Cllr Alex Dingwall - Maryhill / Kelvin Maryhill/Kelvin (15)

Originally born in Inverness I’ve now been living in Glasgow for over 20 years working for the City Council’s Social Work Department. Active in the local Unison branch I served as Convenor of the Social Work Stewards Committe and latterly as the Conditions of Service Officer for the 13,500 members of Glasgow City Unison. One of my most memorable moments was being served with an interim interdict by Sheriff Officers on behalf of Glasgow’s Labour run Council in order to break a strike.

In 2007 I was elected as one of 4 Councillors for the new multi-member Maryhill Kelvin Ward. The Ward has a population of 26,884 and covers the communities of Acre, Cadder, Summerston, Wyndford, Maryhill, Kelvindale and Kelvinside.

Since my election I’ve been involved in the successful local campaigns to stop the G1 Group putting a nightclub into the historic Glasgow Botanic Gardens and to save Kelvindale Post Office. I was also involved in the campaigns to save St Gregory’s , Wyndford and St Agnes’ Primary Schools from closure by the Labour Council. I still believe the closures were wrong, ignored increased school rolls and gave no evidence of any educational benefit from closure. The campaigns by parents and pupils, especially the schools occupation, showed the strength of local communities, the failure of the Labour Council to listen and underlines the need for a change in administration.

More successfully, along with my fellow Ward Councillors, Community Councils and Housing Associations we were able to save our local community halls at Ledgowan and Cadder from closure.

In 2010, after 31 years in the SNP, I joined the Scottish Liberal Democrats in order to better represent our ward. I now work alongside my fellow SLD Councillor Mary Paris in Maryhill Kelvin and continue to be honoured and humbled by the opportunity to represent all of our communities across the ward.