Out and about in Pitlochry

We had an excellent day in Pitlochry on Friday with party leader Willie Rennie MSP and a good team of canvassers and we managed to cover much of the town for a third time. It is amazing what you can acheive with a good team, and many others came up to help us during the week as well.

Willie is excellent on the doorstep, and he is clearly now getting recognized, although people dont really know too much about him yet. They are quick to ask though, and that provides good feedback.

Also here are Cllr Tim Brett, leader of Fife council, and local party member Ken Spittal.

There are a lot of new photos here, so you can scroll down a fair bit.

Willie will be up again before polling day on 15th September. We will be going to Pitlochry/ Blair Atholl again next weekend.

You can enlarge any of the photos here simply by clicking on them.

VC and Willie Rennie

Who are you and what are you doing in Pitlochry......?

Closing down? Really?

As well as the many closed shops in Pitlochry, there are currently 9 displaying these closing down sale signs. Most of these are up for 12 months of the year, and a number of residemts have remarked on how this cheapens the look of the town. Businesses have got to advertize and get people in off the streets, yes, but this is not good practice and it reflects badly on the council and on Trading Standards that they tolerate it.

Blocked drains in Pitlochry

In both Aberfeldy and Pitlochry we have been picking up lots of blocked drains, clogged right up with grit and sand from the winter time that was never swept away. No doubt there will be other problems in other villages as well.

Hello....!

A bit of rain does not stop Tina.

Posterboard........

Aberfeldy Graveyard

Aberfeldy residents have brought up the poor standard of maintenance in the graveyard. As a native woodland manager, I am normally quite happy to see trees regenerating, but not between the headstones in our local graveyard. We know there are cuts and this puts pressure on things, but this is all just basic stuff that is easy to get right.

Weeds in the carpark.

The carpark to the east of the graveyard looks particularly neglected at the moment. This is just basic maintenance that is not being done.

Speeding traffic

One of the issues coming back from our residents' surveys has been areas where speeding traffic is a problem. Many of these areas will be suitable for the Twenty's Plenty initiative, and I will aim to follow all these areas up in a systematic manner.

And again...South Loch Tay road, Kenmore

And again........Appin Place, Aberfeldy

Appin Place, Aberfeldy. Other areas that were noted were the south end of Atholl road in Pitlochry, Grandtully and Kiliecrankie.

Lib Dem Cooncillor training in Perth.....

There was an excellent training event ran by the Association of Scottish Liberal Democrat Councillours in Perth yesterday. What was immediately apparent going in through the door was the number of new faces around. Indeed, a bigger venue had to be booked the week before to cope with the demand for thew day.

In the photo above, local Lib Dem councilor Peter Barrett puts the propspective new candidates through their paces.

Other sessions included workshops for existing councillours, how to build on/ defend your record if you are part of an existing administration and the use of social networking sites.

Willie Rennie gave an insight in to the improvements he has been supporting recently.

Well done to Willie Wilson, Caron Lindsay and everyone else who put this day together. Well done folks.

Peter Barrett takes a class.....

Local Lib Dem councillor Peter Barrett gave some very useful insights to the large crowd of prospective new councillors

The sky above Loch Rannoch

All photos can be expanded to full screen size just by clicking on them.

Way out west.....

Below are a selection of photos from around Loch Rannoch while canvassing this week, with Tina above at Rannoch Station. More photos tomorrow from canvassing in Pitlochry with Willie Rennie.

Schiehallion

And again.....

And again......

Hello....!

Looking west along Loch Rannoch

Tree

The Sky over Loch Rannoch

With added fence post............

With added tree.........

By the Tay

REd deer at Glengoulandie

On the road today.........

Away to Kinloch Rannoch today. Excellent article in the PA yesterday and we had a good meal last night at the Italian corner in Perth, a good turnout from all the local party and Scottish Lib Dem leader Wilie Rennie in attendance too.

Back with some photos later...........

Candidates lining up now for Highland ward by-election

We have four candidates declared for the by lection in Highland Perthshire. Myself, Mike Williamson for the SNP, Graham Rees for the Conservatives and Willie Leszke as an Independent. We have through to next Wed for any late comers. Whether Labour appear or not, who knows? Your guess is as good as mine.

In the Black Spout Wood in Pitlochry

Bridge over the River Tummel

Subarban Pitlochry

Essential rural services..........

There is going to be a by-election in Highland Perthshire on 15th September. This was me out delegating some leaflets for delivery, and the sun came out just passing the Lawers hotel on Loch Tay side.

Looking across Loch Tay

Meall Greigh above Lawers, Loch Tay side

Quiet summer evening in Pitlochry

Brian Taylor's Big Debate

Well done again to Peter Barrett for a fine performance on BBC RAdio Scotland's Brian Taylor's Big Debate yesterday, chaired by the redoubtable Isobel Fraser. This went out live from Perth Concert Hall at lunchtime.

Peter answered questions on the Shore Rd incinerator, the proposed new city square and fuel poverty; his comments on the incinerator raised thunderous applause from the audience.

Listen again here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012rdhj

Stop Perth Incinerator

Perth City Centre councillor Peter Barrett has certainly been busy over the last 2 weeks!

With a deadline set at midnight on Friday, Peter and his team amassed an amazing 2300 letters of objection and a petition of over 12oo. As well as door-to-door campaigning, the team also collected objections at Edinburgh Road Tesco (within sight of the proposed incinerator) and the town centre. The response from the public was incredibly positive - people were queuing up to sign! A Facebook campaign was also set up, with over 200 members.

The last 1000 letters were handed over on Friday morning, with many more flooding in via email until the last minute.

Well done Peter and the team!

The Queen's View

Strawberry tea at Corsiehill

Perth & KInross Lib Dems had our annual Strawberry tea at the home of Cllr Barrett and his wife Liz at Corsiehill. As usual, we had a good turnout, raised £ for party coffers and had a good time. It rained right at the end but that did not spoil things. Willie Rennie gave us a good insight in to how he sees things working out at Holyrood.

Well done to Peter & Liz and to all who contribute to this great event.

Raffle in the rain

It was a glorious afternoon, but the rain came on just at the end when we were having the raffle.

Top table

Guests arriving. Peter Barrett (pink shirt) welcomes guests..........

Guests arriving.....

Giving out the prizes

Bottle of whiskey for Willie Matheson.

Willie Rennie.....

Willie was just saying he sensed a change in the atmosphere....with that the rain came on!!

Willie is doing a great job in the Scottish Parliament.

All smiles....

Cllr Ann Gaunt enjoys the strawberry tea.....

Barack Obama in Westminster Hall

What a privilege it was listening to Barack Obama live on TV from Westminster hall this afternoon. He spoke for 40 minutes with no notes, and held everyone's attention throughout...OK...maybe not Ken Clarke who appeared to be sleeping....but everyone else.

What a great hall for a great orator as well......900 years of history, and the American president did not disappoint.

It is very rarely that we are impressed by a political speech nowadays, but this was definitely one to remember.

Simon Hughes MP on our green cerdentials and achievements..........

It's been a great month for Liberal Democrats who are setting the pace on the green agenda!
Two weeks ago, Chris Huhne, as Energy and Climate Change Secretary, led for the government when his Department's Energy Bill received its second reading in the House of Commons. This creates the framework for the Green Deal, a comprehensive programme of energy efficiency improvements for housing and office buildings, cutting both energy bills and emissions. Householders and business will be able to see up to £10,000 invested in insulation, at no up-front cost, paying back the investment through the lower energy bills they will enjoy as a result.


Last week, Chris Huhne announced the government’s ‘carbon budget’ for the mid-2020s, setting a legal requirement for a 50 per cent reduction (from 1990) by 2025. This creates the certainty businesses need to put in place long-term investments in the expanding low-carbon industries – renewable electricity, electric cars, home insulation. This is the most ambitious legally binding carbon budget set by any government anywhere; and by putting the UK at the forefront of the international debate, we will be able to push the EU and the international community towards further emissions cuts world-wide.


And this week, Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, revealed details of the Green Investment Bank, the world’s first green development bank. Up and running from April 2012, this will use an initial £3 billion of public money to lever an additional £15 billion in private investment towards the low-carbon opportunities that are opening up – particularly in offshore wind and energy efficiency.


I was this party’s first environment spokesman over twenty years ago. It makes me proud to see what so many of us campaigned for all those years ago being made a reality now we’re in government. This is a key part of what we Liberal Democrats bring to the coalition, and none of this would have happened without us. As Nick said yesterday, ‘the LibDems have long been the greenest of the main three parties - the difference now is that it is not just a green party but a green party of government’.

Pick yourself up.......

Alison Burns, Lib Dem candidate for Dundee City West has produced this recording to pick us all up a bit. Well done Alison. We have lots of talent in the Lib Dems and will not be wallowing in self-pity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhj2Sa7W40

Still here........

All over now......

Platform speech

This is what I scribbled down for my platform speech at 5am in the morning- ish.

"I would like to thank all those involved in the election process in Perthshire North-  the returning officers, police and all those council staff here this evening.

I would like to thank all my camapign team....Lewis, Peter, Tina, Dorothy, May, Phil and everyone who contributed to our overall team effort. Thank you.

I would like to congratulate John Swinney and his team for their result this evening. Well done to you all. You appear to have a mandate to take forward your manifesto over the next five years.

I would like to thank my other two fellow candidates, Murdo Fraser and Pete Cheema for their efforts throughout.

This has been my first ever parliamentary campaign. It has been a very steep learning curve. I plan to persevere.

This has not been a good result for us, either at a local or a national level. However, Liberal Democrat values will be more important now than ever. We will not put those aside just because things happen to be difficult at the moment. As a local party, we will re-group and re-apply ourselves to working for our local communities across Perth and Kinross.

Thank you."

Boards at Blair Atholl

Last board to be picked up at Caputh

Closer........

On the platform

Here is image lifted from local SNP website. John Swinney prevails.

Poll results for the 2 X local constituencies

Votes


Pete CHEEMA Scottish Labour Party 2,672

Victor CLEMENTS Scottish Liberal Democrats 1,196

Murdo FRASER Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 7,866

John Ramsay SWINNEY Scottish National Party (SNP) 18,219



Electorate: 53,412

Spoiled / rejected ballot papers: 117

Percent poll:56.3%



Perthshire South and Kinross-shire

Votes

Roseanna CUNNINGHAM Scottish National Party (SNP) 16,073

Tricia DUNCAN Scottish Labour Party 3,980

Willie ROBERTSON Scottish Liberal Democrats 2,256

Elizabeth Jane SMITH Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party 8,907



Electorate: 58,093

Spoiled / rejected ballot papers: 90

Percent poll: 53.9%

Election Morning in Perthshire North