep 11

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  Tiddles
  1077 posts
  Sep 20, 21:35
  Report comment

  I don't think this guy could be more smug if he tried. and if he is so ambitious to provide better schools, why did his pals allow the Clydeview fiasco to happen. As to Cllr Nelson, I think no matter what he said that day would have been distorted and misrepresented by this journal. If he had been a Labour councillor, anything he said would have come as from the Oracle at Delphi! I thought McCabe would be an improvement over the Undertaker but na, same old, same old.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 10     No 0

• 

  myfindhorn
  278 posts
  Sep 22, 22:35
  Report comment

  Well there is nothing like fluffing your own feathers. As my auld granny used to say ,SELF PRAISE IS NO HONOR. There are nearly 2 generations of unemployed in this town and just yesterday I heard about a job as a receptionist going in the hospital with 200 applicants.
  
  How ambitious and far sighted has anyone got to be to realise that fantasy and reality does exist in Inverclyde only the council live in fantasy, we the people pay with hard earned reality.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 7     No 0

• 

  ColinMacDonald
  31 posts
  Oct 18, 13:53
  Report comment

  Yes, two generations of unemployed in Greenock.. and what did McCabe's Labour party do to stop Thatcher's scorched earth policy? Nothing. Feeble Fifty anyone?
  
  Recommend?   Yes 5     No 0

• 

  Kildrummy
  5 posts
  Oct 26, 19:19
  Report comment

  We need a change in Inverclyde.
  
  McCabe needs a reality check from the people of Inverclyde come the next elections - use your vote tactically and get rid of the lot of them... A new room full of councillors with no experience couldn't do and worst than the mob we have in at the moment.
  
  No vision, no strategy and no idea!
  
  Recommend?   Yes 6     No 0

• 

  dirtydingus1
  1 post
  Nov 22, 12:58
  Report comment

  At least something in Inverclyde is healthy, our councillors ego.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 3     No 0

Post a comment

Comments posted in the evening, through the night and at weekends will be queued for moderation as we do not have moderators available outwith office hours.

Your Comment:

Registered users log in here

Username or email

Password

You must be logged in to post. If you have not registered with us, please do so now.

Registration only takes a few minutes. Registered users do not have to complete word verification once logged in and can also take part in competitions and other registered user only features of the site.

Word Verification:
Enter the text as shown.

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our Opinion archives.

Follow @greenocktele