Your source of independent information for East Renfrewshire residents
"Let's remove national politics from Local Authorities" - Briefing Notes 2013

1. Statement from NMCC's Chairman to the East Ren community
2. Call to Action

Briefing Notes is publishing the following statement from the Chairman of Newton Mearns Community Council. (NMCC)

Statement from NMCC's Chairman to the East Ren community

As community councils it is our duty to represent the views of our residents.

We have on one occasion been criticised for failing to represent the majority of views. That was very easy to justify as the representatives of the majority of respondents wilfully set out to mislead our CC. As community councillors we too are residents.

I want to address you about two groups whose views have been completely ignored by administration councillors of East Renfrewshire Council. Both these groups are being subjected to racist attacks. The two groups to which I refer are our Muslim community resident in Newton Mearns along with the other members of the wider Newton Mearns community both of whom are opposed to the mosque proposal on the Eastwood High School Campus.

Allow me to repeat I fully support the need for a local mosque in Newton Mearns.

These attacks primarily consist of ignoring the views of our Muslim residents as well as the other residents of NM and are being made by Muslims based outwith Newton Mearns. In addition I repeat my earlier remarks that this also applies to the administration councillors who run our council.

The Leader of ERC Cllr. Jim Fletcher makes repeated critical comments against those opposed to the mosque such as, "the arguments against the mosque is a multi-headed hydra", "whenever a mosque is proposed there is a backlash.

The proposal for a similar nearby site was criticised on grounds of flooding." "The Muslim community are now experiencing what the catholic community experienced 30 years ago." The proposal Fletcher refers to and complains of for the nearby site, was off Leslie Ave. on a flood plain and the criticism came primarily from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA.)

The minority Muslim group called ERMEC and led by Prof Amir Hussain,
www.cs.stir.ac.uk/~ahu/researchsummary.html

who we're reliably informed represent no more than a dozen people, have wilfully hidden from the larger Muslim community based outwith Newton Mearns the fact that there is huge local opposition to this planned mosque on a non-denominational school campus.

They blatantly held a racially segregated and discriminatory meeting, likely to raise intercommunity tensions, on Monday the 11th of November to which only Muslims were permitted to attend. They have a second meeting arranged for Monday, 18th. November which they have billed for non-Muslims only to attend.

Why the need to segregate? They have to date, refused to invite any community representative speaker such as myself, to address any of their meetings. I have been unable to obtain a ticket from ERMEC's website, or from emailing them as suggested by their website or even by emailing Prof Hussain and texting him directly. That is not engaging with the wider community as they claim. This is pure and simply discrimination. Can you imagine if we tried to hold a meeting for non-Muslims only? This is not our open and democratic way and in my view it represents a serious attempt to subvert our democratic process. Why are our politicians (whom I name below) willing to support people who will not embrace our democratic principles or who flout our discrimination laws? These are just some of the questions those politicians must answer as they are questions of the utmost concern and severity. See Call to Action below.

At the Muslim only meeting, the speakers stressed the importance of every member of their households responding with the words 'even new-born babies.'
On Tuesday the 12th, 100 or so attendees at a second Muslim only meeting were not told about the strength of local opposition, in fact they were led to believe this land was a gift from ERC and was welcomed by all. Newton Mearns has 29,000 residents the majority of whom will know litte or nothing about this proposal and we suffer greatly from general apathy. Each of you needs to tell, cajole and demand that all your friends, relatives and neighbours respond to this proposal on the Eastwood High School campus. We need every single individual who is opposed to any development on the EHS campus to object to this consultation proposal if we are to save this school campus.

Councillor Jim Fletcher is both the leader of the Labour-led coalition administration and the leader of East Renfrewshire Council. Councillor Fletcher has been quoted recently, accusing many of Islamaphobia both in the press and more recently on television. He is also backing to the hilt those dozen or so members of ERMEC and Prof Amir Hussain. Councillor Fletcher has turned the natural order on its head and I quote from his statement on Wednesday, 13 November to the Eastward High School Parent Council where he said, "I and the other councillors will need convincing of the benefit of that area to the school."

The "area" to which he refers is for the outdoor classrooms, leisure and recreational areas of the new Eastwood school campus which is currently still under construction. That "area" has detailed planning consent. You will see if you look back to Briefing Notes no. 65 the very first drawing shows the architect's plans with the planning consent stamp of East Renfrewshire Council roughly at the top centre. For that reason councillors should need convincing of any arguments to change that use rather than the other way around. This is of major significance as in my view Councillor Fletcher is clearly indicating that he has made up his mind, formed an opinion and therefore should be automatically barred from taking any further part in the debate or any subsequent vote.

As Chairman of Newton Mearns Community Council I have, over the past three weeks, been involved in a number of meetings with different groups representing the local NM Muslim community. To date the message from every one of them has been crystal clear and unanimous. They say, yes we want a mosque and no we do not want a mosque on the Eastwood High School campus. Many of their children are also pupils at the school.

Have any of the parties behind this proposal given a single thought to the pupils at Eastwood High School and the impact this is having on them? These children are our future and their education and wellbeing must be prioritised and given every consideration. Here are just two of the views of EHS pupils who have taken the time to contact me. Other than redacting their identities these are verbatim copies.
From: ZZZZ
To: "ContactNMCC
Subject: Mosque.

I'm a sixth year pupil at Eastwood High School, I spent the vast majority of that time in the old school a facility that was not fantastic, but we were gifted an amazing new school, there's no graffiti no chewing gum under desks or any of that clichéd stuff you'd expect from a high school everyone is in full uniform, everyone is proud of being a pupil at the new Eastwood High School.

However now rather than elation at this fantastic new facility we've been gifted with.
We feel robbed by our own council who is according to their own corporate statement "working for us".
The council is stealing the experience and value of every pupil who ever will attend Eastwood High School and intends to destroy much of the pride and respect in our new school.

They have also created a social divide and an inequality in school, where the vast majority of pupils feel they are being exploited and robbed blind by those who serve us.
There is now a real potential for a deep seated bitterness and resentment toward the Muslim community, as my fellow pupils are angry, not annoyed, not disappointed.
We are angry.
That our education is being taken away from us.

That the needs for the few out way the needs and benefits for the many.
And then for the council to simply say we are racist if we oppose this?
How dare they.


Friendships are being destroyed as people are torn between their faith and their loyalty to friends and to their school.

Muslim pupils are afraid to speak up and speak out against there own community.

The blame lies upon the shoulders of the council.

We all believe that the Muslim community need a place of worship no one debates that.

But East Renfrewshire Council, You're threatening Not just mine, but generations to comes;
Quality of education.
Safety.
Community equality.
Happiness at school.

You should be ashamed, and I can assure you, the community has lost faith in you and this will be the last time you ever see authority in East Renfrewshire.


Contact number; ZZZ
Name; ZZZZZ

From: ZZZZZ
To: NMCC
Subject: Mosque at Eastwood High School

We are the people who will be most affected by this, but nobody is listening to us and nobody has asked us how we feel.

Getting out of school 5 minutes early twice a week is a nightmare when you are in a senior year. Exams are looming once more and this really is lost, valuable time. It has been awful having constant construction work going on for the past two years and we have had to listen to the noise even when sitting exams. We can't wait for it to be over in a month or two. Really don't want anymore disruption as we feel we have had enough.

I have heard Muslim pupils complain that people have been making side remarks about them wanting a Mosque when, in fact, they don't. They feel they are being victimised by people who are tarring all Muslims with the ERMEC brush. So unfair. We have generally got along with each other well in the past and we all want it to be like that again."

The behaviour of our MP Jim Murphy, our MSP Ken Macintosh and the leader of the council Jim Fletcher, has been heavily questioned by the one politician who has been consistent all the way through and the only one to come through this disgraceful outrage with any credibility and that is Stewart Maxwell MSP. At Wednesday night's meeting, Stewart Maxwell told Jim Fletcher that 'the community feels this is a done deal because the community are having to prove why a mosque shouldn't be built when surely it should be the other way around.' Stewart very carefully explained that the site is undoubtedly on and is part of the school campus. He also said that the identification of this site was "most unusual" and stated that Professor Hussain of ERMEC had previously told him that it was a planning official who told them of the site. A very flustered Professor Hussain in reply claimed there had been a "miscommunication."
Prof Amir Hussain was asked several times who had told his organisation that this site was potentially available for a mosque. It was clearly evident to all in attendance that Prof Hussain very embarrassed, in an awkward position and he repeatedly looked towards Jim Fletcher for help although none was forthcoming from Fletcher.
This is very interesting because Newton Mearns Community Council at two public meetings have been told by three different representatives of the Muslim community that the people responsible for identifying the Eastwood High School campus to the Muslim community were Jim Murphy, Ken Macintosh and Jim Fletcher.

I can tell you that when the consultation closes on Wednesday the 20th that will not be the end of the matter. It will merely be the end of the beginning. As a community council we will continue to demand answers from these men. Should they continue to refuse to meet with us publicly and answer our many questions we will have to seek the assistance of higher authorities. Those attending the public meeting of the 28th October will recall members of the audience expressing interest in donating to fund a judicial review. NMCC are holding that option in reserve.

I also want to state clearly that not only are our community councils apolitical, but we have an abhorrence of being dragged into matters political and this is clearly happening in this instance. If politicians insist on bringing political divisions into the debate we will not shy away from them. We are duty bound to the community to pursue matters to a satisfactory conclusion.

I do hope you as a Briefing Notes subscriber will assist us enormously by immediately spreading the news of just what is happening here and throughout our community and help support ourselves, Eastwood High School Parent Council, NMCC and Briefing Notes in objecting to this outrageous proposal which would set a dangerous precedent for all East Ren schools along the lines which Briefing Notes will outline to you shortly.

Kind regards in very troubling times,

D. Jesner
Chairman
Newton Mearns Community Council

Call to Action
Part of the message is hidden for the guests. Please log in or register to see it.

Remember, please help us to help you by encouraging everyone to individually sign up for BN. It's free! Together we are stronger and can achieve more.

Briefing Notes

If you wish to correct anything in this BN, please write in and we will publish your comment.

Please click this link Like our Facebook Page and then click both 'LIKE' and 'SHARE' to help spread our message.

Briefing Notes
E&OE.

"It is better to be defeated on principle than to win on lies." --Arthur Calwell
"The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

© Briefing Notes 2013 This may be freely transmitted and reproduced only in its complete unaltered form. Extracts or quotes in isolation are expressly prohibited.
If you find Briefing Notes helpful, please encourage everyone living within East Renfrewshire to subscribe by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and put "subscribe" in the subject line with their name and address in the main body. Your information will be treated with complete confidentiality. We do not share personal information or email addresses with any other body or individuals.
Conversely, if you no longer wish to receive these briefing notes, simply click reply and type "unsubscribe" into the subject line.
If there are other issues you think we, as a community, should be aware of, email BN outlining them, preferably with a contact phone number please.

A very impressive CV. I would have thought a CV of someone completely dedicated to education and research.