Window on the Past

A concerned councillor claimed that cowboy salesmen would be free to sell dodgy goods in Strathkelvin - if the area’s new council wasn’t allocated more consumer watchdogs.

Strathclyde Regional Council planned to transfer just three of their 97 Trading Standards staff to work on the new East Dunbartonshire council.

Their responsibilities were to include looking into consumers’ gripes and investigating allegations of shoddy goods.

But Councillor Alex Hannah claimed more officers were needed to provide an efficient service.

He feared that more conmen would circulate in the area, in the belief that it would be difficult for them to be caught.

He said: “Unless this situation is resolved quickly, we cannot offer the public the proper level of protection from shoddy and dangerous goods.

“We’ve all seen evidence of the dangers these traders can cause to the public.

“Recently we’ve seen cases involving exploding lighters, pirate videos and dangerous toys, to name only a few.

“It is crucial for the safety of this area that we have an adequately staffed, Trading Standards team.”

Each of the new councils were to receive money from Central Government funds to pay the wages of staff transferred from other authorities.

The councils could opt to take on new staff in addition to the transferred staff.

15 YEARS AGO

A furious resident of the Woodhill Estate in Bishopbriggs had hit out at the behaviour of local kids, who were causing a litter problem in the area.

The woman who had been a resident of Bishopbriggs for 35 years claimed that the problem was so bad, she was embarrassed to admit living in the area.

She said: “I am just absolutely disgusted with the litter being left on the streets by these kids. There has to be something done about it.

“It’s not only that, but if you take issue with the kids and maybe ask them to pick the litter up, their reaction is terrible. They don’t think twice about giving you a mouthful of bad language.

“I have lived in Bishopbriggs for a large part of my life, but it has now reached the stage where I am actually ashamed to say I stay here.”

A spokesperson for East Dunbartonshire Council said: “Council staff clean the Woodhill Estate area on a regular basis to keep it clean and safe. Unfortunately, the problem of litter comes about through the careless actions of people with no regard for their environment or their neighbours.

“The Council tries to encourage the young as well as the not so young to be more responsible with their litter in any public area, and to have some regard for their local surroundings.

“All specific complains about accumulations of litter in any public area should be reported.”

10 YEARS AGO

Calls had been made to make Kirkintilloch worthy of the title ‘Canal Capital of Scotland’.

A number of readers had contacted the Herald to say they were embarrassed by the amount of litter and junk being dumped in the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Glass and plastic bottles, fast food containers, tyres, plastic bags, footballs, tennis balls, traffic cones, old prams, road signs and even a bin were all found in the water or piled up on the canal bank during an inspection.

Residents wanted British Waterways or East Dunbartonshire Council to come up with a solution and for people to stop treating the canal like a dump.

Tommy Lawson, vice-chairman of the Forth and Clyde Canal Society, said: “This stuff is not put there by British Waterways. It is put there by residents of East Dunbartonshire.

“You can go out there with volunteers, clean the place until it is spotless, then go back a few days later and it is like you hadn’t done a thing.

“It’s disgusting to see sometimes and even worse when you consider how much importance has been placed on the canal in terms of tourism in the future.

“There are certain people in Kirkintilloch who are to blame, there is no question about that. Unfortunately, it all stems back to education from parents.

“More people need to learn that it’s not that difficult to put litter in a bin.”