Cathkin High School Social Subjects Department S3 Modern Studies

Transcription

1 Cathkin High School Social Subjects Department S3 Modern Studies LOCAL COUNCILS 1

2 1. What are councils and how are they formed? In this lesson you will learn: What councils are The structure of the Scottish council system How council governments are formed and the results of the 2012 Scottish local council elections. Scotland has 32 councils. Your class will hold a ballot and you are going to be drawn one of these councils. Your homework task for next week is to find out some information about your chosen council. You may wish to find out about: Famous people from that council area Landmarks within the council Buildings of interest Anything else your council is known for! Note this information in your jotter, as you will need it for a class task where you will re-design your council s logo. Councils are not that important. Write down whether you agree or disagree with the above statement. Give yourself a score of between 1 and 10 depending on how strongly you support your opinion, 1 being not very much, 10 being extremely strongly. For example, if you strongly agree with the statement, you would write: Agree, 10. If you strongly disagree with the statement, you would write: Diasagree, 10. We will return to this question when we have completed the unit to see if your opinion of councils has changed! Before we begin, tell us what you already know about councils. Include any relevant information at all; what you think they are, what you think they do, your own personal experience with anything council-related, anything! For example, how many members of the class are able to name one of their councillors? What are Councils? Councils 2

3 Councils are local government. Councils are sometimes called local authorities. The UK Parliament may take Britain to war with Iraq, and the Scottish Government may introduce a new curriculum for Scottish schools, but they do not make decisions for local matters, as they do not really know what is going on and what is needing done at the very local level. The Prime Minister is not the best placed person to know that your street needs a broken lamppost replaced, or that your local library needs a new computer. Councils are. Councils are run by groups of people (councillors) who are elected by local people and who make decisions that they feel will help the local area. Scotland has 32 local councils. There are over 1,000 elected councillors across Scotland. The number of councillors in each council area varies and council areas range in size from Glasgow City Council, which has a population of 600,000 and represented by 79 councillors, to the Orkney Islands Council with a population of 20,000 people, and represented by just 21 councillors. Big or small, councils across Scotland are all responsible for managing their budgets and delivering a wide range of vital public services including housing, school education and community learning and development, and library services, social work services, roads and waste management. 3

4 Some council logos are shown above. Your homework task from last week was to find out information about the council you had drawn in the ballot. You will now need to have that information in front of you as your task is to design a new logo for that council. It should include the name of the council, it should feel welcoming and inclusive, it may include a positive slogan or picture, and it should be colourful! You must include some of the information you have found out about your council in the new logo design. How are council governments formed? 4

5 We vote for our councillors on a separate election day from UK Parliament or Scottish Parliament elections. The most recent elections to UK councils were in May 2012 and the next will be in For both Scottish Parliament and UK Parliament elections we are split into constituencies. The same happens in council elections, except our constituencies are much smaller and are called wards. Wards are small areas within councils. For instance, the council you live and go to school in is South Lanarkshire. South Lanarkshire council is one of the largest councils in Scotland. It has 16,000 employees. South Lanarkshire It includes areas such as Lanark, Strathaven, Carluke, Uddingston, Rutherglen, Cambuslang and East Kilbride. There are 20 wards within South Lanarkshire, and each one elects 3 or 4 councillors. In total, South Lanarkshire council elects 67 councillors. You may recognise the South Lanarkshire ward you live in: 5

6 How are councils formed? Scottish council elections use a complex voting system known as Single Transferable Vote (STV) where voters number their preferences rather than simply putting an X next to their 1 favoured candidate. This system often results in wards electing councillors from different parties. Following a council election there are 3 possibilities of how that council will be governed: 1. If any single party has a majority of councillors, they can control that council and make decisions for it. For instance, Glasgow has a majority of Labour councillors, so Labour can control Glasgow. 2. If no single party has a majority, they may choose to enter a coalition government (when 2 or more parties join up to form a majority). For instance, Edinburgh is controlled by a coalition of Labour and the SNP. Of the 32 Scottish councils, 16 of them are controlled by coalitions. 3. If the leading party does not have a majority but is close to it they may try to make decisions with a minority, although they may find it difficult to reach decisions as they may not have enough councillors. For instance, of the 67 seats available in South Lanarkshire council, Labour won 33 of them. Although they do not have a majority, they are only one seat short of it and so have decided not to enter a coalition but instead to try and govern as a minority. Discuss as a class the advantages and disadvantages of each possibility, then fill in the following table: Majority Advantages Disadvantages Coalition Minority 6

7 Many members of the class will probably be part of either Ward 13 Cambuslang West or Ward 14 Cambuslang East. If you are, these are your councillors: Ward 13 - Cambuslang West Russell Clearie (Labour) Clare McColl (SNP) Richard Tullett (Labour) Ward 14 - Cambuslang East Walter Brogan (Labour) Pam Clearie (Labour) Christine Deanie (SNP) You can search all South Lanarkshire councillors here: Homework: Find out your ward: Homework: Find out your ward s councillors and take a note of when they hold surgeries: The youngest councillor in Scotland is 19; Alex MacLeod, SNP Councillor for the Highlands (pictured). Complete the councillor decision-making task on page 8. 7

8 Insert councillor decision-making task page 21 There are 2 candidates wishing to be elected to this council. Read the information on the council, and the information about the 2 candidates, then answer the questions which follow. Council information: There are 3 high schools in the ward, each with enough resources for around 1000 pupils but as more and more pupils are coming up from the primary schools, the school roll of all 3 high schools has grown to just over 1000 this year, but longer term school rolls are planned to fall. Obesity rates in the area are higher than the national average and there are lots of fast food takeaway shops leading to people having poor diets. The nearest leisure centre is 10 miles away, and transport links to it are poor. The local library has 10 computers and very rarely are all 10 being used at any one time. Youth crime rates in the area are high. Many young people say there is little for them to do, and some of them drink alcohol in the local park, leaving broken glass in the grass, and cause vandalism. The previous council built an art gallery within the ward, but so few people visit it that it is now in danger of closing down. Survey of public opinion Yes No Don t know Do you think local roads are in urgent need of repair? 85% 10% 5% Are you satisfied with how regularly bins are emptied? 91% 3% 6% Do you think creating jobs in the area is a priority? 83% 9% 8% Candidate A: James Smith I will request the Scottish Government builds a new high school in the area to accommodate rising numbers of pupils. I will work to improve transport links so that people can reach the leisure centre 10 miles away. People believe road potholes are a big problem. I will find out on which particular roads these potholes are causing most problems and make it a priority to fix them. I will campaign for a youth club to be built in the area to give bored youths something do and get them off the streets. I feel an art gallery would attract people to the area and be of great interest to local people interested in culture. Candidate B: Mary Black A car company has asked the council for permission to set up a manufacturing plant within the area. If elected I will approve this plan, as it will create jobs, which people believe is of great importance. Too many people in the area lead unhealthy lifestyles and have nowhere to exercise. I will vote for a new leisure centre to be built within the ward to give local people opportunities to exercise. This will have the added benefit of bringing jobs to the area, which a majority of people have requested. The local library is well resourced with technology already. I will not waste money buying new computers, as there is no need. This money could be better spent on things people really want. At present bins are only emptied every 2 weeks. I will ensure they are collected every week. I agree with the majority of people in the area that roads are already in good condition. a) State which candidate would be the better choice; Candidate A or B. Either option can be right! b) Give three detailed reasons to support your choice. c) Give two detailed reasons why you rejected the other candidate. 8 Enquiry Skills, 10 marks

9 Where do councils make decisions? Councillors elected serve in their council headquarters, which are effectively like council parliaments. For instance, Glasgow city councillors serve in Glasgow City Chambers in George Square, Glasgow, and South Lanarkshire councillors serve in South Lanarkshire headquarters in Almada Street, Hamilton. The South Lanarkshire council headquarters building is modelled on the headquarters for the United Nations in New York, USA! Glasgow City chambers, George Square. Headquarters of Glasgow City council. South Lanarkshire council, Almada Street, Hamilton UN headquarters, New York 9

10 The following news story and map shows which political parties control Scotland s 32 councils following the 2012 local council elections As you can see, different parties control different councils and in many councils, no single party has overall control and coalitions have had to be formed. You will also notice that in some councils, there is a different party in charge than the Government of the country. For instance, although we currently have an SNP government in the Scottish Parliament, the SNP have a majority of councillors just 2 councils (Angus and Dundee). Try not to let this confuse you, as it just the same reason we can have different parties in charge of the UK and Scottish Parliaments! They are simply in charge of different levels of government. The Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government are the government in the UK Parliament and in control of the UK s reserved powers, such as immigration, drug laws, foreign policy, defence and national security. The Scottish National Party (SNP) are the government in the Scottish Parliament and are in control of the devolved powers for Scotland, such as health, education, housing and tourism. Different parties are the government in Scotland s 32 councils and each council is in control of local authority powers, such as running schools (although the Scottish government sets the national curriculum) road repairs, bin collection, street lighting, local leisure facilities and libraries. Each level of government is only responsible for their level s powers not for other levels. 1 Aberdeen 2 Aberdeenshire 3 Angus 4 Argyll & Bute 5 Clackmannanshire 6 Dumfries & Galloway 7 Dundee 8 East Ayrshire 9 East Dunbartonshire 10 East Lothian 11 East Renfrewshire 12 Edinburgh 13 Falkirk 14 Fife 15 Glasgow 16 Highland 17 Inverclyde 18 Midlothian 19 Moray 20 North Ayrshire 21 North Lanarkshire 22 Orkney Islands 23 Perth & Kinross 24 Renfrewshire 25 Scottish Borders 26 Shetland 27 South Ayrshire 28 South Lanarkshire 29 Stirling 30 West Dunbartonshire 31 West Lothian 32 Western Isles (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) Homework: Take a note of these 32 Scottish councils and find out which party or parties control them. You will need to write down the results as you will be using them to complete the next class task! Some of the websites at the top of the page may be helpful. 10

11 Task Your teacher will give you the following blank map of Scotland split into 32 councils to glue into your jotter: Using your homework results from the previous lesson showing the 2012 Scottish council election results, colour the map in according to which party controls each council. Remember to provide a key, e.g.: Labour run council (minority or majority): Red. SNP run council (minority or majority): Yellow. Green: any coalition Pink: Independent. 11

12 2. What do councils do? In this lesson you will learn: The decisions councils can make Councils provide the following services: Housing Councils provide, repair and improve council housing within the local authority area. Education Councils provide nursery, primary and secondary schools which educate all the children in the local authority area. Councils decide if schools are in need of repair or modernisation, sometimes meaning they are entirely rebuilt. They provide schools with funding for resources such as projectors and computers. Roads To keep roads safe, the council maintains and repairs them. It is also responsible for street lighting and car parks, and for gritting icy roads during winter. They take the decisions to keep open or close schools in poor weather conditions. 12

13 Recreation services Councils provide parks, sports and leisure centres, gyms, swimming pools, and cemeteries. They can decide which groups of people (e.g. some elderly and young people) are entitled to reduced fares for council-run recreation facilities. Chatelherault country park Hamilton water palace Glasgow s Kelvingrove park and Botanic Gardens Environmental protection The council is responsible for environmental health, collection and disposal of refuse (waste), as well as public health, by providing services such as bins for houses, clean water and sewage facilities. Councils decide how often bins are collected. 13

14 Cultural services This department looks after libraries and museums and provides a range of cultural events such as concerts and theatrical productions. Cambuslang library Kelvingrove Art Gallery How do councils fund these services? Councils raise their local taxes through Council Tax. Council tax is tax you pay to the council if you are a homeowner. It is based on the value of a person s house. However, this only covers around 20% of what they spend. The rest of their funding comes from the government. The UK government provides a block of funding to the Scottish Government, which is then allocated to the different parts of the Scottish public sector. Around 33% of the Scottish Government s block is allocated to support councils. The money which is spent on these local services is raised in a number of different ways. Firstly some services have to be paid for at the point of use. For example you have to pay to get into a council run leisure centre, play on a council run golf course, or pay for parking in a council run car park. 14

15 If councils do such an important job, why do many people not know their councillors or participate in council elections? Although the services provided by councils are vital to local people, people tend to participate less in council elections than they do for other types of elections. Voter turnout is a good indication of how involved people feel in politics, as it measures the percentage of those eligible to vote who actually turn out to vote on election day. When voter turnout is low, it suggests something is wrong with our democracy. In the 2010 UK General election, voter turnout was 65%, meaning that 35% of those allowed to vote chose not to. In the 2011 Scottish Parliament election turnout was 50%, meaning only half of those eligible to vote chose to do so. In the 2012 Scottish council elections, turnout was around 35%, meaning 65% of those eligible to vote did not do so. This may be due to the complicated voting system used for council elections. Some voters do not understand the system used and may be put off voting as a result. Other reasons may include the lack of media coverage compared to Scottish or UK elections, or that some people do not think council matters are very important. While most people will be able to name the Prime Minister of the UK and the First Minister of Scotland, fewer people will know their councillors What do councils do? Tasks. 1. List as many services in your area or that you know of (e.g. libraries, leisure facilities, parks) that are run by the council. 2. Describe two ways in which local councils raise money to pay for services. 3. Explain why people are less likely to participate in council elections than they are in Scottish or UK elections. 4. Create a diagram similar to the following one to show the various services councils provide. Draw picture to label each one. 15

16 3. Work of a councillor: In this lesson you will learn: What councillors do The following diary shows an average working week of Russell Clearie, Cambuslang West councillor Read the diary, then create a storyboard to illustrate one way Russell Clearie represents local people each day. Monday In the morning I spend some time at South Lanarkshire council headquarters in Almada Street to deal with some administrative tasks, and later I hold 2 separate hour-long surgeries, where local people can visit me with any local issues they want dealt with. I hold one at 5pm at Cambuslang CETC building, and another at 6.15pm at the Eastfield centre. This is to ensure people from all over the local community have a chance to speak with me, and that they do not have to travel too far to do so. Dates of these surgeries are displayed in many local buildings and they are available online at South Lanarkshire council s website in advance so that local people can make plans to speak with their councillor. Tuesday My morning and afternoon is taken up mostly by committee work at Almada Street. Committees are groups of councillors who meet to look into particular, often ongoing local issues. We gather evidence from people who can help our committee and use this to write reports to be submitted to relevant bodies or to help us make decisions that help people. I am a member of several committees, and on Tuesday alone I sit on the Conference Allocation Committee, Planning Committee and Clydesdale area committee. At 7pm I attend a meeting of the Central Cambuslang Tenant and Residents Association to discuss local housing issues with local people. They told me about a problem with parking in some areas, including at Rosebank Tower. Residents are having difficulty accessing their parking spaces due to non-residents parking there. I inform the association I will have a chance to visit the flats on Saturday. Wednesday In the morning I sit on the Licensing Committee to consider which applicants for business in the ward should be approved and which should not. For example, many local people often speak to me about their concerns that the number of fast food takeaways in the area is leading to poor health, so this is something I take into consideration when approving whether a new takeaway should be approved or not. In the afternoon I sit on the Hamilton Area committee and at 7.30pm in the evening I attend a Parent Council meeting at Cathkin High school. Members of the parent council discuss things they think will be good for the school and I bring these issues back to the council. For instance, Cathkin s parent Council recently decided to issue pupils with homework diaries free of charge. Thursday I attend a Labour group meeting of all fellow Labour party councillors in South Lanarkshire council to discuss how Labour party policies could best help the people of South Lanarkshire. This is a good opportunity to learn about Labour s work in other wards in the council, not just my own. In the evening I attend the Parent Council meeting at Trinity High school and an upper school prize-giving at Trinity. Friday In the morning I visit James Aiton Primary school to promote the work of the McMillan Cancer support charity. At recent surgeries some local people have expressed concerns that cars are driving too fast in the Laura Grove area of Cambuslang near Greenlees Road and the Golf club, so I visit the site with South Lanarkshire council s Roads and Transport officials to see it for ourselves. We can monitor the area and if necessary recommend road speed safety initiatives such as installing Twenty s plenty signs, painting Slow signs on parts of the road, installing speed bumps or speed cameras. In the evening I attend a fund raising carol-singing night at Cambuslang Parish church. Saturday I visit Rosebank tower flats to look into the parking problem the Central Cambuslang Tenants and Residents association informed me about on Tuesday. It is a problem and we will continue to work with the housing association to help. The council may decide to start issuing fines to cars parked there without authorisation. Later I meet 16 local residents who are members of Friends of Cambuslang Park, volunteers who promote the park. Together with local youth organisations, they offer activities and events in the park such as live youth bands, face-painting, bouncy castles, picnics, flower-planting and clean ups. I am happy to help these hard-working volunteers organise any activities that can make local residents proud of their local park.

17 4.Glasgow City council and George Square renovation In this lesson you will learn: The example of Glasgow City council ordering a revamp of George Square That as members of a democracy, the people of Scotland have the right to contribute to and participate in the revamp of George Square. In July 2012, Glasgow City council announced a public consultation on plans to revamp George Square, the square in Glasgow City centre which the headquarters of Glasgow City Council (City Chambers) overlooks, in preparation for the 2014 Commonwealth games to be held in Glasgow. A new national indoor sports arena and cycling velodrome (named the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome in honour of seven time Olympic gold medallist and world champion Scottish cyclist Chris Hoy) has already been built in Parkhead in the East End of Glasgow for the games, and it opened in October

18 The council are planning to transform the look and layout of George square, and members of the public are being asked their opinions, and they are invited to submit to the Council their own proposals for how they would like the new square to look. The Council will consider these proposals before they design the new square. The Council believes the current square is not impressive or pleasant enough and are open to suggestions as to how to improve it and make it a more suitable public space. This may mean including: removing or repositioning existing monuments and statues installation of a fountain more green space, flower beds and lighting removing parking and extending the Square into surrounding streets However, the council have stressed they will keep the Cenotaph, which was originally built in 1922 to commemorate Glaswegians killed in the First World War. The council plan to choose the winning design by the end of 2012 and begin construction on the new square by mid Council leader Gordon Matheson has said: "I want to give the people of Glasgow the square they deserve so I am beginning a public consultation on a generational revamp of George Square. For this to succeed, the people of Glasgow need to feel they have been involved in the process and I would not dream of embarking on it without their involvement. The square is currently mostly red tarmac. An 80 foot high column in the centre features a statue of Scottish author Walter Scott. There are several other statues around the square, including ones of Queen Victoria, poet Robert Burns, inventor of the steam engine James Watt, chemist Thomas Graham and former British Prime Ministers William Gladstone and Robert Peel. The following website shows the current layout of the square and identifies the monuments and statues to match the numbers on the aerial overview below. 18

19 Robert Burns statue Walter Scott monument George Square around 1900 Task Write a paragraph describing briefly how you would suggest improving George Square. Design your plans by creating both an aerial plan (from above) labelling the new features or changes you have made, and a drawing showing how you would hope it would look from the ground as one scene showing the whole square and/or individual drawings showing parts of your plans. You may think the current statues are outdated and wish to honour more recent Scottish heroes. Be creative! 19

20 4. Investigation of local social issue: school modernisation In this lesson you will learn: The importance of clear questions when conducting a survey on a local issue The attitudes of local people towards a council issue using a survey How to present the findings of your survey in numerical form. You are going to carry out an investigation to find out the attitudes of local people about a council-related issue. The issue we are going to investigate is school modernisation, specifically South Lanarkshire council s recent upgrading of schools such as Cathkin High, Trinity High and Stonelaw High. South Lanarkshire Council has recently invested over 850 million on its Primary schools modernisation programme and over 300 million on its secondary school modernisation programme. Of South Lanarkshire s 17 secondary schools, 15 have recently been completely rebuilt and 2 (Hamilton Grammar and Stonelaw) have been refurbished. The new buildings have been designed to promote and encourage community use with greatly improved indoor and outdoor sports facilities which can be used by the wider community as well as school pupils. As a result, currently 9,000 primary school children and 19,000 secondary school pupils are being taught in what the council calls modern, bright and inspiring buildings which provide a stimulating and innovative learning environment. One of the distinguishing features of all new South Lanarkshire school buildings is the street area with a stage, which is a flexible space allowing offering opportunity for a variety of uses such as dining area, assembly, social events such as school discos, theatre productions, awards ceremonies and displays. South Lanarkshire secondary school Year new building opened St Andrew s and St Bride s high, East Kilbride 2007 Duncanrig econdary 2007 Carluke High 2007 Lesmahagow High school 2007 Holy Cross High school, Hamilton 2007 Calderside Academy, Blantyre 2008 Calderglen High, East Kilbride 2008 Cathkin High, Cambuslang 2008 John Ogilvie High school 2008 Trinity High 2009 Uddingston Gramar, Uddingston 2009 Larkhall Academy, Larkhall 2009 Strathaven Academy 2009 Biggar High 2009 Lanark Grammar

21 Cathkin The council decided that the old Cathkin High school was no longer fit for purpose. They sold the old school site to Barratt Homes in 2006 and built a new modern school (the current Cathkin High), which opened in October The old school building was demolished in 2009 to make way for 200 new houses to be built on the site. Task You are going to carry out a survey to find out the attitudes of local people toward this school modernisation programme. Consider the following 10 survey questions. As a class, discuss each question and agree on the 6 questions which you feel are most suitable. 1. Do you think South Lanarkshire schools were in need of modernisation? Yes No Undecided 2. Would you have preferred Cathkin High to have been refurbished or completely rebuilt? Refurbished Completely rebuilt Undecided 3. Do you agree that the new Cathkin school building is modern, bright and inspiring? Agree Disagree Undecided 4. Are you happy that your tax money has been spent on upgrading council schools? Yes No Undecided 5.How old are you? Under or older 6.Do you think the inclusion of a street area in new school buildings has been a good idea? Yes No Undecided. 21

22 7.Do you think South Lanarkshire council is doing a good job and is there anything you feel they could do better? Yes No Undecided 8.On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with the council s school modernisation programme Now that the council has completed its school modernisation programme, what local issue do you think is most important? Crime prevention Job creation Building leisure facilities Repairing roads Other 10. Which of the following would you have preferred your tax money to be spent on by the council? Sports facility Social work Library Repairing roads More police When you have decided the 6 most suitable questions as a class, having understood why the other 4 are unsuitable, write down the 6 questions you are going to use in your survey. Your homework task is to survey 10 people who live within the council to find out their attitudes toward these 6 questions on school modernisation. If you do not already know how to use tally marks to complete this task, your teacher will explain this. When the whole class has completed this survey, we should have hundreds of responses, which should give us a good picture of local attitudes toward the council s school modernisation programme. Each of the 6 groups in the class will then be given just 1 of the 6 questions. It is each group s task to then bring together the responses of the whole class for their question only, and to represent the whole class s results for their question in the numerical form of a bar graph or pie chart. When each group has completed their chart or graph, they will present their findings to the rest of the class, and your teacher will display the results for all questions in the classroom. 22

23 5.How to participate locally In this lesson you will learn: That people can participate in their local communities through pressure groups The methods used by some of these pressure groups In Russell Clearie s diary we learned about a local volunteer group called Friends of Cambuslang Park (FOCP). FOCP was formed in 2007 by a group of people from Cambuslang who wish to promote their local park and they work hard to make it a place that local people like going to. They have organised events in the park such as picnics, clean ups, bouncy castles, face-painting, flower-planting, and clean ups. They organise annual fun days and local sports groups such as Cambuslang Rugby club and Durie s boxing gym. The group meets on a regular basis on the second Tuesday of the month in the Toll Pitch, at the Terminus, Cambuslang, and anyone who has an interest in the Park and would like to go along to the meetings is welcome and actively encouraged to do so. Alternatively, anyone who has any ideas to improve the park or any questions they would like to ask are encouraged to fill in the comments page of their website. The group also advertises on Facebook and in local newspapers such as the Rutherglen Reformer. FOCP work closely with other community organisations and South Lanarkshire council, who fund some of the improvements to the park which the group suggests. School parent councils act as a sort of pressure group, and they are a good way for people to be involved in their local community. Other local pressure groups include Central Cambuslang Tenant and Residents Association, Cambuslang, Carmyle and Rutherglen against Pollution (CCRAP!), and in Glasgow, Clydeside Action on Asbestos, (CAA) who provide information, advice and support, including a counselling service, to anyone suffering an asbestos-related disease and their families. 23

24 Pressure groups can use several methods to campaign for their cause. They can set up a website or have a Facebook or Twitter page, they may have an office within the community, hold regular meetings, display posters in the local area, contact their local councillor, MSP or MP, sign petitions and send them to representatives, give interviews to local newspapers and other media, visit schools or hold talks in public places to publicise their cause. Pressure groups do not have to be local. For example, anyone in Scotland may wish to join Greenpeace, who campaign for environmental matters, Amnesty International, who campaign for human rights, or Scottish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), who campaign against nuclear weapons and especially the fact that Britain s nuclear weapons are kept on Trident submarines in Scottish waters, at Faslane Naval Base. 24

25 Tasks 1. Your teacher will give you a recent copy of the Rutherglen Reformer to read through. Find a story that interests you which is about local people participating in their community or any council-related community. Virtually every story is about local people involving themselves locally in some way so it should be easy enough! Write a paragraph summarising what the story is about. 2. Imagine you are in a local pressure group. Create a leaflet advertising this pressure group and publicising its cause. You may wish to include: a name for the Pressure group, perhaps one with a less unfortunate acronym than Cambuslang, Carmyle and Rutherglen Against Pollution. A colourful logo. A catchy slogan. Detailed information on your pressure groups aims. Pictures of what your group does. Advice for people interested in joining your group. Website address (make this up). You are encouraged to make up a pressure group. Think of a local issue and from that think of how a pressure group could make that issue better. For instance, FOCP thought they wanted to improve their local park, so they organised together to do something about it! Similarly, some local people felt they wanted a transport service for the community, so they set up Cambuslang Volunteer Group are a nonprofit group who, with the help of lottery funding, have bought some minibuses and arrange community transport. For example, they drive Cathkin High school football teams to away games at other schools and arrange for elderly people in care homes to have trips to the seaside at reduced costs. This shows you do not have to be protesting against the government to be involved in local matters. If you are having difficulty coming up with group, you may choose an existing one, perhaps from page 23, or from the following list of pressure groups. Homework: choose a pressure group from the list on the website above that interests you and find out a little about them. Try to find out what the pressure group s aims are, how many members they have, what methods they use to publicise their aims, and whether they have been successful or not. You will present your findings to the class. 25