Over the next few weeks, we’re featuring a series of posts by Roy McCrone, looking at the formation and development of the first residents’ group to be formed in Wester Hailes. The Wester Hailes Association of Tenants (WHAT) campaigned on a wide range of issues and their hard work and aspirations for the area created the conditions for a series of initiatives to be developed. Following on from last week, this post looks at the efforts of WHAT to highlight the needs of the community and to galvanise support from the neighbourhood.
YOU NAME IT, WE HAVE NOT GOT IT! PART 2
Officialdom can, and will, be brought to account. At the next public meeting, WHAT’S NEWS tells its readers, “We’re having someone from the Planning Department along. Possibly the City Architect himself.” The statement of intent is clear, now that WHAT is on the scene things are going to start moving, and quickly.
Lack of facilities is not the only issue, basic services need improving and the new committee is already on the case – “We’ve written to the Cleansing Dept about having more regular clean-ups here”. And it’s not just the Corporation it has in its sights – “We’ll write another letter to the G.P.O. about improving postal facilities”.
The significance with which the committee regards its correspondence can be sensed. These are no ordinary letters; they are issued by WHAT, the elected mouthpiece of the community of Wester Hailes. As such, they carry status and weight and should not be ignored.
The clear implication is that the “official channel” of existing political representation is not the way to get results. Or, perhaps, that avenue has already been explored and found to be less than satisfactory. Rather, the councillors seem to be viewed in much the same light as officials i.e. part and parcel of the Corporation monolith.
As with officials, local councillors will be expected to appear before WHAT. Straight away one of them has his card marked:
“As speakers we had Councillor Brian Meek (He’s one of the Councillors for this ward). Councillor George Foulkes was supposed to represent the Labour Party but did not turn up, sending along Trevor Davies, a Labour candidate, instead”.
And Councillor Meek, despite his position (or because of it), does not impress the meeting as being the right person to turn to for support and guidance in the future:
“Jock Henry, the Secretary of the Trades Council, made the best contribution of the evening, and various members of the audience have since said that we must have him back to give us the low down on the rents situation.”
That single phrase – “the low down on the rents situation” – says a lot. It tells of uncertainty and suspicion on the part of the people, a belief that they don’t know the true facts, that the full story has somehow been withheld from them, probably to their disadvantage. It signals a distinct lack of confidence that the Corporation has been, or will be, fair and open with its tenants.
The existing political structure has not worked for them. In their view, it has left them pretty much in the lurch. The Corporation has its own agenda and takes decision without reference to what they want. Now, in order to take up the cudgels on their own behalf, they are in the process of fashioning something new.
WHAT will seek to be as open and inclusive as it can, no-one is to be left out:
“There are a lot of pensioners & senior citizens living in the scheme. We’d like to see them at the next meeting to get their points of view about what’s needed. Teenagers, too. There’s no age limit to membership of WHAT.”
The focus is entirely on the wishes and needs of the residents, every one of them. It is they who will determine the direction and priorities of WHAT. Don’t be slow in coming forward is the message, don’t be shy. When he appears before them, the man from the Corporation should hear as full and frank a range of views from the audience as is possible:
“COME ALONG TO THE MEETING and tell him what you think the scheme needs. After all, you live in it, he doesn’t.”
This is the democratic principle at its most basic and vibrant. The community meets, debates and determines, face to face, and the will of that assembly is communicated to those whose job it is to implement decisions. Representation is rendered superfluous under such a process – officials find themselves recast, literally and directly, in the role of servants of the people. Continue reading
From There... To Here 