270 March 2017 - Gryffe Advertizer

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contents
local news....................8-13
optical blog .......................9
legal blog .......................10
dental blog.........................13
what’s on........................14-22
finance & tech.................24-28
financial blog.........................24
it blog ...............................24
on the road......................31
local history.....................29
village news....................34-43
pet news.....................44-45
pet blog ............................44
outdoors........................46-49
school news.................50-55
photography blog..............54
sport news....................56-59
sporting blog.....................59
business classified..............60
church listings....................61
deadlines dates...................61
property classified.................60
sales & wants......................62
advertizer directory................63
I love March! Not just because it’s my birthday, but the spring bulbs are showing
their faces, there are lambs in the fi elds, and the clocks go
forward. Yes, we still get snow just to keep us on our toes,
but it is the start of longer and hopefully warmer days.
I’ve heard that the Birkmyre Cafe, run by Alessia Nardini,
has had a huge amount of support with a petition of over
1,000 names being handed in to Inverclyde Leisure. It
was mooted that Inverclyde Leisure was thinking of using
the space currently occupied by the cafe to house more spin
bike classes. Birkmyre Park suffered many years of neglect with semi-derelict
facilities. The developments, in partnership with Inverclyde Council and
Inverclyde Leisure, have made wonderful improvements to a great asset gifted
to Kilmacolm Village by the Birkmyre Family. The loss of the Cafe would be a
retrograde step and a sad loss to the users of Birkmyre and the community as
a whole. Hopefully the Gym and the Cafe will continue to work in harmony and
an alternative location can be found for the additional spin classes.
The talk on the street and the internet is the new Council rates assessments.
There are big changes with household and business rates, and not everyone
is pleased.
Household rates are going up, whether we like it or not, at the highest bands
by around £500 per year. Each Council also has leeway to increase further by
up to 3% on these assessments, but both Renfrewshire and Inverclyde have
decided to stick with the statutory rise only. While these increases seem high,
and to some may stretch already thin budgets, if the local councils had been
able to increase their rates on a year by year basis, we would probably not be
far off the proposed costs. But it would certainly have been less of a shock! We
are all quick to complain about the roads, schools, health service, etc, but all
these need funding.
And on that note, I have heard that some businesses in the local area have
already received revaluation notices for their business rates which are much
higher than anticipated. More on this on p26.
On the roads, there is major disruption in the Linwood area. Work began on 20
February with roadworks at Stirling Drive/Clippens Road which will last around
6 weeks. At the same time, the works at the Deafhillock roundabout junction
began on the same date and will run for 14 weeks. The major engineering
project will be carried out by Scotland Gas Networks. Drivers are warned to
expect disruption as the roundabout connects the main arterial routes from
Johnstone, Linwood, Houston and Bridge of Weir, connecting to the M8
motorway via the A737. Four-way temporary traffi c lights will be operational full
time, but will be manned at peak times to ease the fl ow of vehicles. A number
of repairs have been carried out on the gas main in recent years but experts
say it is now reaching the end of its useful life. Around 1.5km of cast iron main
will be replaced with modern polyethylene pipe. Our advice would be - fi nd an
alternative route if possible!
On a fi nal note, it was pleasing this month to increase the number of pages we
dedicate to the “What’s On” events locally. The annual lull following Christmas
has now ended and everyone is gearing up for Spring events - see p14-23 to
fi nd out more!
Next Issue: Deadline:
No.271 Friday 17
April 2017 March 2017
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Rona