If I were First Minister...

If I were First Minister I would have a lot of issues on my plate, many of a high level of scrutiny, but one of the biggest issues as a simple member of the public on the ground right now is, in my opinion, the simple hygiene and cleanliness standards of our major cities.  

As a nation that prides itself on its natural beauty, and the rural areas of Scotland are incredibly picturesque, but our cities are becoming filthy. Litter, graffiti and general untidiness are rampant in our city centres.  

A notable example of this is Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, which in the past was the bustling, jumping heartbeat of both Glasgow’s daytime shopping and its nightlife hub. It is now a broken mess, with burnt out buildings, cardboard and shutters, graffiti and litter being the main sights as you walk along the road. 

These problems, whilst always slowly creeping in over the passage of time, seemed to accelerate with the June 2018 fire at the O2 ABC Glasgow, when a fire from a nearby building spread across to the venue which would be severely damaged by the fire causing the main roof of the venue to collapse in on itself. The damage was too severe that a warrant for demolition was issued in 2019. 

However, a staggering four years on from the fire the degraded venue still stands, along with the charred remains of neighbouring bars and clubs which also went under with the fire and subsequent closure of the venue, with talk of student flats, which always seem to pop up when a building goes up in flames, seeming to quieten down.  

The building, however, is not the only issue plaguing the street, never mind the city, with construction work going way beyond schedule, a common theme just now in Scotland’s city centres, leaving sand, metal fences, construction vehicles and debris littered across the streets, leaving some of our busiest walkways a convoluted maze of an eyesore. 

These issues, however, are not just contained to Sauchiehall street, or even to Glasgow. The City of Discovery, Dundee, also faces major issues with its image. A huge chunk of Scottish government finances were put into the redevelopment of the waterfront around the RRS Discovery, with a whopping £26million being spent on the area’s rejuvenation. 

This is all well and good for promoting tourism to this area, but my question would be what is being done for those who actually live and work in the city itself, what benefits are they receiving? And why is all the work being done for visitors to the city and not the inhabitants itself? If I was First Minister, my priority would be to maximise the conditions for the inhabitants of our major cities first and foremost as they are the bread and butter to our cities who keep industry turning.  

In Dundee there are three shopping centres, Wellgate, Overgate and Keillor, all of which are run down and empty of shops, these are the areas of importance to the constituents of Dundee, but they are receiving no funding or support and are being allowed to wither away into ruin. 

Our nation's capital city has the same problem, with huge amounts of funds being put into restoration or improvement to the tourist hotspots but the deprived areas such as Leith being allowed to overflow with rubbish and be covered with graffiti.  

If I was First Minister I would want tourism of course, but with the funds already injected into boosting these tourist spots I would be putting that back into the people who keep our major cities turning, I would be putting the funding into cleaning up our city centres, improving the laughable waste collection service and making it run regularly. I would clean up our streets littered with illegible graffiti, but encourage street art in our culture, giving a platform for the next Banksy to emerge, but keeping away the yobs who plaster filth across the walls. 

Scotland is beautiful, and its people can be too. But we aren’t all, and those of us who care must make sure those in power are made to as well. A lot of them do not live among us and see these issues daily, they must be shown and forced into action. Our former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was subject to heavy criticism with her own constituent area of Govanhill having severe waste management and pest issues. I would make the tidiness, cleanliness and safety of my own constituency and the nation my priority, if I was First Minister.