SOLIDARITY NEWS RELEASE 12 Dec 2007Nigg Compulsory Purchase essential to national renewable strategy, say Solidarity. The Solidarity party in the Highlands and Islands has welcomed the news that Highland Council will actively discuss pursuing a Compulsory Purchase Order for the so called ‘ransom strip’ holding back the sale of the Nigg Yard in the Cromarty Firth. The council will vote on a motion to pursue the CPO this Thursday, in case it is necessary to break the deadlock over the purchase of the yard, where there is wide agreement that the yard needs to be regenerated and used to its full potential. Solidarity say that the UK government announcement this week of a major shift to renewable offshore energy, following a major U-turn on climate change and renewable energy by government ministers, and the environmental necessity of constructing thousands of offshore wind turbines between now and 2020 means that it now becomes urgent that Highland Council and the Scottish Government act in council to develop a national renewables strategy and that areas like the Highlands, and in particular, the Cromarty Firth, do not lose out on a potential economic bonanza. “We have always argued that it is patent common sense to marry the facility at Nigg with the modular engineering skills of ex-oil fabrication workers to make Nigg a centre for renewable turbine production, and both combat climate change and regenerate the local economy at the same time,” said Steve Arnott, Solidarity’s Highland Spokesperson. “This would sit well with the Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s vision of Nigg as a multi-use facility employing up to 1100 people. Unfortunately, the row over the so-called ‘ransom strip’ has held back progress on this for far too long, and Highland Council are now absolutely right to consider a Compulsory Purchase Order to move the situation on. We hope that this week’s government announcement on increased renewables concentrates minds at both local and national government level on the future possibilities for this yard. ” Local campaigner and Secretary of Solidarity’s North Highlands branch, Liz Walker, from Alness said “As democratic green socialists our preference would be for a national publicly owned and controlled renewable energy company with a long term national renewables production strategy of which Nigg was a component part. However, what is important right now is that all supporters of Nigg and renewables production on the site come together to ensure that the potential here is not lost. By supporting a Compulsory Purchase Order for the so-called ‘ransom strip’ Highland council can break the deadlock and ensure the public sector has a key stake in what could be a huge potential development.”
SOLIDARITY NEWS RELEASE Affordable Homes campaign welcomes end in sight of right-to-buy as new figures show housing crisis worsening in Highlands Solidarity Highlands and Islands have welcomed the news released this week that the Scottish Government is to include a possible end to the right-to-buy for new build social housing in its housing review. Such a move, if approved, would encourage councils to build more council homes for rent in substantial numbers, one of the key aims in Solidarity’s campaign, and the move has been widely welcomed by a number of housing groups. Solidarity, who launched their Affordable Homes for All campaign in the Highlands a few weeks ago, say, however, that this move on its own will not be enough to deal with the growing housing crisis in the region over the next few years. Campaign Spokesperson, Steve Arnott, pointed to two sets of figures released last week that showed the housing crisis in the Highlands would get much worse before it was likely to get better. “Last week it was revealed that the average price of a new home to buy in the Inverness area had risen from around £153,000 to £172,000 in the last few years, making getting onto the so-called ‘property ladder’ for many workers and particularly young working folk with families. At the same time, research by a leading financial website had shown a 60% increase in the number of mortgage applications turned down across the UK as a result of Gordon Brown’s ‘credit crunch’. The unfortunate implication of this is that even more people in the Highlands will be finding it difficult to keep a secure and affordable roof over their heads. “As well as a moratorium on the right to buy for new social housing builds, the Westminster government under Gordon Brown MUST write off all Scottish Council historic housing debt immediately, releasing that money for new and improved council housing, and the new SNP Scottish Government must prioritise funding to councils for new council housing in its upcoming budget. Anything else is fiddling while Rome burns.” Mr. Arnott said the Affordable Homes campaign had no problem with people who had bought their own council houses in the past, but now was to the time to realise that the policy had been designed by Thatcherite ideologues whose prime interest had been in undermining the very concept of social housing. “There would be no problem with right to buy if it only applied to tenants of ten or twenty years standing, and if the money generated was used to build new affordable homes for rent. But the position we start from is one where there are over a dozen on the waiting list for every council property available and thousands more in unsuitable, insecure high cost private rented accommodation. It is long past time to act decisively on this issue or we face a second Highland Clearances as young people, and working families on average incomes are forced to leave the area simply to have a roof over their head.” 23.10.07 Issued by Highlands and Islands Solidarityc/o 77 Hilton CourtInverness Further info: ring Steve on 07876 268 144 Road Equivalent Tariff for Island Ferries ? On 13 Aug 2007, the SNP Executive announced a pilot study into RET. Welcome news for island residents and indeed for Solidarity. Socialists in the Western Isles have been pushing this policy to the top of the agenda since the millenium, when an organised socialist presence was first established in Stornoway. We linked up with the northern isles, took this idea to Region and then made it party policy. The clearest expression of RET emerged in the Solidarity manifesto of 2007. We were the first and only local organisation to make this a national policy. Road Equivalent tariff is about integrating island communities into the Scottish economy and addressing the obstacle presented by sea crossings. As the name suggests, it is about creating an economic bridge. It is not a new idea, and has been around for decades but is is an idea that requires a vision which places people before profit and does not fit comfortably with contemporary ideas about deference to the market. No matter who thought up the idea in the first place, it is very much a socialist concept. The proposed pilot scheme should be welcomed as a big step in the right direction but we have always argued that the case has already been proved in the Scandinavian model. Socialists in the Western Isles and Northern Isles took this issue to the streets on a regular basis whilst other parties have jumped on board only at election times. If the current initiative succeeds then socialists deserve the credit but if it fails then we have a duty to examine the credentials of the SNP. SOLIDARITY – NEWS RELEASE Time for decisive action on Nigg, say Solidarity. 14.08.07 
The Solidarity party has called for decisive action over the future of the mothballed Nigg yard facility on the eve of Highland Council’s latest Planning, Environment and Development Committee (meets Wednesday 15th August). Solidarity has called on Highland council and the new Scottish Executive to come together to carry out a compulsory purchase of the so called ‘ransom strip’ owned by the Wakelyn Trust which has held up the sale of the yard, and to throw their weight unequivocally behind Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s bid to take over the yard as a multi-use facility. Solidarity co-convenor Tommy Sheridan said “On the day that Alex Salmond launches a welcome national conversation on our constitutional future it is nothing less than a national disgrace that two years after CFPA registered a plan to take over this yard and create a thousand new and much needed skilled jobs in the Highlands, it still lies largely unused – all because the pecuniary interest of a private landowner and KBR are allowed to take precedence over jobs and the strategic national interest.” Solidarity revealed that a Freedom of Information request by its North Highlands branch to Highland Council revealed a lamentable lack of urgency on the issue, and showed that no correspondence or meetings with any Ministers had taken place on the issue since May. Solidarity also revealed that correspondence between its North Highlands branch and CFPA chairman, Jimmy Gray, showed CFPA still keen to take over the yard, despite the yards current owners KBR, a subsidiary of American multi-national giant Halliburton, switching its preferred bidder status to English based demolition company DSM in May of this year. Highlands Solidarity spokesperson Steve Arnott said “we are suspicious of this sudden switch in preferred bidder status and do not believe the future of a thousand skilled jobs and this key facility should be left to the vagaries of market forces. CFPA are a public sector, no shareholder, organisation who would be able to plough all profits from the yard back into new investment. Their commitment to develop Nigg as a multi-use facility, including the building of renewable turbines, could be of great assistance in the national strategic aim of reducing carbon emissions. “Solidarity calls upon Highland Council and the Scottish Executive to build a creative partnership with the CFPA to ensure the Nigg facility is reopened for business as soon as possible on a not-for-profit basis and as a key part of the national renewables drive. This should include the compulsory purchase of the so-called ‘ransom strip’ as soon as possible.” Issued by Solidarity, Highlands and Islandsc/o 77 Hilton Court for further info ring Steve Arnott on 07876 268 144 People power wins again in North - fourth victory for public services in Highlands in three years. The new SNP/Independent led Highland council have announced that, following a massive public campaign, they are abandoning plans to sell-off six public sector care homes to private investors. Instead, five new state of the art council owned and run care homes paid for through public sector borrowing are to be built to replace the existing aging provision. Although some of the fine detail remains unclear, this appears to be at major victory for acampaign for public ownership of public services that involved community campaigners, senior citizens, left councillors from across party groups, and in which organised socialists, first in the form of the SSP (before the split), and then Solidarity were critically involved. The previous council almost sneaked through the measure with very little publicity or opposition, but exposure by a sympathetic journalist, allied to a series of demos and stunts organised by socialists helped quickly build up massive public opposition to the plan. We were key - very much as in the anti-war campaign - to supplying the ideological opposition and arguments which were then taken up by wider layers. The issue was ubiquitous in the council election campaign - and post-election the council suddenly 'discovered' £1.9 million in its social work budget that had been missing from the original figures presented to the council. Solidarity have called for a public investigation. This is the fourth victory enjoyed by broad based people power style campaigns in the region for defence of public services in three years. Belford hospital in Lochaber was saved from rundown and potential closure by a massive united campaign in that area. Wick maternity services likewise. And of course, last year the sell-off of the council's housing stock was stopped in its tracks. The care homes victory, and previous victories over the testing of GM crops and environmentally friendly use of the Nigg Oil fabrication yard in Ross-shire mean that there is now almost an established tradition of winning campaigns in the area. With the exception of the Belford campaign, where the role of socialists was more peripheral - and even then we held a public meeting around the issue and Tommy Sheridan visited the beleaguered hospital - we have played an honourable, active and often strategic role in these campaigns and victories. The input of Solidarity members and supporters may well have been critical to the eventual successful outcomes. Buoyed by these successes, organised socialism, in the form of Solidarity, will continue to be the leading standard bearer for public ownership of public services and for progressive thought and action in the Highlands and Islands. If you would like to join the fastest growing socialist party in the Highlands and Islands why not e-mail us at |
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