Interview 1 - Councillor Fraser Macpherson (Lib Dem)

[AlanG]

Name: Fraser Macpherson

Party: Liberal Democrats

Position in Party: Vice convenor Dundee LibDems

Years within Party: 5years within LibDems. 3-4 years of major activity. Member of Liberal party for about 20 years.

Other relevant groups: West End Community Council, on Board of the Ward Road Gym, Blackness Primary School board.

Where running: Tay Bridges

Previous terms of office: Aug2001-present, councillor for Tay Bridges following By-election success.

Reason for joining party: Other than agreeing with LibDem policy he thinks they work hard at local level, are very active and are keen to act on issues affecting their community.

What has been achieved in current term:

He is a very active councillor at local level giving newsletters of his work to constituents regularly. Worked for pedestrian crossing in West Port (Temple Lane, near Pivo’s) to aid the disabled community nearby and cut down risk of accidents. Works on road safety issues and general constituent issues.

What will be achieved in next four years if elected:
Carry on actions and be a caring and active ward councillor. Hope LibDems will have the highest number of councillors next term and improve standards such as the high council tax.


1. WMD, whether chemical, biological or nuclear, have been getting lots of press, what will your position be on the UK’s own WMD many of which are stored at or near Faslane? For example would you support other councils banning of the transportation of their parts through the city boundaries?

Would support Dundee council banning the transportation of WMD through the city’s boundaries. Glasgow Council has taken similar action, they also came out with an anti war stance which was echoed by Dundee City Council.


2. What are your plans for council tax within the city? Dundee has one of the highest rate sin the country and increases year on year, but what improvements to services have we seen, and can we expect to see within the next four years?

Dundee has high council tax but the increase last year was the lowest out of any council in Scotland. In fairness to Labour they consulted the other parties about the increases. “No party has all the answers” and a lot of constituents are concerned about the high tax. One plane he supports is to have public meetings before deciding increases to speak to the constituents and allow them to raise their concerns about tax vs. services. Also a cross party committee to decide on such raises as its now like “a pantomime”, councillors need to do “what’s good for Dundee, not cross party fighting”. The collection rate is very poor in the city and if Dundee returned to the pre-1996 boundaries the rate of tax for a Band D house would lower by £114.

3. What are your policies on coalitions within the council, are there any parties/individuals you would rule out joining with to form a majority council and equally, any you would happily join with.

Only party ruled out would be the BNP, would work with the democratic parties. There is a need for LibDems, Labour and SNP to co-operate more as “no one party has all the answers”. The need for working together is strengthened by the undemocratic way local elections are held. In one council Midlothian the leading party, Labour, got 47% of the votes but 94% of the seats. He believes that unless a party gets over 50% of the votes they should not have a majority of the control. In this election he guarantees that “no party has more than 50% votes”

4. What is your position on PFI and PPP? Will you be fighting for or against any current or future planned projects in Dundee?

“This is not an efficient way to fund local services”. He has opposed it for schools and other council services. Council is currently looking at a modified version of PPP where the council is the majority owner as to find £80million for improvements for schools its “the only game in town”. All parties at a recent education committee have agreed this to. School closures should be avoided if possible to allow school children to go to the school they want to.

5. What is your positioning on drugs? Would you support any “Met” like softening on cannabis possession, or opening of cannabis cafes in Dundee?

Would personally oppose such measures. Says the view on issue is split in every party, there are those for and against such measures within each of them.

6. What is your policy on boundary changes within the city? Whether this is a return of Monifieth etc into the cities boundaries or the creation of a Tayside wide council?

The then Scottish Secretary gerrymandered current boundaries. Invergowrie, Monifieth etc are “effectively suburbs of Dundee” and are naturally part of it. In the recent Census 97% of Monifieth’s employed residents were employed within Dundee. They rely on Dundee for services, leisure, shopping so should be part of the city. The boundaries contribute to Dundee’s high council tax, and if returned would put the council tax in Dundee to below Scotland’s average. Residents of Monifieth etc who fear their council tax will increase should not fear, as there will be an increase in services. Perth cannot properly service Invergowrie like Forfar cannot properly service Monifieth.

7. What is your position on the building of mobile phone masts within your constituency, especially when near schools or other controversial buildings?

Planning applications are not a political issue as even if voted against by the council this can be overruled by un-elected civil servants at the Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. As an example there was an application for a bank machine at a busy junction in Perth Road, which was unanimously opposed by the Council 29-0, fearing accidents, yet it has been overruled by the Scottish Executive and will be installed. Having said that, he is strongly opposed to the siting of masts near schools, hospitals or other sensitive areas.

8. As you probably know Dundee is twinned with the city of Nablus in Palestine. Given the recent trouble there what can you do and plan to do for the building of stronger ties and supporting of the people of that city?

Feels we have long standing ties with those in the Palestine autonomous area (and other twinned cities). We have a “proud tradition of links and if these can help in peace and reconstruction in the area then that is great”

9. Finally are there any policies you wish to implement and I have not addressed?

Keen to improve quality of life for tenement residents, as there are lots of “dirty bin recess areas, non working light fittings and incidents of fly-tipping”. A need for the council to work with landlords to redress this. Council should also look into the charges for uplifting of rubbish to stop flytipping. A local facility he supports is a new skate-park where kids can go for free. This is one of the first things he thinks a new administration should tackle.

Additional questions from a constituent:

Is a second vote for LibDems a wasted vote?

“No vote is wasted, everyone should vote with their conscience”. He says he is the first to accept that the LibDems have polled poorly in the past in Dundee but this has massively increased and “last time we nearly beat the Tories, this time we’ll trounce them”. The second vote is a great thing (Proportional representation being a major LibDem policy) and hopes people will vote 3 times for LibDems on May 1st.


What do you think about the treatment of LibDem MP’s in Westminster lately being heckled and given no respect by labour? (Labour ministers have been booing and jeering Charles Kennedy in Westminster and not showing him any respect at all since the war build up)

Everyone is entitled to speak and the politicians should listen to opposing view. The LibDems took the anti war stance and ten’s of thousands of people have shown grave concern for the people of Iraq and the view of Britain in the wider world which has been damaged.

[musink]

Ahh the Lib Dems: the party of "dog shit and potholes."

[kj]

do you want me to announce this interview on the main page of the site? i can do that when i get home.

[AlanG]

yeah go for it. Still waiting on more coming bakc, have 4 doing them by email and also 2 supposed in person interviews too

Alan