Bill bid aims to give people bigger say

SANDRA White, SNP candidate, said she planned to use the Community Empowerment Bill to give people more of a say about what can be improved in their areas.

Ms White added that she wanted to work with housing associations to identify vacant land to address the social housing issues in the area.

Green party candidate Patrick Harvie said introducing rent controls and improving the standard of housing would help to keep areas more family-friendly.

He also said it was important to change the focus from large scale projects to small-scale ones which have cyclists and pedestrians in mind. He added that the “outdated council tax system should be replaced with a new model to ensure “sustained, long-term funding for support services, as well as closing the wealth gap in our society.”

Labour candidate Michael Shanks, said his campaign has so far been about listening to people’s problems, and he hopes by working together with them he can help to solve individual issues,

Mr Shanks added: “I want to use the Scottish Parliament much more to make real change in our community – investing in schools not cutting funding to local government, engaging with people on the issues that matter to them and trying out new ideas so that together we can make this the best place for people to live, work and grow up in.